I've always been drawn to the things
people aren't supposed to say out loud.
That's probably what made me a therapist. And a researcher. And, honestly, a better musician — because the best music is the kind that admits something true.
I grew up in a world where performance was everything and vulnerability was weakness. I grew up excelling at that game. But I also spent decades quietly understanding how the game was rigged — who got to play, who got praised, who got discarded, and why the system called all of it normal.
Eventually I had to choose: keep performing, or start telling the truth. I chose both.
Professional Overview
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Virginia, an EMDRIA Consultant-in-Training, and the founder of Haven & Bloom Therapy, LLC. My clinical training includes training and supervision in General Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorder through Harvard Medical School, Ketamine Assisted EMDR, and Mentalization Based Treatment for Narcissism through Anna Freud in London, England. I hold a Master's degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, completed with High Distinction.
Before I became a therapist, I spent 25 years as a professional violinist, performing at venues including the Kennedy Center and the White House, managing a private studio with 500+ students and 20 teachers, and working as a stage manager for a professional ballet company. That world taught me everything I now use in the therapy room: the physiology of performance anxiety, the psychology of perfectionism, the institutional dynamics that make artists sick, and the specific loneliness of being excellent in a room full of people who cannot see who you really are.
Research & Writing
I research and create content for a Christian ministry think tank focused on economic justice and hierarchical power structures. My frameworks examine how institutions and ideologies maintain dominance, and what theological, psychological, and policy tools exist for dismantling them.
This work sits at the intersection of scripture, social science, and history. It is rigorous and it is personal. I have lived inside the systems I study.
Non-Profit Leadership
I serve as President of Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia (YOCVA), where I work with an exceptional team on organizational strategy, fundraising, and governance for a non-profit serving 200+ young musicians annually.
This work has taught me that institutions built to serve people are always at risk of serving themselves instead — and that the most important leadership skill is the willingness to name that when it happens.
The Throughline
Whether I am in a therapy session, teaching, collaborating in a board meeting, or writing about harmful systems, I am doing the same thing: making visible the forces that shape human lives and asking what we owe each other in response.
That's the work.
Hayley’s CV is available here:
Training & Credentials