Hello, and welcome! I’m an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) serving teens, couples, and individual adults in California, both in-person and virtually. As a therapist and fellow human, I am respectful of all people and come from a place of cultural sensitivity and humility. It’s an honor and a privilege to offer my services to our community.

When we’re experiencing struggles or distress, it can sometimes be difficult to act from a place of choice. In these situations, we may unconsciously use relational patterns that no longer serve us or act as barriers to accessing our authentic, expansive, and integrated sense of self. We may repeat frustrating relational patterns with loved ones, feel anxious, numb, or just plain stuck…but unsure how to move forward. We may seek closer connections, deeper self- knowledge, and an increased sense of peace. Therapy can help, and we can do it together!

My therapeutic style can be described as warm, accepting, and engaged, and I welcome you on any part of your journey towards overall health and wellbeing. Using an integrative counseling method, we’ll work with various therapeutic styles as appropriate for your preferences, values, and needs. I often utilize contemporary attachment -based psychodynamic therapy as a bedrock for our work together as it addresses your lifelong emotional experiences and engrained relational patterns. We may also use methods from Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT), and/or Internal Family Systems (IFS), which are both non-pathologizing modalities that facilitate change from a place of collaborative curiosity, self- understanding, and compassionate attunement. Additionally, we may utilize breath-work, mindfulness, and other complementary therapeutic methods to address your immediate concerns while fostering your current goals and future dreams. I use a trauma informed perspective, and we will proceed at your pace. Our work together is person- centered so while I am with you along the way, you are always the expert on you.

Counseling can be helpful for individuals and for couples or partners of all sorts, whether you’re just starting out together and want to become more committed, or you’re sorting out the future of a long- term relationship. Sometimes we find that our relationships are not how we might want them to be. We may experience betrayals, feel disconnected or abandoned, find that our original ideas about commitment have shifted, or face challenges with raising children or with our sex lives. Often, we go around and around in the same frustrating relational patterns. We may wish for increased understanding and communication in our relationships, yet find this elusive. In our couples/relationship work we’ll utilize an integrative counseling method, leaning into the therapeutic methods that best suit your needs. We may use EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy), which is an empirically supported, non-blaming, attachment-based therapeutic model. Together we’ll learn how each of your past attachment experiences may be impacting your relational patterns today. Simultaneously, EFT helps you re-engage and soften your approach to one another, during which time you can experience a shift in the engrained relational patterns that may no longer serve you. In this manner, you will move towards deeper understanding, compassion, and intimacy…no matter where your relationship is headed.

I love to work with people of all sorts, and welcome you and your partnerships in all of their human complexity. My clients are often people experiencing relationship challenges, sexuality concerns, mood disorders, anxiety, trauma, self-esteem issues, concerns with body image, and/or disordered eating. I also work with creative professionals, people going through artistic blocks, life transitions, women in peri/menopause, and the wide scope of questions encompassing identity and sense of self. If any of this sounds like it aligns with you, we might be a good fit!

I hold a Master’s of Science (MS) in Counseling Psychology, with a dual emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and Professional Clinical Counseling (PCC). I also hold a Master’s of Art (MA) in Art History with a focus on gender and the role of women. My BA is from UC Berkeley, where I studied Studio Art and Costume Design. In addition, I am a certified yoga instructor and have spent over 30 years practicing yoga, meditation, and breathwork. The self-regulating properties of these practices can be very useful in therapy and may inform parts of our sessions together if you find this appealing and helpful. I am also a 30- hour trained crisis and suicide prevention counselor, and have worked clinically with clients from a wide range of religious, spiritual, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as working with many clients from communities of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, first generation college students, emerging adults shifting from home to college, and competitive student athletes.

The quality of our relationship is an extremely important part of successful therapy. If you’d like to see if you think we’re a good fit, please reach out to set up a free 20-minute phone consultation.

I look forward to meeting you and hearing about what brings you to counseling!

Email: alexis@tatradelarosa.com
Learn more here: www.alexisscarboroughtherapy.com