Welcome! My name is Allison, and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Substance Use Disorder Professional (SUDP), and a Trauma Informed 200-Hour Trained Yoga Teacher based in Seattle. I work from a holistic, trauma-informed lens, offering a unique combination of talk and somatic therapy approaches. I see a diverse client population addressing a variety of concerns. The areas I most frequently support clients in include trauma and PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, substance use disorders, chronic illness, women’s issues, infertility, medical trauma, and life transitions.

While talk therapy provides a strong foundation, I’ve found that deeper and more lasting healing emerges when the body is also part of the process. So many of us are programmed to live in our heads and tend to dismiss bodily awareness. Our work together draws us gently back to the body, tapping into its innate wisdom— using it as a guide for integration, well-being, and resilience.

My somatic approach is informed by therapeutic yoga, Polyvagal Theory, and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Together we get to know and befriend our nervous systems and build new pathways toward connection and safety. We also develop resources to help self-regulate and co-regulate as we widen our window of tolerance for sensations and emotions. My therapeutic yoga offerings support every-body utilizing gentle movement, breath work, mantra, meditation and visualization. For clients wishing to integrate yoga into sessions, I tailor accessible practices to meet the unique needs of each client, empowering clients to reclaim a greater sense of choice and respect for their bodies as they develop greater physical and emotional resiliency.

I also offer Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, as standalone approaches or in combination. Both integrate mind, body and parts of self to find relief and new perspectives. EMDR helps reprocess distressing memories that shape our beliefs and emotional responses by focusing on a memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation. Results are associated with a reduction in vividness and disturbance. IFS helps us build compassionate relationships with the parts of ourselves that carry or protect core beliefs. Combined, EMDR and IFS offer more than the sum of their parts, helping us to both heal the wound and support the parts of self impacted by adversity to find more lasting change and harmony. These approaches are effective with a range of concerns including PTSD, anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, substance use disorder and other distressing life experiences.

I am trained in the Four Blinks version of Flash, a trauma-processing approach that leverages memory reconsolidating from a predictive brain theory perspective. Neuroscience increasingly demonstrates that our nervous system primarily constructs and predicts our current reality (often unconsciously) based on a combination of all past experience, current bodily states, and incoming sensory information. Flash supports the nervous system to update old patterns in response to prediction errors. This is done by pairing brief memory activation with new, corrective experiences in the present moment. This method can be especially helpful with highly distressing memories, as there is very little focus on the memory itself.

My offerings are also informed by Attachment Theory and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, with an emphasis on mindfulness and present moment awareness. We practice creating space for our thoughts and emotions without denying or suppressing them, as we develop healthy ways to cope with stress and regulate our emotions. We also focus on building secure, trusting relationships with self and other, strengthening interpersonal connections. Examples of other areas we may explore include boundaries, inner critic work, values identification, and goal setting.

I am passionate about supporting folks navigating addiction. I view addiction as the nervous system’s natural, adaptive attempt to self-regulate when being present is too overwhelming. I approach addiction as a symptom of a dysregulated nervous system that is often rooted in trauma, attachment wounds, or painful experience. In our work together we move beyond stigma and shame to address the whole person through compassionate inquiry. I often draw on  Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) techniques, which help us pause, observe present experiences, and bring awareness to the choices available in each moment, working toward freedom from autopilot.

Healing is a process. The intention of my work is to facilitate a safe, supportive, and interactive space in which you can access your inner source of strength and bring about positive change in your life. We achieve this by getting to know and trust our inner compass, enabling us to better regulate, establish healthy patterns, deepen connections, and move toward embodying a value-driven, meaningful life.