About
There are many feelings you would like to express.
Walking into a counselor’s office feels like going to confession, except for the fact that it isn’t free.
You prepare to divulge your innermost secrets to a total stranger. Cortisol is pumping through your body, your heart races, and you feel sweaty. You wonder if this will genuinely help you feel better.
The counselor sits across from you with official-looking degrees and certificates on the wall behind them. With a notebook and a pen in hand, they ask why you’re there and what you want out of therapy. It’s posed like a simple question, or you pretend it is.
What you want is to escape your body. It would be great if you had a different childhood with parents who gave a darn (you think a different word in your head). And it would be nice to have a loving partner you can trust.
And, since they’re asking, you want to erase that terrible experience from your mind. Scratch that. You want to erase ALL the awful experiences, stop jumping out of your skin at loud noises, and stop feeling sick when you remember. What you want is to feel normal, whatever that is. Oh, and you want world peace. That’s always a noble thing to want.
The conversation is abrupt and uninformative.
Having thought about what you want, you settle for something like, “I would like to learn the coping skills I need to navigate the challenges in my life.”
The counselor assures you this is a safe, nonjudgmental place where you can explore your feelings and challenge irrational beliefs. Uh-huh. The temptation to ask how that will help you arises, but you push it away. They’re the expert, after all.
The therapist tells you that YOU’RE the expert on your life, and they are just there to walk with you on this journey. Crap!
They ask about your symptoms. Your eyes travel to the notebook, where the pen scribbles across the page as you talk. You wonder what they’re writing. They look up and notify you that you have something called “adjustment disorder.” Time is up, and they will see you next week.
“What just happened?”
You sit in the parking lot and google “adjustment disorder.” Dr. Google informs you that you have “excessive reactions to stress that involve negative thoughts, strong emotions, and negative behavior.”
You spend the next three months in therapy talking about your experiences. You gain some understanding of your emotions and thoughts.
These Insights are helpful, but you still feel anxious and depressed. When you ask the counselor how to change your feelings, they tell you to learn to cope and think differently.
Perhaps you need a different kind of counselor.
If the above sounds familiar, you are not alone. Traditional talk therapy can be helpful to a certain degree. But it’s not enough to heal intense emotional wounds and deeply rooted negative self-beliefs. And it won’t change how your nervous system responds to perceived threats after a traumatic experience.
You need a different type of therapy and a counselor who can skillfully help you navigate the path to healing with wisdom and compassion.
I know what feeling lost in the chaos of life and relationships is like. Having a competent and trauma-informed counselor made all the difference on my journey to mental health and wellness. I will be forever grateful for the incredible gift she gave me.
And that is why I’m so passionate about my work. I’ve been on the receiving end of help when I was hurting and desperate.
As a counselor, I can now give to others.
I have the tools, knowledge, and experience to help you get unstuck. It takes effort and courage on your part, but we will do it together. It is possible to experience healing and peace, no matter how long ago or how painful your experiences were.
Your healing journey will be unique to you. The research and therapeutic techniques I study offer me a roadmap to guide you toward self-compassion, inner harmony, and continued strength to endure life’s challenges. My undergraduate studies in Marriage, Family, and Human Development opened my eyes to parents’ crucial role in developing their children’s self-esteem.
Our early experiences seem to create a blueprint for our future relationships. The bad news is many of us receive a blueprint for unhealthy relationships. And even if given a healthy blueprint, bad experiences in other relationships can change our blueprint for the worse.
The good news is these blueprints are not permanent or etched in stone. Let’s work together and change your blueprint. We can heal and make changes to our blueprint that give us the best chance of experiencing peace, joy, and love.
I was struggling through grief for more than two years because of the unexpected death of my husband. In time I put effort into recovery, including the Griefshare program and other healing modalities. Although these were helpful, I couldn’t get past the shock of watching my husband die, which caused ongoing anxiety and depression.
Recently, I met with Alyssa Cook. She introduced me to EMDR therapy, the key to finally releasing my trapped trauma. Alyssa’s empathy and gentle compassion made this experience feel safe as she guided me through getting rid of my past pain. The suffering that once felt like a heavy stone weighing down my heart began to dissolve until I was able to reach a place of healing and peace.
The difference this made has had a remarkable impact on my well-being, both physically and emotionally. For example, in the past, when I would see a picture of my husband, I was often overwhelmed by a sense of loss and the upsetting scene of his death replaying in my mind. Now, the pain is gone, and I am instead able to focus on positive memories of our life together.
This remarkable technique and Alyssa’s guidance have helped alleviate my anxiety and depression. For the first time in my difficult journey, I feel that the dark clouds have parted to let in light and hope.
– Client Testimonial
About Me
Proper training creates a more effective counselor.
During my graduate studies in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, I began developing the skills to help others increase awareness of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. I also learned about the biological, psychological, and social factors that impact our emotional and mental health.
But I knew that wasn’t sufficient. If I was going to help people transform pain into power in their lives, I needed something else. Knowing this, I pursued specialized training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy because increased awareness of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors doesn’t always translate into feeling different. And what someone in pain wants is to FEEL different.
I also sought certification in Clinical Hypnotherapy. I learned to help clients reach mental and physical relaxation where the mind and body are more receptive to healing. So much of what we do is subconscious, and we can tap into the subconscious to aid in healing.
There is hope and healing. And I have dedicated years to learning and developing the skills to guide you to it.
Here’s something personal.
On a personal note (which is why you came here to begin with), I’ll tell you a little about me. As a Christian, I love Jesus and everything He stands for, including love, compassion, empathy, healing, peace, inclusion, connection, wisdom, self-discipline, tenderness, and so much more!
I am a divorced single mom to three amazing girls. They are my everything. Being their mother has challenged and taught me more than all seven years of my formal schooling.
I enjoy connecting with friends, watching movies, and eating out in my spare time. Simple pleasures in life can bring me great joy, like snuggling with and reading to my girls, taking my dog, Milo, on walks, and sipping Chick-fil-A lemonade on a hot summer day. I work hard, and I enjoy my leisure time.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in life is that pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. And the best thing I’ve done for myself is learn to transform pain into power. Let me help you make this transformation as well! It will be the best thing you ever do for yourself.