Arina Borodkina

Therapist at Bethesda Counseling Services

I work with individuals, couples, and families who feel caught in a negative cycle they cannot get out of. I am passionate about helping people feel more open, safe, and secure in themselves and their relationships. Before training as a Couple and Family Therapist, I spent years in public service and research, which shaped my belief that our relationships and communities have enormous impact on our mental health, and that individuals, couples, and families are best understood as part of larger, interconnected systems rather than isolated entities.

During my clinical training at the Center for Healthy Families at the University of Maryland, I worked full-time as an intern therapist with diverse individuals, couples, and families. I supported clients through intergenerational and individual trauma, life transitions, conflictual communication patterns, divorce, separation, and co-parenting, and questions of identity and sexual health concerns. My clinical approach is also shaped by my thesis research on emotional abuse in couples therapy, which keeps me attentive to the roles of power and control in relationships. I am particularly passionate about working with individuals, couples, and families working through trauma histories.

I show up in the therapy room as an authentic, compassionate, trauma-informed, and direct therapist. I want to name what is happening in therapy directly, while holding space with warmth and care. My modalities include Emotion Focused Therapy, Psychodynamic approaches, Narrative, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. I am a Post-Soviet immigrant, and I bring empathy, cultural nuance, and a grounded understanding of the many complexities people face in their daily lives. I also understand what it might mean for you to be the first of your family or community to arrive at therapy - and I welcome you with open arms.

Outside of therapy, you can find me playing card games with my partner, hosting my loved ones for dinner, or getting outside. I live in Washington, D.C. and consider both the DMV and the Pacific Northwest my homes.