About Alicia Patterson

I am one of those lucky people who discovered my interest in and capacity for supporting others early in my life. From a young age, I found myself interested in human connection, relationships, and human growth and development. I’ve always been a seeker of truths. I enjoy the human relationship and find that a safe relational presence is invaluable and sometimes scarce but so needed in our world today.

”Faith cannot be justified, it’s impossible. Faith means, I don’t know and yet I have to go forward. The world as we knew it is changing and some believe is falling apart. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but many people have been and will be terribly hurt by it. The only thing that will effectively deal with this situation is the willingness to move forward into surrender. Even once we’ve surrendered, we are not finished until we take action. In the face of complete uncertainty, faith is the ability to take action. This faith is a choice we have to make.” - Phil Stutz

My journey toward private practice has been in the making since my first experiences working in public service as a young adult. Thanks to my family values, I hold a strong work ethic and a high standard of professionalism and care. I’ve been working in human services, student & client care, within the medical & education system in various ways since 2008. I love what I do and am still fulfilled after almost 20 years of working to support those who are ready to receive it. I’ve been in the field of psychology since 2011, fully licensed since 2016, and working in a private practice setting since 2013.

I pride myself on my availability for diving in and collaborating with clients on the path to deepening knowledge of ourselves, others, and how we fit into this wider world as humans. I was raised in the Washington D.C. area, in Maryland, and have personal and professional experience with people from many different areas of the country and world.

How I Work:

I work in partnership with my clients, collaborating to forge a path toward growth. This is unique for everyone. While you bring your expertise about yourself and your life into therapy, I bring my experience and a wide variety of training and skills to each session. I am forever a student, always studying so I can keep growing and honing my skills.

Clients have often told me they have been in therapy before, but my approach, depth, relational style, and combination of modalities are unique. I also receive feedback that my direct but warm communication style makes our time together feel efficient and well spent. My goal is to always have you walk out of the office carrying effective tools and feeling more deeply connected to yourself, your truth, and the capacity to move forward in your life, no matter what circumstances you’re navigating.

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Why I Chose My Specialties :

I chose my specialty in the somatic psychology field after working at an orthopedic surgeon’s practice. I found myself drawn to the opportunity to look below the surface of the medical experience I was witnessing. I was most interested in the psyche and story of my patients. As I pursued my career, my own journey with my body and female experience brought me to specialize in women’s health needs.

I’ve treated men and women alike for a wide variety of challenges, but my efforts seem most effective for women (and those in women’s lives) who are ready for a cutting-edge and modern-day approach to addressing all it means to be a woman in this complicated world. I’ve worked with a significant number of clients, supporting them with:

  • Managing anxiety & depression, & trauma recovery

  • Starting (or the longing to start) a family, fertility issues, child loss

  • Dealing with the nuances of the women’s health journey

  • Coping with the changes that happen as we mature and grow older

  • Navigating divorce, relationships with adult children, family issues related to health challenges, and more. 

I hold years of extensive training and continue to invest in training and education every year. I’m trained in EMDR, Holistic Pelvic Care, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), Attachment Theory & Birth Psychology, Motivational Interviewing, Gestalt & parts work, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Sexuality & Intimacy work via AASECT sex therapists, Family Systems, Suicide Assessment & Prevention, Multi-Cultural Competency, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, Family Systems, Clinical Supervision, and more. I am a licensed massage therapist as well as a licensed professional counselor. In addition to the trainings above, I draw on psychodynamic therapy, AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), The Gottman Method, Neurobiology & Polyvagal Theory, Transpersonal & Depth Psychology, Ancestry & Lineage work, Brainspotting, Cranial Sacral therapy, and more. I also offer Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy & psychedelic integration support.

My work with couples evolved naturally from my focus on women’s health work. The women I was seeing eventually would ask about bringing their partners in to hear my thoughts about couples work, how to address the nuances of long-term relationships / dating, attachment & bonding, monogamy, marriage, and life planning. I enjoy working with couples and find the deepening of relationships a beautiful and stabilizing force in a world that continues to feel uncertain.

Working with mothers, child-free women, women who are seeking partnership, couples who are seeking help with parenting and the modern-day struggles that come with it is a needed and helpful addition to women’s work. Women are the center of their personal and familial universe, and when they are well, the system can more easily thrive. I also enjoy offering family sessions and have seen incredible fruits for women and their families when adults invest in the evolving parent-child relationship into adulthood.

When I’m Not In The Office

Partially due to being raised in the Washington D.C. area and being raised by two civil servants, professionalism is one of my top core values. I hold strong values around working in a caregiving profession, have had a full working life for my entire adult career path, and enjoy working with busy professionals. That said, I maintain a full and active life outside of my work and believe we need to prioritize all aspects of our health in order to maintain our capacity for a long and thriving life. When I’m not in my office, I enjoy time with friends and family, beloved pets (including chickens!), playing all types of racket sports, gardening, and getting as much sun as I can. Part of my time outside of work is maintaining strong personal practices to ensure that my work as a support professional is sustainable. Choosing a long career as a service professional is a certain kind of lifestyle choice and I am invested in it. My own journey with my health is part of what led me to specialize in women’s work with my clients. I make sure to continue studies that drive my continued evolution and development as a woman and practitioner in this world, at an especially powerful and pivotal time.

Credentials:

Education & Licensure:
Mount Saint Mary’s University, B.A.
Naropa University, MA
Boulder Massage Therapy Institute
LPC - Licensed Professional Counselor, 2016 - present
LMT - Licensed Massage Therapist, 2017 - present
R-DMT - Registered Dance Movement Therapist, 2013 - present

I’ve been working in human services in some capacity since 2008. As I grew my private practice, I honed my skills working in emergency room psychiatric evaluations & hospital psychiatric inpatient treatment, private residential treatment, community mental health crisis services, and a small trauma-informed agency. As a younger professional, I worked in an autism preschool classroom in one of the most robust school counties in Maryland (Montgomery County), for an orthopedic surgery practice for years in the Washington D.C. area, and with inner-city healthcare staffing in Baltimore, MD. Now, on top of my full time clinical work, enjoy visiting classrooms and speaking with students in training as well as mentoring / supervision and working with practitioners as clients. I am a strong advocate for mental health awareness and hope to contribute to the field gaining it’s needed attention among our society. I maintain strong professional and supervision relationships. I've been affiliated with the ADTA American Dance Therapy Association since 2011, served on the board for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the ADTA for years, and follow the ACA (American Counseling Association) guidelines. Working in multiple treatment settings and environments has given me a broad range of experience and knowledge.