Aly D MFT

POLYVAGAL THEORY AND THE SAFE & SOUND PROTOCOL

Aly trained with Deb Dana in the clinical application of Polyvagal Theory from 2020-2021. She is also a certified provider of the Safe & Sound Protocol, a listening/music therapy designed by Dr. Stephen Porges that is clinically proven to help the nervous system return to a state of safety and regulation.

Attachment Focused EMDR

Trained with Dr. Laurel Parnell in Attachment Focused EMDR, Aly enjoys supporting clients with complex or single incident trauma in finding symptom reduction using AF-EMDR resource tapping and other protocols.

Trauma Informed Creative Expressive Arts, Somatic Practices, and Bibliotherapy

Aly has extensive professional training and personal recovery experience in creative expressive arts, reading-as-therapy, and a wide variety of body-based approaches to trauma healing, including trauma-informed yoga and iRest Yoga Nidra.

A lifetime avid reader, Aly has an extensive bookshelf and loves recommending books for clients who enjoy reading as a therapeutic activity.

relationship “addictions”

As a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, Aly helps women learn how to differentiate fantasy from reality and intensity from intimacy. She supports those who want to learn how to “be okay being alone,” to stop engaging in trauma-bonded relationships, compulsively dating, or tolerating relationship behaviors that are causing harm. She has particular interests in supporting women who have been harmed by pornography and other forms of sexual violence.

As a Post-Induction Trained Therapist (Pia Mellody’s Developmental Immaturity Model or The Meadows Model) and trained with Dr. Ken Adams in treating adults enmeshed with a parent, Aly helps clients understand codependent behaviors, intimacy disorders, and who they are as a “Self,” separate from the expectations and roles they have been conscripted to play in service to others.

With specialized training in trauma bonding and betrayal trauma she helps women learn how to better recognize “red flags” of manipulation or coercive control in relationships.

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, highly misogynistic pornography. Aly is a strong, passionate advocate for the prevention of sexual violence against women and girls and is active in various groups working to prevent child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation.

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Adult ADHD/Autism & Neuro-Affirming Autism Screening

Aly was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism in her 40’s and spent a few years engaging in research and training in recognizing nuanced, high-masking, female presentations of these neurotypes.

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 newly updated version will be in Winter, 2025 and available for a small fee.

Contact Aly for more information.

Neuro-Curious? Women’s Group Curriculum

Aly created an 8 week neuro-curious group curriculum for women exploring adhd and autistic neurotypes, which includes neuro-affirming ADHD and Autism assessments, and information about the multi-layered complexities involved in the female experience of adult-recognized ADHD, Autism, or both – ‘AuDHD.’ This content will be available for purchase for clinicians interested in offering groups for neuro-curious women.

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Links to more about:

Polyvagal theory