About Alicia Chiasson

My Journey to Therapy

I’ve enjoyed listening to people processing their circumstances and the inner landscape of their lives from a young age. I have fond memories of sitting on the kitchen counter when my 17 year-old sister would come home from school and want to process what happened that day with me (I was 12 years old). These weren’t isolated events, and she wasn’t the only one I had the pleasure to give space to.

But it was the experience of a major traumatic event in my life that led me to want to be a therapist. During that time, I saw a therapist that helped me feel safe, accepted, and understood. But eventually, I would realize that wasn’t enough.

Years later, I was still living in a traumatized body that so often didn’t feel safe in the world – or even with itself. I needed someone who specialized in my particular area of religious, betrayal trauma and knew how to help me sift through the confusion, loss, grief, and evolving beliefs. I also needed that person to help me understand my nervous system and how to alleviate the paranoia and fear that plagued me.

I couldn’t find anyone to fit those needs.

So I did my own work to heal over the span of a decade (fumbling around as I did) and knew I wanted to be that specialist that could help those people that others couldn’t – people suffering from religious trauma and spiritual abuse.

If you don’t feel connected to or safe in your own body and feel danger everywhere, if you constantly fear what others think of you, if you’re confused about your needs and boundaries, if you wonder if there is something inherently wrong with you somehow, if you are psychologically bogged down by living with chronic pain, I want you to know that I know how all of that feels. I’ve been on that journey for a long time. It’s a never-ending process of healing and discovery and unfolding.

Is it painful at times? Absolutely!

Is that pain worth it? Hell yes. Because on the other side of that pain is freedom.

My Counseling Philosophy

Client Leadership

Before you work with me, it’s important you know that you will be co-leading our sessions. What I mean by that is that I will not force you to go anywhere you don’t want to. We will follow what comes from you. For some, this is really difficult at first, but it’s SO important. Oftentimes, life squeezes us into roles that may have been more convenient for others than us or may have protected us from harm at some point; but sooner or later, we need to get out of the box that no longer serves us.

What this means is that I will be fully with you, I will ask important questions, I will make constructive observations, I will lead you to yourself…but the answers of healing you are seeking do not come from me. They come from you. In you is all the inherent wisdom you will ever need. We just need to find out what’s in the way of you accessing your own wisdom and help you move through it.

Lean Into Pain

I also believe in not ignoring pain – at least not for forever. Sometimes we need to protect ourselves from pain that is too overwhelming to deal with in the moment, and that’s ok. That’s actually good! But eventually, we all get to a point where the distance between us and our pain is only causing suffering. While pain is unavoidable in life, suffering isn’t. Suffering is the natural consequence of avoiding our pain to the extent that it controls us, not we it.

That being said, moving through pain is determined by your readiness, not a timeline I create. Remember that Client Leadership section above? I meant it. I always will.

Healing Never Ends

There will come a time when therapy is no longer a necessity for you, but that doesn’t mean healing ends. In a world that loves to place emphasis on destinations, it can be a scary concept to accept that we will never reach a particular destination. But that’s because we’re human! We change, grow, and evolve – even when we don’t realize it.

When my clients get discouraged that they haven’t reached this magical place they’ve created in their minds about how they should feel or where they should be by now, I like to have them look back and see from where they have come. I also like to remind them that the never-ending process of healing and growth is a gift. We can never fail because there is no point at which we will reach perfection (whatever that means).

Take encouragement from the fact that your work will never be done. It sets you free to be kind, to be intentional with this one, wild life you have, and to just plain ‘be’.

What Makes Me and My Practice Unique

When life gives you lemons...

My lived experience is a definite driver to be a well-educated, well-trained clinician. But that experience was also its own kind of education that serves my clients. While I don’t think a good therapist needs to have experienced what their clients have in order to be effective, it can lead us to our own deep work that elevates our efficacy.

I have spent over a decade seeking own my healing and learning to lean into the inherent inner strength and wisdom within. I understand the hurtles those traumatized most go through to access that kind of ‘Self’ energy and what is needed to get there. This makes me not only relatable to my clients, but also a fiercely compassionate and intuitively valuable supporter of their healing journey.

