About Kumi
Kumi Pledger brings ten years of clinical experience to her work in Maryland. She holds MD and LCPC credentials, and she focuses on helping people reduce anxiety, cope with trauma, manage mood concerns, and improve sleep. Her style is calm and direct, and she aims to create a space where people feel heard and able to make steady progress.
Her sessions tend to blend practical tools with curiosity about how past relationships shape current feelings.
Background and approach
She often uses mindfulness and guided imagery to ease tension and improve sleep. She also draws on cognitive-behavioral strategies to address unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. Kumi describes her approach as compassionate and respectful.
She emphasizes each person’s strengths and encourages small, manageable steps toward goals. She helps clients build skills for coping with stress, managing emotions, and improving relationships. She works with adults on many concerns including anxiety, depression, bipolar symptoms, addictions, grief, parenting stress, and LGBT-related issues.
Additional focuses include attachment and abandonment concerns, communication problems, and first responder stress. Sessions are offered in English and Japanese, and she accepts international clients. Kumi offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging for people who need flexibility.
The subscription model for sessions can be canceled at any time.
How therapeutic approaches work online
Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how earlier relationships shape current feelings and expectations. Online sessions can help people notice patterns in close relationships and practice new ways of connecting and responding.Client-Centered Therapy centers on the person's own goals and pace. The therapist listens without judgment and supports the client in finding their own solutions, which works well for stress, self-esteem, and life transitions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets unhelpful thoughts and behavior. In short exercises clients learn to identify thinking patterns, test new ideas, and try different behaviors to reduce anxiety or depressive symptoms.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That selection can change as progress is made, and a mix of approaches is common.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is low or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging make it possible to get support between sessions or to write out thoughts instead of speaking. These options help people fit therapy into busy lives.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns can I bring to therapy?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much experience does she have?
Where is the therapist located and what are her credentials?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Can I work with her from outside the U.S.?
What session formats are available?
How does cost and scheduling work?
What this counselor works with
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Maryland
- Languages
- English, Japanese