Meet Alexis
Alexis is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor (RPT-S), and a Theraplay® practitioner and trainer. Alexis has been providing psychotherapy services to children, adolescents, adults and families for over 20 years. Alexis is trained in EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Co-Active Coaching, and a great variety of play therapy modalities. Teaching and training is a great joy for Alexis as she enjoys raising up the next generation of therapists to carry on this healing work. Alexis has taught Intro to Play Therapy courses at the graduate level in Washington, DC and in the Twin Cities.
She specializes in providing culturally and language-specific mental health services for deaf and hard of hearing individuals of all ages and is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).
Mental Health Therapist. I used to feel very strongly about being a “Child Mental Health Therapist” but now I’m also working with adults. I also embrace “Play Therapist” and perhaps even more so now that I’m working with adults. I’m also a Co-owner at Hope and Healing Family Counseling and a Co-llaborator with Safe Haven.
I work with children as young as three all the way through the ages. I have a specialization in working with the Deaf community. I’m fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and am knowledgeable about Deaf Culture.
In a wide variety of ways. At the forefront is the relationship. I desire to create a safe, supportive and even loving relationship with each client and caregiver I work with. I am always thinking about my client’s nervous system and what their nervous system needs in this very moment.
A favorite quote of mine is by Dr. Curt Thompson who says, “we all come into this world looking for someone looking for us.” I believe this is speaking to the idea of community, connection and “with-ness.” At the core of my work is that we all experience being the apple of someone’s eye.
One that I think about a lot is a parent who was dying of terminal cancer. The child was struggling (as one might imagine) with the shadow of death in the home. We did a Theraplay® activity together – the parent had to feed four different snacks to the child and then attune to the child’s response. Based on the response the parent then had to guess which was the child’s first, second and third favorite snacks. Weeks later in a parent session, this parent told me the child had asked if they could frame the Oreos bag that the parent had (successfully) guessed was the child’s favorite. Yes to framing the Oreos bag!! This parent did pass away and yet the memory remains and now also on the wall sits the evidence of this parent’s attunement, joy and connectedness with the child.
The best “toy” in the room is me. The child truly needs to borrow from my nervous system to become regulated. The relationship is the key to healing in that room.
I’m a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor (RPT-S) which means that I’ve completed training in a variety of play therapy modalities (Child Centered Play Therapy, Sandtray, Filial Therapy among others). I’m also a Certified Theraplay Therapist and Trainer. I’m trained in EMDR. I’m in the process of becoming certified as a Co-Active Life Coach. I am trained in and offer Porges’ Safe and Sound Protocol which is a listening program to help with nervous system regulation. I also completed a certificate in Permanency and Adoption Competency from the University of Minnesota.
I went to undergrad at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. For graduate school I attended Gallaudet University which is a university for the Deaf in Washington, DC.
Oh, what a joy to tell you about my colleagues.
Sara is an incredibly thoughtful, intelligent, meticulous, engaging therapist. Have you ever been in the presence of someone and thought, “wow…this person has clearly done her own work and is so present with me!”? That’s Sara. She’s also an incredible runner and adventurer. I love hearing her stories of the places she’s been (running through the night in Colorado, white water rafting the Grand Canyon).
I met Marit about seven years ago but if someone told me that we were raised in the same hometown and were probably best friends in high school, I would believe you. Or just wish it were true. She’s my Gen-X sister, who understands all my pop culture references. My one regret is that she is a colleague and not MY THERAPIST because the woman is wise beyond wise, is masterful with language and metaphor and has a dry sense of humor that will have you lying in bed at night laughing at something she said earlier in the day.
I like yellow (although not to wear…it washes me out) and I love green.
People may not know that when I was 17 and had just graduated from high school, I joined a circus and traveled around the country. Then I ran away FROM the circus. It was not the life for me.
Lupin (on Netflix). I thought I wouldn’t like it because it was in French and I don’t have the bandwidth to read subtitles but I watched it dubbed and loved it.
Alexis in a favorite disguise.
