Emily Lemke, LCSW-C
Trauma Therapist, Consultant, & Mentor in Maryland and Beyond
Licensed Clinical Social Worker — Clinical (LCSW-C), Maryland
EMDRIA Trained in EMDR
Certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
Primary modalities: IFS, EMDR, polyvagal theory, DBT, attachment-based and relational frameworks
Clinical background: community mental health, residential treatment, mobile crisis, inpatient psychiatric units, psychiatric emergency intake
Clinical team leader and mentor across multiple settings
Small Group Private Practice in Maryland — full caseload with a consistent waitlist
Hi! I’m Emily. I’m so glad you’re here.
I've spent my entire career in rooms where the work was hard and the stakes were real.
I didn't become a therapist because it seemed meaningful in the abstract. I became a therapist because of the people — the specific, complicated, extraordinary people who let me into their lives and trusted me with their most difficult experiences.
That has never gotten old.
About Me
I’m a trauma therapist with a practice based in Montgomery County, Maryland, built around complex trauma, attachment, and the cases that require more than a standard clinical approach.
Before private practice, I worked in some of the most challenging clinical environments: community mental health, residential treatment, mobile crisis, inpatient psychiatric units, and psychiatric emergency intake. In every one of those settings, I held formal and informal leadership roles. I was a clinical team leader. I was the person newer therapists came to with their hardest cases, their shakiest moments, and their questions they were too embarrassed to ask anyone else. I became that person not because I sought the title, but because I've always believed that good clinical work should be shared — that when you figure something out, you pass it on.
That instinct is still at the center of everything I do, whether I'm sitting with a client in session or consulting with a therapist who's stuck on a complex case at 9pm.
Emily Lemke, LCSW-C
Maryland LCSW-C License #30795
How I Work
My Approach
My primary frameworks are IFS (Internal Family Systems) and EMDR, and I specialize in integrating the two — including through IFS-EMDR intensive sessions, which allow for deeper, accelerated trauma processing for clients who are ready to do substantial work. I also draw on polyvagal theory, DBT, TF-CBT, and attachment-based and relational approaches depending on what each client needs.
But the framework is never the whole story.
I believe the therapeutic relationship is the single most powerful and most undertaught element in this work. Clients don't heal because a therapist executed the right intervention at the right moment. They heal because they finally felt safe enough — with another human being, in a room that held them — to let the work in. I take that seriously in every session.
My style is warm, direct, and real. I use humor. I show up as a person, not a blank slate. And I bring serious clinical skill to every case I take on.
What I Know About This Work
I have been the go-to clinician in every setting I have ever worked in.
In community mental health, residential treatment, mobile crisis, and inpatient psychiatry — colleagues came to me. Newer therapists came to me with their hardest cases, their crisis situations, their ethical dilemmas, the sessions they kept replaying on the drive home. I provided formal clinical leadership and the kind of informal mentorship that doesn't show up on an org chart but shapes how an entire team practices.
That didn't stop when I moved into private practice. If anything, it followed me here — which is why therapist mentoring and case consultation are now a formal part of what I offer.
My private practice carries a full caseload with a consistent waitlist. I receive five or more new referrals from Psychology Today every week. My clients rarely cancel and frequently request more sessions. The work moves — because I know how to find what's actually blocking it.
If you're a client: you are not too much, your history is not too complicated, and you will not be passed along to someone else. I take on the cases that matter.
If you're a therapist: I have been exactly where you are, and I know what it takes to get to the other side of it.
Who I Work With
Therapists
Throughout my entire career, other clinicians have sought me out. For case consultation. For a second opinion. For someone who would tell them the truth about what they were seeing and what to do next.
I've formalized that into two offerings:
Therapist Mentoring & Clinical Coaching — for therapists at any stage who want to build real, practical clinical skills. If you feel stuck in sessions, uncertain in your instincts, or like something is missing that your graduate training didn't give you — this is for you. Open to therapists at any licensure level. Learn More about Therapist Mentoring & Clinical Coaching →
Case Consultation — for licensed clinicians navigating a specific complex case. Attachment trauma, IFS, parts work, adolescents, self-harm, suicidality, the client who has seen many therapists and is still stuck — bring the case that's keeping you up at night. This is not supervision. Available virtually to licensed clinicians nationwide. Learn More about Case Consultation →
Book a free 15-minute consultation as a therapist who wants to grow and learn →
Clients
I work with adults and teenagers in Maryland — via telehealth statewide and in person in Rockville — navigating complex trauma, cPTSD, attachment wounds, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidality, and presentations that feel too layered to put into words on an intake form.
Teenagers hold a particular place in my practice. They are one of the most misunderstood populations in mental health — often labeled as resistant or difficult, when what they actually are is waiting to see if you're going to be another adult who doesn't follow through. I've spent years learning how to earn that trust, and I don't take it lightly.
For clients who are ready to do intensive work, I also offer IFS-EMDR integrated intensives — longer sessions designed to move through substantial trauma processing in a way that weekly therapy often can't reach. These are available in person in Rockville (non-Maryland residents are welcome to travel) and virtually for Maryland residents.