Orna Goldwater, PhD

Orna Goldwater, PhD is a seasoned clinical psychologist, health service provider in psychology, a Marriage and Family Therapist, and a Life Coach. Dr. Goldwater treats individuals seeking new ways to grow and manage their life roles. Her patients may be experiencing stress, dealing with a change in reality, or coping with mental health or physical conditions that complicate their lives. Other patients are simply seeking skills to become the person they wish to be.

Dr. Goldwater has a deep understanding of various conditions such as depression, anxiety, ADD/ADHD, which often have both emotional, cognitive, and physiological impacts on patients' lives. She also understands that traumatic experiences can be correlated with emotional deregulation, difficulty with sleep, chronic pain, and fatigue, as well as a variety of addictive behaviors. Dr. Goldwater has developed strong relationships with family physicians who want to have a psychologist on their team to treat their patients. She is fluent in Hebrew and Farsi, providing psychotherapy and psychological evaluations to patients in these languages.

Dr. Goldwater offers Tele-Psychology Sessions using the SimplePractice platform. You can reach her at https://orna-goldwater.clientsecure.me or by texting 202-299-4009. Dr. Goldwater practiced in Dallas, Texas for 30 years and is currently practicing in the District of Columbia and Dallas, providing primarily virtual sessions to patients in DC and Texas.

Team Approach

Over the years, Dr. Goldwater has developed collaborative methods that allow patients to include family members and friends who may have important perspectives in the problem or the solutions. Members of the team can also include health and mental health providers whose input can help speed along the time in therapy. Adding others to your therapeutic team helps develop a more accurate and holistic image of your life from a variety of points of view. As a psychologist, Dr. Goldwater can be supportive and compassionate, as well as challenging. It is important to combine support with reality-based challenge that can help change problem behaviors and habits that focus on fears rather than reality-based facts and optimism.

The Neurology of the Brain and Behavioral Change

Dr. Goldwater has been following the state of the art research about the brain and how to help develop hope that change is possible in adulthood. The brain is capable of changing not only in childhood but also has plasticity that allows us to add new learning and "delete" unwanted behaviors that are no longer helpful for our survival. Dr. Goldwater's specialty is to help unleash the self-healing properties of your brain.

Group Psychotherapy & Yoga Breathwork

Dr. Goldwater offers Group Psychotherapy and Yoga Breathwork sessions at two locations: Houston and the District of Columbia. Her office hours are Monday through Friday, varying times. Patients are seen via a virtual platform only at this time unless testing is needed and is such that an in-person visit is necessary. You can reach Dr. Goldwater at ornadangold@icloud.com or 202-299-4009.

Pain, Sadness, and Fear are OK - Ruminating & Suffering: Not Necessary

In her personal and professional experience, Dr. Goldwater has learned that while experiencing pain, fear, and sadness are important and necessary aspects of life, suffering is not necessary and mostly self-imposed. Dr. Goldwater is a collaborative and interactive psychologist. Her goal is to first, learn from the patient what hurts, but also, in what way they prolong their suffering.