A prerequisite to treatment is a warm, collaborative relationship. Approaching care with integrity and earning your trust, and honoring your goals and expertise matter to me. I use cutting-edge, evidence-based treatments to help patients and families get unstuck and find meaningful, measurable, and lasting change.
Rachel C. LaFleur, PhD
Licensed psychologist
Background
Dr. LaFleur serves children, teens, and adults. She is a licensed psychologist in Maryland and Washington, DC. She is also authorized to provide telehealth to patients located in most states via PSYPACT.
Her style has been described as down-to-earth, authentic, direct, warm, collaborative, and relationship-oriented. She strives to provide care that is intellectual, approachable, and practical. Dr. LaFleur enjoys offering active, focused treatment that is also flexible and leaves room to discuss a variety of meaningful topics. She collaboratively engages each patient and family so that treatment is responsive to their preferences and needs.
Dr. LaFleur treats a variety of common childhood concerns, including behavioral concerns, anxiety, challenges with independent sleep, and toileting difficulties.
When providing treatment to children, Dr. LaFleur very actively engages parents so that they can support their child’s consistent practice in everyday settings and in the moments when it’s needed the most.
Dr. LaFleur is certified and specializes in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and utilizes Behavioral Parent Training, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) Treatment techniques.
For more details about these treatments and about Dr. LaFleur’s work with young children and their families, please click here.
Dr. LaFleur provides specialized care to older children, teens, and adults facing challenges with life’s transitions, anxiety, OCD, and body-focused repetitive behaviors.
She enjoys teaching others to weave researched techniques into the everyday and approach relationships with greater intention.
Dr. LaFleur draws from:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
- Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT); I-CBT is a more recently available, evidence-based treatment for OCD that Dr. LaFleur has been utilizing since 2022
- Habit Reversal Training (HRT), Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment (ComB), and Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT)
Want to learn more about these treatments and Dr. LaFleur’s approach? For older children and teens, please click here. For adults, please click here.
Dr. LaFleur’s research interests and peer-reviewed research publications relate to cultural and linguistic competence, interdisciplinary communication and training, family-centered care, systemic change, and improving the wellness of people with disabilities. Dr. LaFleur’s most recent research article was published in 2020. She has a long history of presenting both research and clinical topics at national conferences via a peer-review process. Her most recent peer-reviewed presentations were in 2023, and she has been an invited speaker for continuing education workshops.
Dr. LaFleur’s formal education and training in psychology spanned twelve years and took place across four different states. As a college student, Dr. LaFleur majored in Psychology at Binghamton University, a premier public university in New York State. She continued her education in Atlanta, Georgia, where she earned an MEd, EdS, and PhD in School Psychology from Georgia State University.
Dr. LaFleur completed a year of her doctoral training in Omaha, Nebraska to participate in a highly competitive and rigorous APA-accredited internship program at Boys Town. Her formal training culminated in her completion of a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship in Baltimore, Maryland. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. LaFleur provided therapy within the Behavior Management Clinic at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and became a Certified PCIT Therapist.
Prior to founding Stony Run Psychology & Wellness in 2020, Dr. LaFleur worked at an anxiety practice specializing in cognitive and behavioral therapies in Washington, DC. There, she served as a Staff Psychologist and as Director of Child and Adolescent Clinical Services while also serving adult patients and regularly utilizing Exposure and Response Prevention, including to treat OCD. Dr. LaFleur continues to grow her clinical skillset and regularly leads and participates in several peer consultation groups, including those centered on innovative treatment techniques such as Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT).
Maryland License Number: 06066; DC License Number: PSY1001464; PSYPACT Mobility Number: 9841
Dr. LaFleur commonly provides care to mental health clinicians and their families.
She also enjoys collaborating with them via behavioral parent training. In behavioral parent training, parents identify treatment goals and are primary change agents. Dr. LaFleur strives to honor parents’ expertise while providing a space to explore and adjust existing patterns as well as to enhance therapeutic interactions in daily life.
"Dr. Rachel LaFleur does a masterful job helping patients and professionals understand the science behind gold-standard therapeutic interventions, and in a highly accessible manner. ...
… Whether it be a client or a mental health professional, Dr. LaFleur is genuinely invested in maximizing growth potential. Through a collaborative and direct style, Dr. LaFleur encourages deep self-awareness with concrete, actionable steps. She is highly skilled at helping clients set therapeutic goals that are meaningful and in line with their values while holding them accountable through a non-judgemental and compassionate approach. If you are a therapist providing parenting services, Dr. LaFleur is your go-to consultant! Her expertise in childhood challenging behaviors will undoubtedly enhance your effectiveness as a clinician. Through pragmatic strategies, she is sharp at identifying and helping you resolve major roadblocks in your caseload. Dr. LaFleur goes above and beyond expanding your behavioral intervention repertoire; she is intentional about sharing the underlying framework informing her clinical interventions so that you can flexibly adapt diverse parenting principles to any of your cases. Do not think twice about seeking Dr. LaFleur’s professional services!”
Dr. Catalina Perez, Clinical Psychologist