Amidst one of the numerous mini-trauma moments during the darkest period of my life, I experienced what I can only describe as a kind of vision – that I would help many others because of what I was going through and how I learned to find my way home. What a funny thing to feel a kind of divine purpose while everything around you is crumbling!

Learning to love the desert

I am so grateful that my experience has led me to be a champion for others’ healing and self-discovery. It is one of the greatest gifts of my life. While I can’t say for sure I’d want to go through it all over again in the same way (we all have hindsights that would have helped us way back when), I love what I created out of the wreckage. There were parts of me that were ready to die and there were bones that had been buried long before that I needed to bring back to life.

There’s an old adage about La Loba – a woman who gathers bones. She walks the desert collecting and preserving what must not be lost to the world. She is the wild, wisdom within that restores our indestructible life force. To be lost is not a sign of weakness, but the landscape that can precede a great awakening.

As Dr. Pinkola Estes states in her timeless Women Who Run With the Wolves, “Remember, if you wander the desert, and it is near sundown, and you are perhaps a little bit lost, and certainly tired, that you are lucky for La Loba may take a liking to you and show you something – something of the soul” (p. 26).

I’ve learned to love being lost. It is there I make my greatest discoveries and learn what I need to leave behind and what I need to bring on the next leg of my journey.

You can learn to love being lost too – and what you find when you are.

What I Do When I’m Not with You 🙂

I believe wholeheartedly that self-care is not the band aids we use to try to recover from a life that drains us, but the life we build that supports who we are and what we value. To that end, I am passionate about my own wellbeing and creating the life I want for myself as much as I am for my clients. This passion even led me and my spouse to take a yearlong sabbatical in 2023.

I love to spend time in nature to remind me to be present to the wonders around me and take breaks from my strategic mind. You’ll find me 5 or so days per week at the gym to keep my chronic pain at bay and feel strong inside and out. Connecting with my body intentionally helps to remind me that it wants to be a support in my life, not a liability.

I invest in relationships that bring light into my life and give it back in return. A good friend is worth more than any material treasure.

A good fiction book is always welcome…especially if it involves a mixture of adventure, mystery, and the sacred bonds between humans. TV time with my beloved husband is my cherished nightly routine.

Exploring the world around me (both near and far) is my medicine. Writing songs connects me to the deepest, creative parts of myself and gives voice to what is asking to be heard and felt.

And I love to dance my face off, though admittedly would like to make it more of a priority.

Meet Alicia, Your Trauma-Informed Therapist With A Wealth of Expertise

Degrees & Licensure

Bachelor’s in Intercultural Studies
Master’s in Social Work, Grand Valley State University
Master’s in Public Administration (Nonprofit Leadership & Management), Grand Valley State University
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Michigan)

Certifications & Extra Credentials

Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP)
Certified Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy Professional
Religious Trauma Studies Certification

Modalities

Somatic Therapies
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Narrative Exposure Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy
Internal Family Systems Therapy

Experiences

Religious Trauma
Complex Trauma and PTSD
Medically complex situations
LGBTQIA+ Individuals
Lived, traveled, and studied internationally with cross-cultural experiences, sensitivity, and knowledge

Investing in Therapy

Therapy is an undeniable investment of your time, effort, and money. It’s a journey that asks much of both you and me. When you choose to work with me, I also make a commitment to you – to walk alongside you as you heal and discover the fullness of who you are. To provide the best possible care and attention to my clients, I intentionally limit the number of clients I work with. In so doing, I can give you the quality of care you deserve and ask that my clients approach therapy with the same level of commitment.

The cost of therapy is $185 per session and sessions are typically weekly (especially in the beginning) or every other week, depending on your needs.

Discounts may be available in special situations.

A Note About Insurance:

While insurance can increase someone’s access to mental health care, it also has notable downsides. In my experience, insurance often limits clients to goals and diagnoses that the insurance company has deemed billable – undermining the treatment options available to those seeking mental health services. Not only this, but insurance companies can also request, if they see fit, access to client therapy records. I am uncomfortable with the lack of confidentiality guaranteed to clients using insurance and with the treatment limitations placed on those wanting to heal and improve their lives, so I choose not to work with insurance.

I do encourage those with insurance to check with their plan on whether they accept Out-of-Network superbills (or invoices) to go toward their deductible or receive some kind of reimbursement. If so, I happily provide invoices.