Therapy Services
- Online psychotherapy is available for those who reside in California, Oregon, and Arkansas only.
- Online therapy offers a convenient and accessible way to engage in psychotherapy and can be a very effective form of care, but may not be appropriate in all circumstances. Those experiencing an acute mental health or medical crisis would benefit from in-person services or a higher level of care.
- Aly works with individual adults only – she does not provide couples or family therapy sessions but can offer referrals to those who do!
- Aly views the therapeutic relationship itself as vital in the process of healing and has a preference for longer term care.
- She is highly collaborative in treatment planning and flexible in her approaches.
Consultation Services
- Consultations are available for individuals seeking one time, short-term, or occasional guidance related to a particular question or concern that aligns with Aly’s specific areas of interest and/or expertise, including:
- Neuro-affirming autism screening and consultation for adult women previously diagnosed with other conditions
- Clinical consultation for therapists interested in autism assessment, differential diagnosis, and appropriate care for ADHD and Autistic adult women in treatment
Can I use my insurance? What are Aly’s fees?
- Aly does not accept insurance or bill insurance for therapy services. She can provide monthly superbills for those with out-of-network insurance benefits.
- Therapy and consultation fees are $200 per hour (50-60 minutes)
- Neuro-affirming adult autism screening is $350 for up to 120 minutes
- Sliding scale is available for therapy clients only.
- Online women’s groups are a lower fee way to work with Aly and are available online – new groups coming Fall 2025.
SPECIALTIES
Women with relationship “addictions”
As a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, Aly specializes in helping women learn how to “be okay with being alone” and stop engaging in compulsively dating or tolerating relationship dynamics that are causing harm.
As a Post-Induction Trained Therapist (Pia Mellody’s Developmental Immaturity Model), Aly helps clients engage in examination of how their pasts inform their current relationship with self and others, to differentiate fantasy from reality, and intensity from intimacy.
She helps women learn how to better recognize “red flags” of manipulation or coercive control in relationships through trusting their nervous system responses using Polyvagal Theory.
Feminist analysis/media literacy
First introduced to media studies during her eating disorder recovery in the early 1990’s, Aly is interested in examining the ways media can be used to socially condition people into accepting a “malignant normality.” She guides clients to be critical of the media they consume using tools like the Bechdel Test, asking questions like “what product is this selling?” and “who benefits?” and tracking how their nervous system responds to these inputs.
She calls the broader culture to account for harms caused by extreme, rigid sex-role stereotypes, unrealistic youth and beauty norms, hyper-sexualized objectification, and unfettered access to violent, criminal pornography online. Aly is a strong, passionate advocate for the prevention of sexual violence against women and girls on a global scale.
Adult ADHD/Autism, cPTSD, and Differential Diagnosis
Aly is an adult diagnosed ADHD/Autistic with specialized research interests and training in recognizing nuanced, high-masking, female presentations of ADHD and Autism, often exacerbated in mid-life. She provides clinical consultation for therapists seeking help in differentiating ADHD/Autism in adult women from complex/PTSD, chronic anxiety/depression, and other common occurring diagnoses/misdiagnoses and collaborating on neuro-inclusive approaches to treatment.
Neuro Affirming Autism Screening
In 2023, Aly and her autistic colleague, Candice Christiansen co-created a Neuro-Affirming Autism Screening Tool to help guide clinicians in better identifying and assessing for autism in adult women presenting to treatment with betrayal trauma, and sex/love addictions for their presentation at the annual IITAP Symposium in Phoenix.
This tool is available at the link above. A new, updated version will be released soon and available for a small fee. Contact Aly for more information.
Neuro-Curious? Women’s Groups
Aly created an 8 week neuro-curious group curriculum for women exploring adhd and autistic neurotypes, which will be available in a purchase-able format soon, including neuro-affirming ADHD and Autism assessments and materials and links to more information about the multi-layered complexities involved in the female experience of adult-recognized ADHD, Autism, or both ‘AuDHD.’
Individual consultation and clinical consultation is available.
Links to more about:
Polyvagal theory
Attachment Focused EMDR
Post Induction Therapy
SEX, LOVE AND RELATIONSHIP ADDICTIONS
Trauma Informed Expressive Arts
Contact Aly D MFT
alyd.mft@gmail.com
Aly Dearborn. photo.