Alyson “Aly” Dearborn is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in California and Oregon (LMFT#45462; #T2025). Certified as a Sex Addiction Therapist and guided by Polyvagal Theory, Feminist Theory, and Attachment-Focused EMDR approaches to clinical work, Aly offers consultation and online, neuro-affirming, neuro-inclusive trauma therapy for adult women.

I believe all beings in nature have an innate biological intelligence. In therapy, I help clients learn to deepen their trust and connection with this source of inner wisdom using the lens of polyvagal theory.

With 20 years of post-graduate clinical experience focused on the treatment of complex post-traumatic stress, attachment injury, and men’s violence against women, Aly has a vast amount of perspectives and tools to offer her clients, ranging from the evidence-based/scientific to the spiritual/esoteric.

Her practice is rooted in the principle that “safety is the treatment” and is based upon the three essential elements required for the nervous system to experience safety (as taught by Deb Dana, LCSW):

1) Context — Learning view our lives with perspective and to see all things from a broader lens is important to me in therapeutic work. By zooming out and then zooming back in, connecting past to present, macro to micro, helps us question old stories and see the challenges we may want to work on from the context in which they occur. I enjoy sharing information and resources of all kinds with clients and am transparent about the perspectives that inform my work and options we can consider together to meet your needs. See my clinical perspectives page for more context on who I am as a therapist.

2) Choice. Having choices in therapy (as in life!) is essential to true safety. I work collaboratively and openly with clients around treatment goals, interventions, and potential paths we can take in therapy. I can offer referrals to other clinicians if there are specific treatment needs or interests that fall outside of my current scope of practice.

3) Connection. I believe that “safety is the treatment“ and actively work to explore and provide the cues of safety each client needs to ground into a deeper connection with their inner wise Self – and with me (as therapist).