About Alicia Patterson

I am one of those lucky people who discovered my interest and capacity for supporting others early in my life. From a young age, I found myself deeply involved in the work of 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. In the modern world, the therapeutic relationship is one of the ways we get that primal need met.

”Faith cannot be justified, it’s impossible. Faith means, I don’t know and yet I have to move forward. The world as we knew it is changing and has changed. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, but the questions and pace of life have quickened as evolution continues. The only thing that will effectively deal with this collective 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 the values instilled in me as a young person, I hold a strong work ethic and high standard of professionalism and caregiving. I’ve been working in human services, student & client care, within the medical, educational & mental health systems in various ways since 2008. I love what I do and am still fulfilled after almost 20 years of working in the service field. 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 world as humans. I was raised in the Washington D.C. area and have personal and professional experience working closely 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 support relationships before, but my approach, depth, relational style, and combination of modalities are unique and well integrated. 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. I work virtually for those who prefer that and also offer intensive programs for those who are curious about this work but not yet ready for the full psychotherapy process.

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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 psyche and story of the people who came through this high caliber medical practice. 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. The longer I stay at my craft, the more nuanced things become. 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

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, EMDR, Holistic Pelvic Care, Attachment Theory, Prenatal Psychology, Family Systems, PET-C (Practical & Experiential Therapy for Couples), Sex Therapy via AASECT sex therapists, Gestalt & parts work, Existential Therapy, Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, 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, and more.

Outside of the counseling field, I completed a health coaching program with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, taught yoga & meditation for years, and am a licensed massage therapist. In addition to the trainings above, I draw heavily on psychodynamic therapy, AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), The Gottman Method, Neurobiology & Polyvagal Theory, Transpersonal & Depth Psychology, Ancestry & Lineage work, Brainspotting, and Cranial Sacral therapy. I enjoy being an integrative practitioner and drawing on a variety of different mentors / teachers / theories / approaches.

My work with couples evolved naturally from my focus on women’s health work. I eventually started seeing couples & families to help address the nuances of long-term relationships / dating, attachment & bonding, parenting, monogamy, marriage, and life planning. I enjoy working with couples and find the deepening of relationships a beautiful and stabilizing force in an uncertain world.

My women’s health work is geared toward extra support for the specific experience of living in a female body. Women are the center of their personal and familial universe, and when they are well, the system and their bodies can more easily thrive. I also enjoy offering family sessions and have seen incredible fruits when families invest in getting support for the system.

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

- Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy: some clients who are active in psychotherapy with me engage in Ketamine work, and some clients see me specifically for Ketamine therapy and are not a long-term psychotherapy client (or perhaps they have their own psychotherapist but want to add an adjunctive treatment of KAP). I offer KAP in-person / in the office, in partnership with a local Holistic Prescriber and small local pharmacy as the highest quality small batch medicine / product is important. I do not offer KAP virtually.

- 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 out of town and can benefit from a safe landing pad back in their daily life. Gentle nervous system support work on the bodywork table can be especially helpful to digest these expansive experiences.

- Therapeutic Touch Work: clothed, bodywork table sessions drawing on Cranial Sacral, Nervous System & Endocrine System support, & trauma-informed touch work. Clients with anxiety spectrum challenges / OCD / ADHD can especially benefit from this gentle approach.

- Nervous System Intensive Program: a program I created based on Polyvagal & attachment theory, breathwork, somatic movement practices, EMDR & bilateral resource work. This program is a wonderful place to start for those who are not yet ready for the counseling relationship but want to begin practicing somatic work and thrive on an experiential / structured program. This is best done in the office but can be offered virtually for those who want access and are too far away.

- Specialized Women’s Health Coaching Program: virtually or in-office. 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. We will engage in a structured process of psycho-education, practices & homework, process / experiential work associated with each topic, and establishing a stable foundation of health and connection with oneself. We’ll cover a variety of themes including anatomy, caring for the cycling body, emotional work & pelvic trauma recovery, lineage & ancestry, sexuality / attachment & human development, fertility tracking, and female body system care / tools. For those who are new to somatic work, some clients choose to do the nervous system program listed above as it creates a great foundation for the women’s health program and can allow for more support.

