My Approach to Helping
Hello, I'm so glad that you have taken on this journey of introspection, growth, and healing. I'm Patricia Alvarado and I have been in the helping profession for over ten years, working with children, teens, and adults. I explore things from a multicultural lens which allows me to understand your individual needs through active listening, empathy, and from a non-judgmental standpoint. I specialize in EMDR, CBT, Solution Focused Treatment, and Mindfulness which allows me to focus my client's needs in the here and now to help create trust within the therapeutic relationship.
I have extensive experience with trauma treatment, anxiety, depression, mindfulness, and substance abuse. My specialty includes exploring through an EMDR lens to help desensitize and reprocess negative cognitions. Why re-traumatize if you don't have to? EMDR is different from talk therapy and this is what makes this treatment incredibly unique!
Within the practice, we are committed to decreasing the barriers to mental health services and due to this, my practice is 100% online (via a HIPAA secure video). Having this options allows us to build a strong therapeutic relationship where we are actively working on both your short and long terms goals each time we meet. While online therapy can feel daunting, I encourage you to give it a try. You might be surprised at how efficient and powerful it can really be.
More Info About My Practice
My work aims to understand the underlying concerns that are causing stressful situations and mal-adaptive behaviors. Through active listening, approaching things with empathy, and from a non-judgmental standpoint, my hope is that we can work together to help create trust within the therapeutic relationship. The experiences that I have gained volunteering on the Suicide Prevention Hotline, various shelters in Los Angeles including the Downtown Women's Shelter, and my experience within community mental health which allow me to offer various perspectives to your personal experience.
My Therapy Focus
You may have already noticed that the primary focus within the work that we do revolves around EMDR therapy. You may have heard about EMDR therapy or maybe its something completely new (which is awesome to hear!). Let me start by saying this...it is NOT hypnotherapy. You are awake the whole time, you are aware, you know exactly what is going.
If you haven't heard about EMDR therapy yet, I encourage you to go on youtube and search, "what is EMDR therapy." An alternative is, my Instagram @alvaradotherapy. I have a video pinned to my profile where I discuss what it is.
EMDR is a fantastic tool that we use to help challenge the negative beliefs that you may be living with. The reason why I decided to bring EMDR therapy into my practice is because I hated ending session with clients feeling so hopeless and sad, especially when doing trauma work. I realized that I needed more, and this is when I learned about EMDR therapy.
We use eye movement (yup, your eyes moving back and forth) to help you acknowledge what you are struggling with but also help you identify adaptive or positive beliefs as well. We use specific coping skills that are very helpful with using EMDR therapy and at the end of the session, you are highly encouraged to continue using these tools to help you between sessions.
EMDR is not an easy therapy by any means but it helps contain the big emotions so that you can continue on with your day despite what we are working on within therapy. If you have more questions, please reach out. This is my absolute favorite topic!
Had a Negative Therapy Experience?
I've heard this before and it's truly disheartening to hear! Within therapy, the biggest thing to remember is that this is your process and while things can be uncomfortable from time to time because of what we are working through together, my hope is that you can feel comfortable enough to share when something does not feel right. At the end of each session I like to ask what you have gained from today's session as a continued check-in because so much is processed and worked through in the time we have together...I want to ensure that you feel comfortable for our next scheduled appointment. If you've had a negative therapy experience, let's talk about it...let's process it together. (I've had one too!) so I get it, and I understand how important the therapeutic relationship is.
Clinicians who offer sliding scale payment structures may offer lower or reduced fees based on an individual's ability to pay. Please contact this clinician for more details regarding their fees or sliding scale policy.
