About
I’m Alison, and I’m a millennial, adoptive mom, and therapist.
Being an adoptive mom and a therapist are both such huge, tremendous honors and privileges. There is nothing quite like either of them - in both very joyful, life-giving ways, and also very stressful and sometimes traumatic ways. To be trusted with someone’s deepest, most vulnerable stories, emotions, thoughts, and pains - it’s an honor I take so seriously. To see my kids and my clients feeling safe enough to let their guards down, sit with feelings they’ve typically avoided, become more comfortable, familiar, and accepting of the parts of themselves they would rather have disappear, and gradually beginning to internalize and then live the healing work we do together - it’s beyond words.
My form of therapy is very simple and very basic: it’s allowing you to experience the sense of safety, being seen, being understood, and being supported, that you should have experienced from the very beginning. I see how it works. It allows people to tap into the strengths, resilience, and resources that have always been there. It helps people begin seeing their own strengths, capabilities, and worth, maybe for the first time. And the best part of all this is, you don’t need to rely on remembering the exact right skills or technique we learned in therapy. You don’t have to apply certain trendy methods or ways of thinking that other therapists or social media has said you should. You don’t even need to rely on me. Our work together, with support and practice over time, allows you to tap into what you’ve had inside you all along. What I do for you is support you on the way to becoming unburdened by all of the lies, fear, criticisms, and anxieties that have held you back before.
Typically, my clients fall into one or more of these categories:
“Good kid adults” - any age, with kids or without - people who grew up with their sense of well-being tied to the well-being of those around them. Those who were never taught to figure out what they wanted, only what made others happy. Those who have tried a lot of other things on their path to healing - you’ve read the books, listened to the podcasts, followed self-healing accounts, gone to therapy, tried meditation and yoga and acupuncture and all the things - and yet something is still weighing heavily. You are so smart and so capable, and you just need the right support.
Young parents who relate strongly to examples like the one I just laid out, who are desperately afraid of repeating these patterns with their kids, and who get highly anxious and triggered when their kids are upset because it makes them feel like they have done something wrong as a parent. You want to raise resilient, confident kids and may be doing extremely well, but you are triggered and anxious most of the time while doing so. You are doing amazing and you deserve to enjoy your parenthood while it lasts.
Adoptive families - as one myself, I know how limited good resources are. I know how judged you can feel going through the process and then nearly every day along the way to helping your kiddos heal. I know how much sacrifice it takes, how triggering and exhausting it all gets, and how difficult it can be to feel understood. Maybe you feel completely overwhelmed by your kids’ needs and trauma responses and have no idea if there’s hope. I’ve been there! I would love to help you and your family thrive.
Former adoptees - your experience is unlike anyone’s. Even if you are connected to other adoptees, your experience may differ so much from theirs. You love your adoptive family and are grateful to have been adopted, but you also feel a chronic sense of incompleteness. You want clarity about who you are and where you’ve come from. You have so many questions and you sometimes feel like you don’t belong anywhere. You maybe even have had to hide parts of yourself and become someone you weren’t to feel accepted by your family and the world. You deserve to feel at peace. You deserve to be seen. You deserve to understand your own story.
If you have questions or think we’d be a good fit to work together, I invite you to reach out! My work is truly an honor and a privilege.