- Specialized Women’s Bodywork Program: in-office. This program is best for women who know their bodies well, have built a foundation of support in life and are ready to deepen. This might look like working with specific pelvic health symptoms / events / life transition / trauma resolution. Some women complete one or both of the programs listed above before engaging in the bodywork process. Having a stable baseline of physiological health can help this bodywork program give the most fruits (an overly stressed system is not the best time to engage in this bodywork process as working deeply with the core can sometimes stir things up physiologically).

- Supervision: mentorship, and / or business development support for professionals / practitioners

Please Note: The intensive containers listed above are a different relationship and process than being an active psychotherapy client. A psychotherapy relationship is a very specific container with a certain set of ethical boundaries. Any type of intensive container work is a more brief, solution focused, heavily structured process and is not the same container of psychotherapy. Please inquire to discuss my services and different options. We’ll find the right path for you. While I have general protocols and processes I follow, all intensive programs are curated specifically to you and your goals. Intensive programs are typically completed over the course of about 3 months.

When I’m Not In The Office

After being raised in the Washington D.C. area by two civil servants, 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 long thriving life. When I’m not in my office, I enjoy time with friends and family, beloved pets (including chickens! they are fun, feel free to ask me about their story), playing all types of racket sports, 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. I prioritize continued studies that drive my evolution and development as a practitioner.

Credentials:

Education & Licensure:
Mount Saint Mary’s University, B.A.
Naropa University, M.A.
Boulder Massage Therapy Institute, Certification of Completion & Served as Faculty
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 the hospital psychiatric inpatient unit, 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 orthopaedic surgery practice for years in the Washington D.C. area, and with inner-city healthcare staffing in Baltimore, MD. I 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 strive to contribute to the field gaining 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 ACA (American Counseling Association) guidelines. Working in multiple treatment settings and environments in addition to working with private clients has given me a broad range of experience and knowledge.

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 what it always looks like. We will begin with a few history taking session which is always an evaluation and does not qualify as active treatment. After we assess if we are a good fit to work together, we’ll work toward establishing a strong relationship and goal setting, followed by meeting regularly to discover ways to support you to find a more fulfilling life and reduce suffering. In couples and family work, we strive to create mutual understanding, improve communication, 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 their own space in addition to avoiding driving in busy areas. Some clients come into the office and also do 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 some clients. I even do EMDR virtually, and am happy to offer tele-health to those who prefer it.

- Cadence and frequency: Again, there’s no general standard and it looks different for everyone. Generally, most clients engage in consistent meetings for therapy for 6 months or more. A coaching or intensive container is typically 3 months though I have worked with some of those clients for longer as well. This process of establishes a strong relationship as a foundation can allow deeper flourishing of the process. Many clients maintain weekly meetings, and some every other week, once a month as “maintenance” to support thriving, or even twice per week if required. At times, a small amount of sessions can provide the needed tools and results happen quickly. I’ve seen some clients for an intensive period of 3 months, and some have stayed connected or active for over a decade. Having a witness in life, a strong bond with one person who stays with you, is part of a value system for some clients. Intensive programs offer the value of seeing someone who is a trained therapeutic professional, but in a container of a set number of sessions designed around education / structure / specific exercises / tools. Please inquire about the difference between therapy and working together in an intensive program.

- Results: I am always wanting you to gain results and tools as well as feel better. Over time, ideally, we support you to find homeostasis, physiological balance, and stability. This is a process of fortifying oneself. Awakening your deepest intelligence is a practice and can take time, but eventually it should bring centeredness and ground to your life. Sometimes change is experienced fast but it takes time for it to last. At other times, it can take extended time for change to show up but when it does, it’s roots goes deep and a whole new foundation is created.

- Payment: Participating in this process asks us to place your well-being as top priority. This includes a 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 provide statements which you can submit to your health plan. I accept Cash App to avoid fees and accept Venmo and Ivy Pay (payment apps which add a 2.75% payment processing fee). I work with Aetna and United via Alma and accept a small number of clients through their platform. Please inquire to discuss options. There is no insurance coverage for intensive programs except for Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, all other intensive programs are private pay.