Meet Alicia

My Story

I’m glad you’re here. As someone who has been recently diagnosed, or has been living with a chronic illness over time, life can be really hard… the daily ups and downs with your emotions and your energy level can leave you feeling like your life is a yo-yo with no predictable plans.

I get it. I’ve been there.

Life with a chronic illness means you have no choice but to be flexible with your mood, abilities, and future planning. As an individual, this is hard. As a parent, perhaps it’s even harder.

I experienced similar things when I was diagnosed with chronic illnesses – from migraines to Lyme Disease and later Multiple Sclerosis. Learning how to live with illness has been part of my journey.

I’m also a therapist, wife and a mom, so it became part of my purpose to find ways to make it all work. Naturally, I started exploring how to help clients with the same challenges.

Here’s how I approach it

I want to know about your illness and how long it has affected your life. How is your illness interfering with the life you really want to live? Is it leaving you depressed, angry, feeling helpless, hopeless, anxious about the future or your child’s future? Has it led you to seek tons of treatment with few answers? Or left you feeling like a unicorn?

I want you to know you’re not alone. This is hard. I get it. Therapy helps you grieve the loss of the life you wish you had and find acceptance and a pathway forward that works for you.

What would a healthier version of you look like? You may not be able to change your illness, but you can find peace within it. By acknowledging where you are, you can set realistic expectations for your future.

We problem solve together. We find places in your life where you can make changes, however small, that builds your hope for the future. Most importantly, we work to accept and live at peace with what is out of your control.

My Therapy Style

  • My clients often say our discussions are like talks with a friend… It’s a casual style conversation with sarcasm and laughs, but you can also expect an accountability partner and advocate. You’ll be able to grieve and feel whatever emotions you need without needing to apologize for it.
  • At the end of our sessions, you will have something to focus on over the next week to help you meet your goals.
  • I use Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness-Focused Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to support you with life challenges.
  • This approach allows you to see the possibility of embracing your body with hope instead of focusing only on “what’s wrong with you."

We use CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and Mindfulness to talk you through the daily challenges. By aligning more authentically with your body, mind and energy, you become an expert in YOU. This approach allows you to see the possibility of embracing your body with hope instead of focusing only on what’s wrong with you. We’ll focus on how to adjust to all that comes with a chronic illness, building a life that works for you.

If you’re a parent, we work on realistic possibilities for your child. Family therapy is often helpful to create a healing system that works for everyone. Caregiver burnout is real and if you’re fraying at the edges because you are doing it all, depression and anxiety are not uncommon.

If your teen is experiencing challenges adjusting to a new illness or finding their footing with peers, I can help them too. Teens need a safe place to open up and express the truth of their fears and I am a sounding board meets practical help for the teens and families I work with.

As a professional, I have solid credentials:

  • MS in Mental Health Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.
  • CBT (cognitive behavioral training) and ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) with specific attention to anxiety, depression, trauma and behavioral challenges.
  • Mindfulness-Focused Therapy training.
  • Clinically, I have worked inpatient at Kennedy Krieger Institute , various outpatient mental health clinics, clinical manager at a substance abuse clinic, public schools in Anne Arundel county MD and in the Maryland juvenile detention systems.

If you need a personal therapist, a therapist for your teen or family counseling, please reach out. I offer a complimentary consultation to see if we’re a good fit to work together.