OUR TEAM

Lisa Kays

LICSW, LCSW, LCSW-C

Licensed in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, & Oregon

Lisa Kays (she/her)

Clinician

Lisa is an independently licensed clinical social worker in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Oregon. She sees adult individuals, couples and groups. Lisa is White, cis, straight and identifies as female. Lisa strives for her practice to be open and friendly to people whose identities are marginalized in American culture and she works to bring an anti-racist, social justice-oriented lens to her work.

It is Lisa’s experience in working with patients that all behaviors, thoughts and feelings are rational given past experience. Challenges in relationships and well-being are often created when these previously effective behaviors are no longer helpful in a new environment or under a new set of experiences.

Lisa practices therapy with a goal of supporting her patients in the development of self-compassion and in trying out new behaviors and ways of thinking, feeling and relating. In doing so, it is often useful to help the patient to evaluate and understand current behaviors and attitudes through the lens of the past, to determine which of these may be let go of to lead to better functioning and overall well-being. Feedback from patients is that Lisa’s style is warm, dynamic, compassionate, respectful, and genuine.

In addition to her clinical work, Lisa’s work developing Improv for Therapist training programs has been featured in The Washington Post and on NBC4 and she continues to use improvisation in her work with patients and in training therapists. Lisa also provides continuing education trainings for clinicians in the ethical use of social media and technology by social workers as well as in anti-racist practice in group therapy. Lisa taught Diversity in a Multicultural Society at the Catholic University National School of Social Services for two semesters.

Training & Ongoing Education

  • Masters in Social Work from Catholic University's National Catholic School of Social Service

  • Advanced level trainee in Rehearsals for Growth! training on the use of improvisational drama in psychotherapy

  • Completed Training 101: Fundamentals of Working with Neurodiverse Couples in Therapy provided by AANE (Asperger/Autism Network)

  • Completed Raising Orchid Kids Core Course with SpeechKids

  • Completed Working with Adults Who Have Earliest Wounds: A Prenatal and Perinatal Somatic Perspective through Belvedere Integrated Healing Arts 

  • Completed Hand-in-Hand Parenting Professionals' Intensive Course

  • Completed the first year of the Washington School of Psychiatry's Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy Program

  • Board-Approved Supervisor for Social Work in Maryland, Virginia, and Oregon

  • Member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association and the Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society

  • Participated in a weekly training group in modern analytic group psychotherapy (2022-2024)

  • Completed AAP Training Institute: Men's Fears of Women in Intimate Relationships with Avrum Weiss, PhD

  • Completed Relational Life Therapy Level 3 Training in couples therapy

  • Participating in the Washington School of Psychiatry’s 9-month Supervision Training Program

  • Trained and worked with a diverse spectrum of clients in a variety of clinical settings, including the Washington Hospital Center's inpatient psychiatry unit, the Catholic University Counseling Center, a residential substance abuse treatment program within a women's prison, an outpatient clinic primarily serving court-mandated clients and clients on federal probation, Kolmac Clinic, and private practice

  • Completed Hypnosis Level 1 training with the Florida Society of Clinical

Featured Work

Lisa Kays has delivered presentations and workshops on various topics including improv in therapy, improv for professional development, social media ethics, substance abuse, change and transition, branding, and advocacy. Lisa has published a number of articles and her work has been featured prominently in the press.