Background:

Alissa has worked successfully as a psychotherapist with people of all ages and diverse backgrounds on issues including: relationships, communication skills, anxiety, addiction, depression, stress, trauma, PTSD, abuse, grief and loss, divorce, family conflict, self-esteem, sexuality, ADHD, academic and career concerns. She also works with couples and facilitates therapy groups.

In addition to seeing people in her private practice, Alissa has provided counseling services at a variety of local non-profit organizations that offer specialized support to: the LGBTQ community (Pacific Pride Foundation), survivors of sexual assault/abuse (Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center), individuals in sober transitional housing, and in-school counseling for children and teens.

Alissa completed her M.A. in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Somatic Psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She offers sessions at her office in downtown Santa Barbara and online.

Approach to Psychotherapy:

It takes courage and strength to reach out for support and to make changes rather than letting our habits and fears run the show, keeping us stuck in the same old patterns. The best environment for facilitating positive transformation is one where all aspects of ourselves can be explored nonjudgmentally with kindness, compassion, and respect.

We have all developed strategies to survive emotionally based on our past, some of which hinder rather that help us in our present circumstances. In therapy, new ways of being and interacting are not only talked about, but actually experienced during therapy, creating a new blueprint for interactions with others and with the world in general. Alissa offers guidance and support in learning and developing new skills for growth. Therapy helps us to untangle inner conflicts and navigate overwhelming emotions, allowing us to move forward and feel more confident in making the decisions that are best for us.

In addition to using traditional methods, Alissa specializes in somatic psychotherapy, a holistic approach to well-being that teaches people to become mindfully aware of mental, emotional, and physical dimensions of experience and how they interact. Somatic mindfulness training fosters a clearer connection with inner guidance and a better-feeling way of experiencing intense emotions.

If our nervous system is chronically over-activated (anxious) or suppressed (depressed), this neural patterning can overshadow all of our experience of life. As we deepen our awareness of inner experience, new neural pathways are formed which offer new ways of responding to emotions and a new emotional baseline from which to operate in day-to-day life.

Cultivating mindful presence and self-acceptance, we can develop a deeper understanding of the emotional logic behind conflicting thoughts and feelings that allows them to transform and come into alignment with the present.  With mindful attention to inner experience, insight can arise organically from inner guidance rather than solely from intellectual interpretation.

Rather than being ruled by emotions or patterns from the past that no longer serve us, we come into relationship with them in a way that allows them to transform, releasing old burdens and freeing up energy for being in the world and in relationship in more fulfilling and authentic ways.

Click here or scroll down to contact Alissa directly with any questions or to schedule a first session.