About Alicia Patterson

As I continue to develop and mature, my commitment to this field as well as my training and experience grows. I invest in further training and education every year. In no order of importance, I hold training in Somatic Psychotherapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Holistic Pelvic Care, Attachment Theory, Prenatal Psychology, Marriage & Family Therapy, PET-C (Practical & Experiential Therapy for Couples), Sex Therapy via AASECT sex therapists, Gestalt, Existential Therapy, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (I offer Ketamine Therapy and am highly aware & educated in the psychedelic therapy field), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), Suicide Assessment & Prevention, Severe Mental Illness Assessment & Stabilization, Multi-Cultural Competency, Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Clinical Supervision, Cranial Sacral therapy / nervous system supportive touch work & more.

Before I entered my graduate work, I completed programs in health & nutrition, taught yoga & meditation for years, and am also a licensed massage therapist which partners well with Somatic Counseling training. In addition to the trainings above, I draw heavily on Internal Family Systems (IFS, which is based on Gestalt), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), The Gottman Method, Discernment Counseling, Neuroscience, Transpersonal & Depth Psychology, Ancestry & Lineage / multi-culturally competency, Brainspotting, and more. I enjoy being an integrative practitioner and am not a “one modality is the answer for everyone” type of professional.

My work with couples evolved naturally from my focus on women’s health. I eventually started seeing couples & families to help address the nuances of relationships, attachment & bonding, parenting, monogamy, marriage, fertility, intimacy & sexuality, long-term relationship evolution, and life planning. I enjoy working with couples and find the deepening of relationships and relational clarity a beautiful and stabilizing force in an uncertain world. I began offering Discernment Counseling when I learned the difference between Discernment work and couples therapy, a much needed distinction and service.

My women’s health work is geared toward extra support for the specific experience of living in a female body. The pace of our world and society can make this a moving target that requires support. I also enjoy offering family sessions and have seen incredible fruits when families invest in getting support for the health of the family system.

In addition to the traditional counseling relationship and session setup, I offer intensive services / programs including:

- Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy:
I think of ketamine as a fancy, short-term mood stabilizer without the side effects of psychiatric medication that can be very tricky for some clients. It can also be an efficient tool for focused work around something specific or trauma work, as well as stress system. I also find ketamine highly effective for working with the attachment system and recovering from painful relationship experiences. Some clients who are active in psychotherapy engage in Ketamine work as an adjunct / addition, and some work the Ketamine experience actively into the psychotherapeutic container / experience. I am trained in and happy to offer both options.

- Psychedelic Therapy Integration Support:
These sessions might be utilized as a support for clients who are working with intentional, safe, responsible psychedelic work with a facilitator and need extra support or who have gone on an intensive style retreat and can benefit from a safe landing pad in their daily life.

- Intensive Retreats:
Intensive retreats are offered for individuals or for couples. These experiences can be applied to any type of content you want to work with. I’ve offered intensives for women’s health focused work, intensive trauma work, EMDR, or for relationships / couples process / discernment work. Some clients benefit from an intensive format. Lack of time in daily life, work & travel needs, a crisis and focused / extended attention & facilitation can be highly beneficial. This is a personalized experience with a dedicated professional where you don’t have to rush or pressure things into a 60 minute session. An intensive experience can provide you with a clear understanding of your core challenges, give thorough assessment and guidance, education & skill building, and give you the space to unpack things that may be too difficult in daily life. The format is typically 1-5 days, around 4 hours per day. I follow a standard intensive format but always tailor things to you and your circumstances. We ensure you gain what you are seeking from intensive time together. Years of training in a variety of modalities are pulled on and applied in a structured format to your unique situation. I specifically offer structures for intensives geared toward women’s work, couples work, and EMDR. Please inquire to discuss the details. Intensives can be delivered in-office or remotely, depending on your needs and goals.

- Specialized Women’s Health Program (in a 2-3 full day format or a paced 3 month process):
This program is best for women who are ready to understand themselves more and may be at the early stages of the holistic women’s health journey and are just getting to know their bodies. We will engage in a structured process of psycho-education, practices & homework, combined with space for process / experiential work associated with each topic. We’ll cover a set list of themes: anatomy, the cycle, emotions & the body, pelvic trauma, lineage & ancestry, sexuality / attachment, fertility tracking, and female body system care / tools in a way that is attuned and customized for your personal story and goals.

- Business Mentorship
Mentorship, and / or business development support for professionals / practitioners in a flexible consultation container.

