Therapy in Dilworth, Charlotte
You walk the loop around Latta Park after work, phone in your pocket, still half-living in the day you left behind. The bungalows glow. A neighbor waves. Everything looks settled, and yet something inside you has been running on a low hum for months, a tightness you notice most when things finally go quiet.
That hum tends to show up first in people who seem most capable, the ones holding down a demanding career, a relationship, an old house, and the expectation that they should be handling all of it more gracefully than they are.
Charlotte’s first streetcar suburb puts you close to everything: East Boulevard, Freedom Park, the light rail, and Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center, which sits inside the neighborhood rather than beside it. The hospital is one of the neighborhood’s largest employers. Living close to everything also means living inside the steady pressure of a city that rewards doing more. If you have been looking for a therapist in Dilworth who understands that particular kind of pressure, you are in the right place.
Our office sits minutes away, at 4108 Park Road near the Park Road Shopping Center. For most of Dilworth, that is a short drive down East Boulevard or Kenilworth Avenue, close enough that an evening session rarely means rearranging your whole day. Dilworth is one of the neighborhoods our Charlotte office serves.
Therapy built around you, not a template
Montgomery Counseling Group was founded by John Burns, MSW, LCSW, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, around a single idea borrowed from psychiatrist Milton Erickson, that every person’s map of the world is as unique as a thumbprint. No two people understand the same struggle the same way, so we start with your experience and build the work around it.
In practice that often means working with anxiety that hides behind competence, or the persistent low mood that can settle in even when life looks good on paper. Other people come in with something older behind it, an event, a loss, or a pattern they can trace back years.
Our practice is trauma-informed, which means we look at what sits underneath the concern that brought you in, not only the concern itself. How much that matters varies from person to person, and your therapist will help you sort out where it applies in your case.
Our team works with a range of evidence-based approaches, so you can be matched with the one that fits your situation:
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for trauma that still lives in the body. John Burns is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, an advanced credential from the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) that qualifies clinicians to provide formal consultation to other EMDR therapists.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for the thoughts that arrive fast and feel like facts when they are not.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for emotions that feel too big to manage alone.
- Clinical Hypnosis to strengthen the coping responses you already have.
We also offer couple and family therapy and telehealth anywhere in North Carolina, for the weeks when getting across town is one thing too many.
Who You Will See at Montgomery Counseling Group
John Burns, MSW, LCSW, EMDRIA Approved Consultant
John works with adults on the long-term effects of complex and developmental trauma. He uses EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Ericksonian Clinical Hypnosis in his practice.
Naila McConnell, LCMHCA
Naila McConnell, Certified Dialectical Behavior Therapist, works with adults, children, adolescents, couples, and families, and her practice addresses mental health and substance use concerns.
Javontae Bradley, LCMHCA
Javonate Bradley works with men's issues, trauma-informed care, and culturally responsive psychotherapy. He works with individuals experiencing anger, relational stress, and the emotional patterns that develop when there is no framework for processing them.
Taylor Banner, LCSWA
Taylor Banner works with individuals, couples, and families using Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and Structural Family Therapy (SFT). Her work also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness-based approaches.
LCMHC with Michelle Daley, LCMHC, Senior Clinician
Michelle Daley, works with children and adolescents. She is an EMDR Trained Clinician and is trained in Play Therapy.
Meredith Turner-Toth, LCSW, Senior Clinician
Meredith Turner-Toth works with adolescents and adults on depression, anxiety, grief, OCD, life transitions, relationship stress, and trauma. She is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).
What starting therapy in Dilworth, Charlotte looks like
The work is collaborative. You bring the material, and we bring training, structure, and a steady presence. You set the terms of what gets discussed and when, and the work moves toward more honest, more workable ways forward.
Some people come in with a clear goal, and others only know that something needs to change. Both are fine places to start. Whether we meet at our Park Road office or over telehealth, the first few sessions are mostly about understanding your situation before we shape the work around it.
What to Expect from Your First Session
The first conversation is a free 20-minute consultation. It is a chance to describe what has been going on, ask questions, and get a feel for whether we are a good fit before you book a session.
Your first full session runs 60 to 90 minutes. Your therapist will ask what brought you in, what has and has not helped before, and what you want to be different. Most of that time goes to understanding your situation rather than to a fixed plan. Sessions after that average 60 minutes.
Our aim is to work effectively and then step back, available if things surface again later. We do not default to keeping clients in therapy longer than the work calls for.
Fees, Insurance, and Getting Started
Our rate is $150 per 60-minute session, with a sliding scale available based on income. We are in-network with Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, and United Healthcare, and we work with out-of-network clients as well. Full details are on our rates and insurance page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How close is your office to Dilworth?
Our office is at 4108 Park Road, Suite 410, a short drive south of the neighborhood near the Park Road Shopping Center.
Do you take my insurance?
Montgomery Counseling Group is in-network with Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Magellan, Medicare, and United Healthcare, and we work with out-of-network benefits. Self-pay is $150 for a 60-minute session, with a sliding scale available.
I work at the hospital nearby. Can sessions fit a clinical schedule?
Yes. We work with people in healthcare and other demanding fields. Montgomery Counseling Group offers telehealth across North Carolina and will work with you on timing.
How does Montgomery Counseling Group approach trauma?
Trauma-informed practice is the shared standard across our clinical team. Whether you come in for anxiety, depression, or a relationship pattern that keeps repeating, we look at what is fueling it, not only what shows up on the surface.
Do you have evening or after-work availability?
Yes. Several clinicians at Montgomery Counseling Group hold evening hours, which is often how our Dilworth clients fit sessions around a demanding schedule. Availability is confirmed at the consultation.
I have never done therapy before. How do I know if I need it?
If something has been running in the background of everything for more than a few weeks, and the strategies you already know are not shifting it, that is usually a reason to look into it. The free 20-minute consultation is a low-pressure way to check, with no commitment required.
What if I am not sure therapy is for me?
That is common, and it is exactly what a free consultation is for. Call (980) 949-8990 or book online to talk it through. You do not have to have it figured out before you begin therapy in Dilworth, Charlotte, NC.
