Jenna Stone, LCSW-C

Founder · Clinical Director · Therapist · Evaluator

Hi! I’m a queer therapist, late-diagnosed AuDHD PDAer, and the founder of Side Quest Psychotherapy.

I built this practice for those who’ve never quite fit the script: the deep feelers, the chronic overthinkers, the ones who spent years masking or shape-shifting just to get through the day.

If you’ve ever been told you’re “too much” or “not enough,” we might be a good fit. I offer both neuroaffirming psychotherapy and diagnostic evaluation services.

My Side Quest

I didn’t plan to become a therapist. I was on track for a career in public policy when I had to leave college for eating disorder treatment. What felt like a derailment became the foundation for everything I do now.

I navigated systems that sometimes helped — and sometimes caused harm. I experienced iatrogenic harm firsthand: providers who didn’t listen, who overrode my lived experience, and who labeled me “treatment-resistant” while missing the chronic illness and disability beneath. Healing only became possible when I found a therapist who was genuinely curious and willing to meet me where I was. That relationship changed everything — and it’s why I practice the way I do.

I’m a queer AuDHDer with a PDA profile, a parent to neurodivergent kids, and I navigate the hEDS/MCAS/POTS trifecta. I’ve been in my own therapy for 20+ years, fully recovered from an eating disorder for over a decade, and have lived experience with OCD. I don’t just believe in this work — I live it.

Working With Me

I love working with clinical complexity — the more complex, the better. I specialize in eating disorders, ARFID, OCD, anxiety disorders, BFRBs, and neurodivergent-affirming diagnostic evaluation. I’ve worked across the full continuum of care — Residential, PHP, and IOP — and I adapt evidence-based approaches to your nervous system, cognitive style, and lived experience. Not the other way around.

My approach is liberation-focused, weight-inclusive, and anti-oppressive, grounded in Body Trust®, relational-cultural theory, queer theory, and mad studies. I am unapologetically fat positive and anti-diet. I don’t believe healing comes from fixing people — it comes from honoring complexity, disrupting power-over dynamics, and co-creating something new. True healing is not sustainable within systems that are still harming you.

What to Expect

You come as you are. No performance required.

If you’ve spent your life masking — in therapy, in healthcare, or everywhere else — this might be the first place you don’t have to.

There’s no performance required here. You don’t have to have the “right” words, neatly organized thoughts, or a clear explanation of what’s going on. You can show up scattered, quiet, hyperverbal, shut down, or however you are — and that is enough to begin.

I show up unmasked.

You’ll get the real version of me: blunt, a little silly, sometimes weird, and fully present. I might lose my train of thought, fidget, stim, or infodump about whatever I’m hyperfixating on — whether that’s Star Trek, D&D, Pokémon, or a research rabbit hole. If we meet virtually, my Persian cat Benji will likely make an appearance.

I live with chronic illness and dynamic disability, so my access needs can shift day to day. I name them at the start of each session so you know what to expect — partly because it’s good modeling, and partly because part of our work together is practicing that it’s okay to have needs. Some days I might be sitting on the floor, stretching, or moving around. You’re encouraged to do whatever you need to do to make the session accessible to you.

We normalize being human here.

You're the expert of your lived experience.

I have a low tolerance for hierarchy — including the kind baked into therapy by default. I check in about how things are landing, explain my clinical reasoning, and invite you to tell me when something doesn’t fit. Mostly though, we just vibe together.

This is a collaborative relationship, not an expert delivering treatment to a passive recipient. You’re not hiring a peer — you’re working with a highly skilled clinician who guides the therapeutic process while centering your lived experience.

In our sessions, you’re welcome to stim, snack, move, or avoid eye contact—whatever helps you feel regulated. We can talk, sit in silence, parallel play, or begin wherever your nervous system has access. If you’re coming in person, let me know what snacks you prefer and I’ll keep them stocked. If we’re meeting virtually, pets are always welcome.

We Might Be a Good Fit If...

You’re neurodivergent, late-diagnosed, or currently figuring out what that means for you
You’re LGBTQIA+ or trying to figure out your identity and how you show up in this world
You’re dealing with an eating disorder, OCD, BFRBs, or anxiety—especially alongside neurodivergence or chronic illness
You’ve been through treatment before and it didn’t quite fit—or actively caused harm
You want a therapist who will actually engage with your complexity, not manage it
You need a space where you can unmask, move, stim, and show up as you actually are
You communicate directly and want your therapist to do the same
You hate small talk

I am not an ally who took a training. I live at these intersections — and I've spent years figuring out how to exist authentically in a world that wasn't built for people like us.

Licensure

Maryland License #29178
Licensed Certified Social Worker–Clinical (LCSW-C)
Virginia License #0904019764
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)
Florida Registration #TPSW575
Registered Florida Telehealth Provider (TPSW)

Education

Master of Social Work (MSW), Advanced Clinical Practice — Walden University
Certificate in Substance Abuse Counseling — Hagerstown CC
Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology, Concentration in Social Psychology — University of Maryland, College Park

Training & Certifications

Certified Body Trust® Provider, Center for Body Trust
PDA Level 2 Provider, PDA North America
Supervised clinical experience and training from The Renfrew Center & Eating Recovery Center

View Full Training History →

Professional Affiliations

Mid-Atlantic Collective for Eating Disorders (MAC for EDs) — Co-Founder & Director of Communications
Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC) for Research, Policy, & Action
Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) — Past Member of Online and Social Media Committee
International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (IAEDP) — Past Social Media Chair of Baltimore-Metro Chapter
International OCD Foundation (IOCDF)
The Divergent Clinician

Treatment Modalities

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for ARFID (CBT-AR)
Comprehensive Behavioral Treatment (ComB)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT-informed)
Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)
Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-E)
Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)
Family-Based Treatment (FBT)
Habit Reversal Training (HRT)
Inference-Based CBT (I-CBT)
Internal Family Systems (IFS-informed)
Metacognitive Therapy (MCT)
Polyvagal-informed Therapy
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)
Mastery Approach for Disgust-Based OCD
Unified Treatment for Eating Disorders (UT)

Therapeutic Approach

I was trained in the most rigorous evidence-based modalities for OCD and eating disorders. I know this work deeply. Not just because I was trained in it — but because I’ve been on the other side of it too.

But I’ve also sat with enough people who’d already tried “evidence-based treatment” and left feeling like they’d failed it. They hadn’t. The research just wasn’t built for brains like ours.

Most landmark studies in eating disorders and OCD excluded autistic people, ADHDers, trauma survivors, fat people, and people from marginalized communities. If you’ve ever wondered why treatment didn’t stick — that might be why.

So I’ve spent years expanding beyond the standard protocols: somatic and polyvagal-informed approaches, IFS, a much deeper understanding of how nervous system state shapes what’s actually possible in a session. I use what works. I adapt what almost works. And I’m honest about what the field still hasn’t figured out.

Podcast Appearances

Ready to work together?

Jenna offers neuroaffirming therapy, evaluations, and more in College Park, MD and via telehealth throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Florida. The free consultation is a no-pressure conversation — just a starting point.