For women with anxious hearts and overloaded minds.
Heart & Mind Insights
Online Therapy for Women in Washington DC and Virginia
Hi, I'm Cheryl.
Welcome to Heart & Mind Insights Online Therapy for Women
Cheryl Zandt, LPC
Many of the women I work with are capable, thoughtful people who are used to being the ones who handle things and pay attention to what other people need.
Therapy is a place where you don’t have to have everything figured out before you arrive.
I’m interested in helping you understand why you feel and respond the way you do, what has shaped those responses, and what might help now. We’ll be curious about what keeps happening and why, find ways to help things change, and focus on what matters to you.
I bring more than 20 years of clinical experience to our work, and I approach that work knowing that you are the expert on your own experience. I want therapy to make room for all of who you are while we do useful work together.
I live in Washington DC with my husband, our amazing teen daughter, our cats, and a wild cardinal who comes when I call him. Outside of work, you’ll likely find me reading, tending my garden, hiking in the woods, wandering through a museum, or dreaming up my next adventure.
Understanding What’s Happening Can Change What Happens Next
When you’re dealing with anxiety, stress, overwhelm, or self-criticism, it’s easy to focus on the immediate problem: How do I stop feeling this way? How do I handle this better? What am I supposed to do differently?
Those are useful questions. But I’m also interested in why this particular response is happening in the first place.
The ways we think, feel, react, and cope are shaped over time by our experiences, relationships, responsibilities, and what we’ve learned about ourselves and the world around us. Looking at that context can help us understand why certain patterns keep showing up and whether they still fit your life now.
That understanding gives us somewhere useful to work from.
Therapy isn’t about becoming a person who never struggles or finding the right way to handle everything. It’s about having more ways to respond when life is difficult – and more freedom to decide what works for you now.
Where Heart & Mind Connect
We tend to talk about thoughts, emotions, physical responses, and behavior as though they are separate things. In real life, they are constantly affecting one another.
You can understand something intellectually and still feel differently. Stress can show up in your thoughts, your body, your relationships, and the choices you make. Changing what you do can change how you feel, just as understanding what you’re feeling can change what you do next.
That interconnectedness is at the heart of how I work – and where the name Heart & Mind Insights comes from.
My work draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, Brainspotting, and somatic approaches because each gives us a different way to understand and work with what you’re experiencing. We can think something through, notice what’s happening in the present moment, pay attention to what your body is communicating, experiment with a different response, or work with something that isn’t easily put into words.
There isn’t one right place to begin.
What matters is finding a way into the work that helps you understand yourself more clearly and gives you more choice in how you respond.
Get started here
Complete the secure inquiry form below and I’ll personally respond within one business day. We’ll schedule a brief consultation call where you can share a general sense of what brings you to therapy, ask questions about my approach, and decide whether working together feels right for you.
Making Room for Something New to Emerge
What you understand, practice, and change in therapy doesn’t stay in the session. It comes with you into your relationships, your work, your decisions, and the ways you respond to whatever life brings next.
You may also be interested in learning more about:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a practical approach for understanding how thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and nervous system responses influence one another. Learn how small adjustments can create lasting changes over time.
Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally paying attention. In a world that constantly competes for your focus, learn how mindfulness can help you return to the present moment and the life you’re already living.
Many women spend years prioritizing others’ needs, managing responsibilities, and pushing through stress. Therapy offers space to reconnect with yourself and rediscover the parts of you that deserve attention, too.
Your questions, answered
What issues do you specialize in?
I work with women who are used to being capable, responsible, and relied upon by others, often while privately feeling overwhelmed, emotionally depleted, or hard on themselves in ways few people fully see.
Do you accept insurance?
I work as an out-of-network provider and provide a monthly superbill for insurance reimbursement. Depending on your plan, many clients receive between 40–80% of their session costs back directly from their insurance company.
Do you offer a free consultation?
Yes – I offer a complimentary consultation call so we can briefly connect, answer questions, and see whether working together feels like a good fit. Whoever you ultimately choose to work with, my hope is that you find care that feels supportive, thoughtful, and right for you.