---
title: Onika Walker, LMSW
date: 2025-09-15T22:02:13Z
modified: 2026-10-16T01:31:53Z
permalink: "https://www.columbiapsychiatry-dc.com/team/onika-walker-lmsw/"
type: team
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 4893
specialty:
  - Therapy
office:
  - Columbia Psychiatry
  - Silver Spring, MD
modality_areas:
  - Brief Therapy
  - Child Therapy
  - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  - Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  - Family Systems
  - Individual Counseling
  - Psychotherapy
  - Relationship and Family Counseling
  - Solution Focused Therapy
  - Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
conditions:
  - Addiction & Substance Use
  - ADHD
  - Adoption
  - Anger Management & Impulse Disorders
  - Anxiety Disorders
  - Autism Spectrum Disorders
  - Behavioral Issues
  - Bipolar Disorder
  - Borderline Personality Disorder
  - Career Issues
  - Child Abuse
  - Chronic Illness & Chronic Pain
  - Cultural (racial, ethnic) Identity Issues
  - Death, Dying, & Terminal Illness
  - Depression
  - Developmental Disorders
  - Domestic Violence
  - Eating Disorders
  - Eating/Food Insecurities
  - Family Conflict
  - Gambling Addiction
  - Grief and Bereavement
  - Homelessness
  - Intellectual Disabilities
  - Mood Disorders
  - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  - Panic/Phobias
  - Parenting Issues
  - Personality Disorders
  - Physical Abuse Victims
  - Post-Partum/Pre-Partum
  - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  - Relationship Issues
  - School Related Problems
  - Self-Harming Behaviors
  - Sex Abuse Victims
  - Sleep Disorders
  - Social Anxiety
  - Stress Management
  - Suicidality
  - Transition to Adulthood
  - Trauma
  - Traumatic Brain Injury
  - "Women's Issues"
special_populations:
  - Co-Occurring Disorders
  - Geriatric
  - HIV/AIDS
  - Immigrant Populations
  - LGBTQI+
  - Refugees
language:
  - "No"
featured_image: "https://www.columbiapsychiatry-dc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Onika.jpg"
timestamp: 2026-10-16T01:31:53Z
tags:
  - Therapy
  - Columbia Psychiatry
  - Silver Spring, MD
  - Brief Therapy
  - Child Therapy
  - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  - Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  - Family Systems
  - Individual Counseling
  - Psychotherapy
  - Relationship and Family Counseling
  - Solution Focused Therapy
  - Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
  - Addiction & Substance Use
  - ADHD
  - Adoption
  - Anger Management & Impulse Disorders
  - Anxiety Disorders
  - Autism Spectrum Disorders
  - Behavioral Issues
  - Bipolar Disorder
  - Borderline Personality Disorder
  - Career Issues
  - Child Abuse
  - Chronic Illness & Chronic Pain
  - Cultural (racial, ethnic) Identity Issues
  - Death, Dying, & Terminal Illness
  - Depression
  - Developmental Disorders
  - Domestic Violence
  - Eating Disorders
  - Eating/Food Insecurities
  - Family Conflict
  - Gambling Addiction
  - Grief and Bereavement
  - Homelessness
  - Intellectual Disabilities
  - Mood Disorders
  - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
  - Panic/Phobias
  - Parenting Issues
  - Personality Disorders
  - Physical Abuse Victims
  - Post-Partum/Pre-Partum
  - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  - Relationship Issues
  - School Related Problems
  - Self-Harming Behaviors
  - Sex Abuse Victims
  - Sleep Disorders
  - Social Anxiety
  - Stress Management
  - Suicidality
  - Transition to Adulthood
  - Trauma
  - Traumatic Brain Injury
  - "Women's Issues"
  - Co-Occurring Disorders
  - Geriatric
  - HIV/AIDS
  - Immigrant Populations
  - LGBTQI+
  - Refugees
  - "No"
---

### Licensed Master of Social Work

![](https://www.columbiapsychiatry-dc.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Onika.jpg)

I am a clinician at our [Silver Spring, MD](https://www.columbiapsychiatry-dc.com/wp-content/uploads/wp-mfa-exports/location/silver-spring-md.md) clinic who provides [therapy](https://www.columbiapsychiatry-dc.com/psychiatric-care/mental-health-counseling-and-therapy/) services!

I work especially well with adults and couples navigating anxiety, trauma-related patterns, grief and loss, relationship conflict, emotional reactivity, shame, low self-worth, overthinking, withdrawal, people-pleasing, fear of abandonment, or difficulty feeling secure in close relationships. I am often a good fit for people who want to understand why a pattern keeps repeating, not just find a quick way to manage it.

I offer a warm, direct, and conversational space where you do not have to have everything figured out. I draw from attachment-based, psychodynamic, parts-informed, somatic, and emotionally focused approaches, including ideas from Coherence Therapy, to help clients better understand the patterns that keep repeating.

Therapy with me is about more than simply managing symptoms. Together, we slow down what is happening beneath the surface, make room for what has been hard to name or carry, and work toward greater emotional clarity, self-trust, steadiness, and more secure connection with yourself and others.