At age 14, Sam* was struggling. She was getting into fights and acting out, all while living apart from her heartbroken mother. Then, Sam was falsely accused of assault by someone who should have been protecting her. In reality, the teen had been the victim of the alleged assault, but no one seemed to believe her, and she was placed in juvenile detention.
Her mother was devastated — and determined to fight for Sam.
The Women’s Center stepped in, providing Sam with a therapist who embraced her, giving her a safe space to start the process of healing from the trauma she endured. Together, they worked through Sam’s anger and pain as she started to rebuild her life. Even when it was difficult for Sam to travel, her therapist was able to help her via virtual visits.
Over the last 50 years, The Women’s Center has served more than 100,000 people. In 2023, the center provided 3,576 people with 33,668 hours of service. Sixty-six percent of its clients received services at a reduced fee, or no cost, and 487 clients received free domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy services.
“If we weren’t here, there would be a big hole in the mental health field,” says Janet Kimberling, a licensed clinical psychologist who’s worked at The Women’s Center for 31 years. “For one thing, we are large. We have almost 60 therapists. We have licensed clinical social workers, licensed clinical psychologists, and licensed counselors, as well as marriage and family counselors. Then we have pre-licensed people in each of these areas, and then we have students. And so, having that many people, we have lots of specialty areas.”
Greg Baroni, founder and CEO of Attain Enterprises and former chairman of The Women’s Center, echoes that sentiment. “I would argue that it stands among the most essential philanthropic organizations in our area,” he says.
How it All Began
When The Women’s Center opened its doors in Vienna in 1974, it had a narrower focus than it does today.
“It was really to help women who needed to start work — women who needed to enter the workforce, whether they were widowed or they had lost their spouse in the war or they were getting divorced,” says CEO and Executive Director Rachna Krishnan. “Whatever the reason was, women needed to enter the workforce, and so we provided career counseling. That was the roots.”
Today, the nonprofit’s mission is “to significantly improve the mental health and well-being of all members of our community through counseling, education, and support — regardless of ability to pay.” Thanks to virtual appointments, the Vienna-based center has recently been able to extend help to people in Loudoun and Prince William counties. There’s also a DC office.
“Over time, I think the leaders recognized … people needed more,” Krishnan says. “We provide mental health counseling to women and to men, all gender identities, all ages. We have a teen program. We have a play therapy room for children. We do couples counseling, individual counseling, family counseling — so we really do the full breadth and depth of counseling services.”
The center accepts health insurance for its counseling services, which Krishnan says isn’t always the case for therapy in the area, and for those who don’t have insurance, its services are available on a sliding scale and at a reduced fee, which could be as little as $5 per session, she says. “We don’t turn anyone away, so that’s really special,” Krishnan says. “Economic issues are never a barrier.”
The center’s support for victims of domestic violence is free to everyone, including counseling, support groups, and different types of outreach and support, over a long period of time, to help break the cycle of abuse. “Along with abuse, whether it’s emotional abuse or physical abuse, there’s often financial abuse, and so someone could be wealthy or have a bank account, but they don’t have access to resources. A lot of our clients, they’re cut off from their resources and so that’s why all the domestic violence support services are free,” Krishnan says.
The last set of services the center offers harkens back to its origins, with workshops around career planning, including how to find a job, write a résumé, update your LinkedIn profile, go on an interview, or consider a career change, as well as workshops in financial planning and divorce and mediation. The workshops are often led by leaders in the community, such as human resources professionals, financial planners, or attorneys, who provide their services pro bono.
Getting the Word Out
Many people hear about the center through word of mouth and referral partners like government agencies and other nonprofits. “It really takes a village, and we constantly refer out clients to other organizations for services and vice versa,” Krishnan says. Sometimes, she says, people call the center because they’ve had a pivotal event in their life. Other times, reaching out for counseling could be something they have been contemplating for months before making the call.
“Over the years, we have seen tremendous growth — not only in the breadth of services offered, but also in the diversity of the populations served,” Baroni says. He recruited and mentored Krishnan, who became CEO in 2020, when he was still the board chair. He remains involved with The Women’s Center as part of its 50th Anniversary Honorary Council.
Elected officials and business leaders from major area companies like Leidos, SAIC, Deloitte, Booz Allen Hamilton, Attain Partners, and Accenture, among many others, support the 501(c)(3) with spots on its Board of Directors, and those same companies are among the dozens of corporate partners and individuals who have donated to The Women’s Center. Fairfax County funds the Domestic Violence Services and Reduced-Fee Counseling program through its Consolidated Community Funding Pool each year.
Last year, The Women’s Center moved into a new office on Old Courthouse Road in Tysons designed specifically to suit its needs. During tours at a packed ribbon-cutting event in the fall, the transition stunned longtime supporters.
“To be able to offer our clients a nicer place is just wonderful,” Kimberling says. “It feels more respectful to me.” Therapists’ offices are situated to let in light from the windows, and white noise machines located outside each door allow for private and focused conversations.
She says she thinks one of the best things about The Women’s Center is that it doesn’t limit the number of sessions for its clients. “There are people with major depression, bipolar disorder, serious personality disorders, trauma victims, that need continuing treatment, and we are able to treat them as long as they need, and that’s kind of rare,” she says.
Most clients come in for anxiety, depression, or relationship problems, Kimberling says. “We treat individuals from the age of 4, some up into their 80s. So, there’s the breadth: clients in different economic situations and just different people, different presenting problems.”
Kimberling led the development of the center’s respected and sought-after teaching program for counselors, which draws students from several universities. Trainees generally participate for two semesters, seeing clients, getting individual supervision, and learning through seminars. Often, the students wind up working for the center once they’re licensed.
Gifting Time
“Our volunteers are the backbone of The Women’s Center,” Krishnan says. Volunteers fill about half of the administrative hours needed to run The Women’s Center and all its events, she says. Volunteers might be community members, work for the group’s corporate partners, have received services at the center themselves, or be interested in going through the therapy training program. Potential trainees can get a feel for the center by answering calls on the information and referral line, Krishnan says.
One of the major events that volunteers help with is the annual leadership conference in the spring. Hilary Hageman, executive vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary of SAIC, had her first experience with the center when she was asked to speak at the leadership conference in the fall of 2022 and was surprised and enthused to find it was “like a rock concert.” The conference is open to anyone and while some men attend, most attendees are women. “It was just hundreds and hundreds of women,” she says. “There’s so much energy in the room, just so much energy.”
“It’s a full day of motivation, inspiration, like great leaders talking about their stories, and it’s a very thoughtfully planned day,” Krishnan says.
Hageman says she was so inspired by the day that she asked about volunteering with The Women’s Center and was recruited to join the Board of Directors. In her role, she says she talks with a lot of very successful women who have told her, “‘I was a customer, a client of The Women’s Center, and I wouldn’t be here, if it weren’t for them.’”
Another event volunteers help with is the center’s biggest annual fundraiser, a black-tie gala. In October, this celebration for its 50th anniversary was held at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons. Supporters bid thousands of dollars on luxurious auction items and speeches were given by Krishnan, SAIC CEO and longtime supporter Toni Townes-Whitley, and elected officials including U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly and state Delegate Holly Seibold.
But amid the big names and donations, and the glitz and glamour of the evening, there were two speakers who turned out to be among the most powerful in the room: a mom and her now 16-year-old daughter, Sam. With Sam’s therapist by her side, the pair bravely rose to share their success story about just what The Women’s Center can do for a family.
*Sam’s name has been changed to protect her privacy. The Women’s Center relayed her story.
Feature image, stock.adobe.com
This story originally ran in our January Issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
