Monir Khanjani, LCSW-C

Monir Khanjani is a licensed clinical social worker who earned her MSW from Syracuse University in 1998 and has spent nearly three decades working with individuals and families. She works with adolescents age 13 and up, as well as adults of all ages, bringing a steady and practical approach to therapy that meets clients where they are. Monir sees clients at Kentlands Psychotherapy on Saturdays.

Support for Substance Use Concerns

A good part of Monir’s caseload is adolescents dealing with marijuana or other substance use, often alongside low motivation, low self-esteem, and a hard time keeping up with school or everyday responsibilities. These teens may be leaning heavily on peer relationships to feel okay, sometimes to the point of isolation, and she’s attentive to the self-harm risk that can show up alongside these struggles. Family dynamics matter here too. Parents who hover too close or who’ve checked out entirely both create real friction for a teenager trying to grow up. Monir draws on Motivational Interviewing, a technique she has formal training in, to build a teen’s own readiness for change, CBT to work through the negative self-talk that keeps them stuck, and DBT skills like distress tolerance and emotion regulation to give them tools that actually hold up under pressure.

Teens and Young Adults

She also works well with teens and young adults navigating anger, anxiety, and the harder parts of communicating what they need, whether at home or with peers. This is often the client dealing with parental conflict or divorce, or a parent managing their own mental health symptoms, which adds another layer to what the teen is carrying. Monir helps them identify what sets them off and reframe the thought patterns that keep the cycle going, using DBT to strengthen how they handle relationships and regulate emotion, and MI to support the kind of change that comes from inside rather than from being told what to do.

Her Work with Adults

With adults, Monir’s focus shifts toward relationships, parenting stress, and the anxiety or self-doubt that can come with wanting more control than life usually allows. She also works with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and the communication struggles that come up around separation and divorce. These are clients looking for clarity, for concrete skills, or simply for a better understanding of the patterns driving their day-to-day. She uses Motivational Interviewing to help clarify what someone actually wants and reduce the ambivalence that keeps them circling, CBT to challenge beliefs that no longer serve them, and DBT to build mindfulness and steadier emotional responses, particularly within close relationships.

Background

Outside of Kentlands Psychotherapy, Monir manages a Montgomery County program supporting adults facing complex behavioral health and substance use challenges, work that includes coordinating care and treatment access for people navigating the justice system. That experience has given her a deep understanding of how a loved one’s legal or substance use struggles ripple through a whole family, and she brings real sensitivity to clients who are supporting someone who is incarcerated or working through recovery under difficult circumstances.

Monir Khanjani’s CV