Practice Philosophy:
Dr. Annika Grangaard is a licensed clinical psychologist who works with teens, adults, and couples. Warm, attentive, and easygoing, she uses her natural sense of humor to connect and creates a trusting environment to share vulnerabilities and challenges. She listens carefully to each person’s story, helping to explore one’s strengths, values and goals, and developing a framework to navigate the stressors that arise in daily life. Clients learn concrete skills-based strategies to help alter negative thought patterns and more effectively cope with stress, anxiety, and complexities in relationships with friends, romantic partners, and family. Dr. Grangaard relates especially well to teens, with a sensitivity to teen angst and the challenges involved in growing up, fitting in, and developing independence and maturity. She involves parents when appropriate, providing guidance that leads to a calmer home with minimized conflicts.
Areas of Expertise:
Dr. Grangaard specializes in working with adolescents and adults. She has significant experience working with individuals who are experiencing anxiety, relationship issues, depression, life transitions, personality disorders, and those who have a history of trauma or abuse. She helps clients understand how their early life experiences have impacted how they currently relate to others, the world, and themselves. Additionally, she provides dialectical behavior therapy techniques and cognitive behavioral strategies to help clients learn to tolerate distress, improve relationships, regulate emotions, and challenge unhelpful thinking patterns. Naturally enthusiastic and engaging, she has a particular passion for working with adolescents and young adults, and facilitates change during vulnerable times of transition. She teaches all clients to be more mindful and accepting of uncertainty and difficult emotions, with increased self-confidence and improved day-to-day functioning.
Experience and Training:
Dr. Grangaard received her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland. She has worked with teens and adults in a variety of outpatient settings including community mental health clinics and university counseling centers. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the counseling center at Georgetown University, where she gained valuable experience working with teens and young adults. She has extensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and has worked with individuals with complex mental health histories. She utilizes her strengths and expertise to help clients achieve their potential and become their best selves.
