Meet Kim Rippy, LPC
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Trauma and Anxiety Therapist in Virginia
– Practice Owner & Clinical Director of Keystone Therapy Group
– Licensed Professional Counselor
– Board Approved Supervisor for LPC & LMFT Residents
Offering sessions In-Office and Virtually to clients in Virginia
You deserve to feel worthy, confident, and seen.
You long for a sense of calm, balance, and self-confidence in your daily life, but keep spinning through the same cycles keeping you stuck. Maybe you are:
- Battling overwhelming anxiety, self-doubt, and internal criticism
- Weighed down by past hurt and trauma you can’t step out of
- Feeling unheard, unappreciated, or lost within your relationships
- Constantly chasing joy, but can’t seem to grasp it
With my “human first” approach, I can help you show up as your authentic self, break free from fear and avoidance, improve your self-confidence, and learn to trust yourself.
Creating a Safe Space for Connection and Growth
Many of my clients have told me they’ve never felt so safe in therapy before working with me. They appreciate how authentic and “real” I am in sessions. They have told me that it’s clear how much I genuinely care about them.
I show up for my clients as a human first, always. I describe my relationship with my clients as a “professional friendship.” You have to feel comfortable and familiar with me as a person before you can feel safe with me as your therapist.
I show up as my authentic self – sarcasm, swearing, laughing, crying, and all – so you can feel safe as your authentic self too. I crochet during our sessions (helps me regulate my body ADHD so my brain focuses on you), and I invite my clients to craft, color, or use fidgets during our sessions as well.
I’m not the therapist who will tell you “it will all be okay,” or “everything happens for a reason.” I’m not going to invalidate your experiences with clichés designed to dismiss discomfort. I’m going validate your pain, hurt, or fear, and join you in the muck (aka bullshit) of life and walk alongside you.
I’m not going to teach you to CBT your way out of trauma or a panic attack – that’s impossible… I’ve tried. I’m not going to assign you worksheets for homework after session – I would never complete them as a client. Instead, I’m going to sit with you, remind you that you’re safe with me, and that I’m right here with you until the panic subsides (it always does). I’m going to teach you coping skills during the session, and use them together when they’re needed.
I’m real, I’m honest, and I genuinely care about you – and I have the tattoos to prove it (yes, you can ask)! I’ll connect with you first, person to person, guide you through your heartbreak and love, personal challenges and growth, pain and healing, and step out with you on the other side of it all, into a life you’re proud to live.
If you’re feeling lost, overwhelmed, burnt out, burdened, anxious, fearful, or full of self-doubt, I’m here to help you change that. You deserve to live a life with purpose, direction, confidence, balance, love, joy, and full of continuous growth. My purpose is to help you put down the weight you’ve been carrying for so long, and allow yourself to feel safe and confident in who you are.
Anxiety & Perfectionism
Burnout & Overwhelm
Trauma & PTSD
Family, Childhood, & Complex Trauma
Relationship & Partner Issues
Life Transitions
Your Journey Starts Here
Working With Me
You can live without fear. You can think without anxiety. You can learn to love yourself.
With a compassionate and collaborative approach guided by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), I work to empower my clients to embrace their thoughts and feelings without judgment, while fostering emotional resilience and deeper connections.
By integrating ACT’s mindfulness and values-driven techniques with EFIT’s focus on emotional bonding and attachment, I help my clients navigate personal challenges, enhance their emotional well-being, and build meaningful, fulfilling relationships.
My Background – And Fun Facts!
I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II: Complex Trauma (CCTP-II) from Evergreen, and previously held certifications as a Certified Clinical Anxiety Treatment Professional (CATP), and Certified Clinical Telemental Health Provider (CTMH).
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Virginia (LPC #0701008539), and a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor for LPC and LMFT residents. I’m passionate about supporting residents and early-therapists in receiving good quality clinical supervision. I co-run our clinical supervision program, The Unmasked Therapist, with Kaitlyn Steel, LMFT.
I earned my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marymount University, and my Bachelor’s in Psychology with minors in Sociology and Writing from Christopher Newport University.
Before I became a therapist, I worked in Human Resources for a few different companies, including: NPR – lots of Tiny Desk Concerts!; Fairfax Water; and Marymount University – go Saints! I also spent a summer working at an EDM/dance/techno record label in Great Falls, called Yoshitoshi Recordings, where I ran social media campaigns and wrote their HR manual.
In my personal life, I enjoy spending time outside with my husband, our two sons, and our two rescue dogs.
I also enjoy my favorite introvert (aka “granny”) hobbies of singing along too loudly to music, reading (audiobooks do count), writing, crocheting, and doing nail art!
I have an eclectic music taste, and have been to many, many concerts. My favorite bands/musicians currently include: Johnnyswim, Linkin Park, Paramore (and Hayley Williams solo), OneRepublic, Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran, Panic! at the Disco, and Avi Kaplan.
My Virtual Therapy Dogs, Luna and Maya
My Recent Blog Posts
The Unmasked Therapist
Clinical Supervision is all about exposure! To new clients, new techniques, new theories! You’re not supposed to know exactly what you want to do or how you work as a therapist when you’re in training.
My job as a supervisor is to help you recognize your blind spots, teach you what you need to know, and point you in the right direction to “find yourself” as your own therapist!
You ask yourself “What kind of therapist am I?”
My supervision style emphasizes a supportive and developmental approach, fostering a collaborative environment. I work from the Person-of-the-Therapist model for supervision, focusing on your personal experiences with each of your clients, and how you area able to recognize and understand yourself as your greatest tool within the therapeutic process!
What does clinical supervision look like?
In the beginning of our work together, we’ll focus on how to establish and maintain safety within the therapeutic relationship for both your client and yourself. We’ll talk about ethics, administrative, and clinical guidelines for your work as a therapist.
Then, we’ll shift our focus to understand your personal experience “in the room” with your clients, and how you are bringing yourself into the therapeutic relationship. This helps us to identify your strengths, areas for growth, and the kind of therapist you naturally are so you are ready to practice independently!