When I’m Not In The Office

Professionalism is one of my top core values. I hold strong values around working in a caregiving profession and have had a full working life for my entire adult career path. That said, I maintain a full and active life outside of my work and believe we need to prioritize a multi-faceted approach to our health in order to maintain our capacity for a thriving life. When I’m not in my office, I enjoy time with friends and family, beloved pets, racket sports, and am always ready to be at the beach. I am an avid reader and am always engaging in my own personal work with myself. Part of my time outside work is maintaining strong personal practices to ensure that my work as a support professional is sustainable. This field of work requires me to be healthy and I take that and my focus of work very seriously. I also prioritize continued studies that drive my evolution and development as a practitioner and find great fulfillment in that development.

Credentials:

Education & Licensure:
Mount Saint Mary’s University, B.A.
Naropa University, M.A. & Staff Faculty 2014
Boulder Massage Therapy Institute, Certification of Completion & Staff Faculty 2018
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 in emergency rooms providing psychiatric evaluations alongside working in hospital psychiatric inpatient units, private residential treatment, community mental health crisis services, and a small community oriented trauma-focused 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. I also worked for a small startup in digital marketing. I strive to contribute to the field gaining needed attention amongst our society that still has out-dated stigma about mental health. 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 as president and other roles for years, and follow ACA (American Counseling Association) guidelines. I’ve been very involved & engaged in my career in a wide variety of settings and feel my experience and exposure is very unique in the scope of the mental health field.

Frequently Asked Questions:

- What does this process entail?
Sessions look different depending on the circumstances and needs of each client and can be difficult to describe. We will begin with a few history taking sessions which is always an evaluation and does not qualify as active treatment. After we both assess if we are a good fit to work together, we’ll work toward establishing a strong relationship and setting goals, followed by meeting regularly or setting up an intensive. In couples and family work, we strive to create mutual understanding, improve communication, implement respectful engagement protocols, and establish agreements / shared goals. I love working in the office with clients but am also happy to offer virtual work. Many clients enjoy working together virtually for the comfort, quiet, convenience of being in their own space in addition to avoiding driving in busy areas. Some clients come into the office and do some virtual in a kind of hybrid way of working together. Though in-person connection is indeed different than being on a device, I find tele-health works just as well for many clients. Creating a transition, showing up to session prepared and in a private space helps telehealth be effective. I feel confident & comfortable offering telehealth services and connecting. I even do EMDR virtually and am happy to offer the flexibility as I know a post 2020 life looks different for many people now in terms of schedule / work / travel, etc.

- Cadence and frequency:
There’s no general standard and it truly looks different for everyone. Generally, most clients engage in consistent meetings for therapy for 6-12 months and sometimes more. An intensive container is crafted to suit your needs and can be anywhere from one full weekend to 3 months. Many clients maintain weekly meetings and some every other week. Once a month is termed “maintenance” in the psychotherapy field to support thriving. Maintenance is appropriate for those who are stable, doing well, and want a witness / therapeutic professional in their life as an investment. Monthly maintenance is a check-in. For those who are in distress, at times I have seen clients twice per week if I have the capacity for that and we are in an established therapeutic relationship. At other times, a small amount of sessions can provide the needed tools and results happen quickly, more swift than perhaps expected. I’ve seen some clients for an intensive period of 3 months, while others stayed connected or active in some way for over a decade. Having a strong bond with one person, a witness who stays with you, is part of a value system of care for some clients. Intensive programs offer the value of seeing someone who is a trained therapeutic professional in a container of a set number of sessions designed around education / structure / specific exercises / tools. Please inquire about the difference between active / on-going psychotherapy and intensive work.

- Results:
I am always wanting you to gain results and tools as well as feel better. Sometimes we feel ruffled before we get relief. This requires patience. Over time, ideally, we support you to find homeostasis, physiological and cognitive balance, and stability within yourself. Developing this can take time and it depends on the circumstance / history. This is a process of fortifying oneself and building inner ground which can feel hard to do in today’s world. Sometimes, in our current culture, we look for a miracle, a quick fix, the next thing that will work magic. While a variety of modalities and exploring is always supported, sometimes we need to commit, slow down, and orient toward the long road with patience and dedication to our own process. Awakening your deepest intelligence is a practice, but eventually it should bring centeredness to your life. Sometimes change is experienced fast and it takes time to last. At other times, it can take extended time for change to show up but when it does, the roots goes deep and a whole new foundation is created. I know this journey in my own life and body, and I know what it looks like in people after all of my experience. Having a partner with you, a trained observer and teammate to help you track and witness your inner world is a valuable resource.

- Payment: Participating in this process asks us to place your well-being as top priority. This includes financial investment. When we work together, we both commit resources, which symbolizes your health as a core value in life. I am committed to offering payment schedules which are manageable for clients and integrated into the goals of our work together. As a licensed psychotherapist, I am able to provide statements which you can submit to your health plan. I do not participate directly with insurance carriers through my private work. Intensives are billed by the hour / container.