Alyssa Kushner (she/her)

I take a holistic approach to anxiety, I will support you in uncovering where and how your anxiety was developed, where it shows up in your body, and ways to decrease catastrophic and black and white thinking, worry, and rumination. I will teach grounding, mindfulness, and coping skills.

Codependency means more than relying on others. If you struggle with people pleasing tendencies, neglect your needs to put others above you, have difficulty boundary setting and saying no, lack assertiveness skills, are unsure of what your needs and values are, get your worth from helping others, rescue and fix others, low self esteem, and take on responsibility for other peoples emotions you may have codependent patterns. We will work on your identity outside of others and taking care of you!

Trauma, unmet needs, attachment ruptures, intergenerational trauma - can impact the way we think, feel, and behave. One time traumatic events can cause PTSD and chronic trauma or repeated exposure to trauma can cause C-PTSD. We will identify how trauma responses show up for you, use somatic approaches to develop self-regulation skills and ground into the present moment, and we will work to improve your self compassion skills. I can bring EMDR and DBT approaches if you are open to it as well.

I am trained in EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and use somatic approaches to treat trauma. I believe you have to develop safety and find ways to self-regulate in the body before being able to approach your thinking patterns and behaviors when trauma is impacting you. I also believe feeling safe in the therapeutic relationship is priority so we will take the time to build trust with one another. I will never push you to share anything until you feel ready.

Mindfulness skills are so important for anxiety, depression, trauma, and beyond. I have taken Mindful Self Compassion & Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses and trainings and I am DBT trained (which teaches mindfulness skills). So I am happy to teach mindfulness skills or lead guided meditations, grounding exercises, and so on in our sessions.

I believe healing your mental health means attending to your mind, body, and soul. We will make sure to to address your whole self, improve the mind-body connection, and develop healthy habits. Sleep, exercise, movement, creativity, joy, nutrition, and social connection are important foundations to take care of your mental health and we will improve your self care practices and strengthen your support system.