Today we’d like to introduce you to Ali Weisbrot, LICSW.
Hi Ali, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have been a clinical social worker for 15 years and for the first half of my career, my focus was working with children and families. I worked in a variety of different settings, hospitals, schools and community-based organizations. I loved working with kids and families, I felt like I spoke the same language as my students and clients. I was able to connect with them and support them navigate their very challenging lived experiences. In January 2020, I had my oldest daughter when I was still a school-based social worker, just before the pandemic and my clinical lens began to shift.
I felt so taken aback that my mental health and wellbeing suffered during my pregnancy, birth and postpartum period. I was seeing all of my own red flags and realized that I needed to seek support. I found a wonderful therapist and joined a fantastic new mom support group led by a mental health practitioner. When I became more well, I realized how much of a gap in care there can be for women and families that are going through the huge identity and developmental shift that is motherhood. I started doing every training I could so that I could learn more about how to support women and families in their mental health and wellbeing during this season of life.
I decided that I wanted to start a private practice focusing on the people who often are struggling in silence or feeling isolated and alone in their experience. I realized how few spaces truly centered on those navigating infertility, pregnancy loss and grief, pregnancy anxiety, traumatic birth, postpartum mood challenges and shifts in relationships with both clinical expertise and compassion. That realization led me to found my practice, Bluestone Counseling Group in 2023 where we specialize in reproductive and maternal mental health. I have 4 additional team members who are clinical social workers and psychologists. We are all Moms with both lived experience and clinical expertise. My team has the same passion, to support individuals and couples as they move through some of the most complex and identity-shifting seasons of life. Our goal is to help people feel less alone, more understood, and more connected – to themselves and to their village.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of our biggest challenges is encouraging people to seek support. Because this time period can be so overwhelming it can be so hard for those coping with infertility, loss, grief and postpartum anxiety or depression to find mental health care. One of the ways that we try to mitigate that is to connect to other professionals that work with the same population to educate them on signs and symptoms of perinatal mood or anxiety disorders. I often give talks to pediatricians, pelvic floor physical therapists, lactation consultants, acupuncturists, OBGYN’s and reproductive endocrinologists to provide more education on what to look out for, how to screen for mental health concerns and how to talk to their patients about seeking support.
Maternal mental health and infertility are areas that can be misunderstood and often minimized. An important role we hold is in educating clients, referral sources, and the broader community recognize the real impact of these experiences.
I’ve navigated these challenges by becoming more connected to my community of providers focusing on the same population. Myself and my team are constantly working to deepen our clinical training and expertise and being intentional about how we communicate the importance of this work. Over time, that clarity has helped me build a practice that attracts clients who are looking for exactly this kind of support.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Bluestone Counseling Group, PLLC is a private group practice that provides evidence-based individual and couples therapy in Maryland, D.C and Virginia. At Bluestone we begin with open-mindedness, insight, compassion and humor in order to support the trust needed within the therapeutic relationship. Our approach is trauma-informed, mindfulness-based, culturally-inclusive and welcomes and affirms all identities.
We work with clients experiencing a variety of challenges including: anxiety, depression, ADHD, life transitions, work stress & burnout, relationship challenges, trauma, grief and loss. We specialize in the spectrum of reproductive and maternal mental health including: fertility counseling, pregnancy therapy, postpartum therapy, parenting therapy, couples therapy, trauma therapy and school-based mental health consultation for children.
What sets our work apart is we don’t just focus on symptom reduction, we help clients understand the underlying patterns in how they relate to themselves, their partners and their support system, especially during times of stress, grief, or disconnection.
Our team brings a deep understanding of the reproductive journey, including the emotional toll of infertility and loss as well as what may come from pregnancy and postpartum. This allows us to support clients in a way that feels both informed and validating. Our goal is to create a space where people feel safe enough to be honest about what they’re going through, while also helping them move toward greater connection, resilience, and healing.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something people might not expect is that outside of my work, I really value lightness and humor. The work I do is meaningful and can be heavy at times, but I also believe that laughter and moments of levity are an important part of being human.
Humor is an important therapeutic tool that I often use as a means of connecting and attuning to my clients when appropriate. I also love nature and being outdoors. Bluestone Counseling Group got its name because the Potomac Bluestone is the official rock of Washington, DC. The Potomac bluestone is deeply rooted in Washington DC and can be found in the quarries along Rock Creek and Little Falls, MD.
The bluestone rock has a connection to the natural elements surrounding the area we live in and it has been known to weather difficult environments and endure. I believe in the healing power of nature and the sense of grounding and attunement to our inner voice that comes when we are connected to our natural environment. I love incorporating nature-informed therapy into the therapeutic environment and believe nature is one of the best ways to regulate our nervous system.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bluestonecounselinggroup.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574563090583
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bluestone-counseling-group-pllc/?viewAsMember=true
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