Meet Alyson

After I completed my formal education, I began working with a community behavioral health clinic where I was offered the opportunity to receive training in EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). Knowing little about EMDR at the time, but knowing it was an expensive training for which a discount was being offered, I jumped on the opportunity. This training completely changed my life and the path of my career.

Since that first day of EMDR training, my eyes and mind opened to the effects that trauma can have on the human mind and soul. I have since completed my EMDR basic training and completed the required advanced studies and consultation hours to become certified as an EMDR provider by EMDRIA, the International Association which governs EMDR clinicians. Most recently, I have completed Level I training in Internal Family Systems (IFS) via IFS Institute, become a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, trained under Dr. J. Eric Gentry of the Arizona Trauma Institute and a Certified Trauma Therapist using the Instinctual Trauma Response method under the guidance of Dr. Linda Gantt of the ITR Training Institute.

Other trainings I have completed include, but are not limited to: the Emotional Freedom Technique and many other trauma-specific trainings under Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Lisa Ferentz, LCSW-C, DAPA. My journey thus far has led me to become trained as a registered yoga teacher from the red lila School of Yoga and then a trauma-informed yoga instructor.

At the end of the day, I do this work because I can’t not do it. It’s my passion and I know it’s value based on the benefits I’ve seen in my own life. I know that freedom and weightlessness in my mind, body and soul when I can simply notice something from my past and it no longer have that negative hold on me.

It’s my privilege and honor to be able to support others through their journey. I know how difficult it is to take that first step, to schedule that first appointment. The struggle to say out loud that “I hurt, every cell of my body hurts”. I believe that everyone experiences trauma in life and treat no trauma as a small trauma. Your feelings are valid and your story is real and I am here for you, when you are ready.

When not seeing clients at Believe Counseling, I enjoy taking hikes with my husband and our ever energetic 12-year old rescue pup, Rex, challenging myself with a “work-in” at yoga class rather than a workout or learning to crochet something warm and cozy.