Education
I received a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Dominican University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Previously, I provided psychotherapy to elementary and high school students and support for their parents.
For several years, I was a volunteer counselor on the suicide prevention hotline.
About Allison Waugh, AMFT
Hi, I’m Allison. I’m a registered AMFT (#131022) and work with teens, adults, couples, and families. My wish is that my clients not just experience relief from pain, but actually get to feel good and thrive in their lives. I have worked with clients both new to and seasoned in therapy and am committed to meeting you exactly where you are. Most of us did not learn how to truly care for ourselves during painful experiences, being taught to ignore or push down difficult feelings, distract ourselves, and move on. What I have learned is that in order to stop the destructive cycles in our lives, we must become intimate with our emotions and feeling body so that they may guide us away from what we want less of in our lives and towards more of what we do want.
With tenderness and compassion, I help clients learn to care for their emotional selves and explore the roots of their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. I help clients understand the profound impact of unhealed emotional wounds on the mind, body, and relationships. I work with clients on letting go of shame, guilt, regret, punishment, and negative self-beliefs, all of which keep us stuck in unhelpful patterns and bound to misery. Together, we will cultivate greater self-compassion, self-forgiveness, and self-understanding, which in turn allows for honest self-reflection, contemplation, and shifting towards choices that create the life we desire. I find this work incredibly important, courageous, and honorable, as healing our own wounds not only translates into greater respect, protection, freedom, empowerment, and love for ourselves, but also for those around us.
My work is greatly informed by my own healing. I offer trauma-informed care and am committed to culturally responsive therapy and affirming and inclusive care for LGBTQ+ clients. In addition to talk therapy, sessions may include somatic work, breath work and building an understanding of the mind-body-spirit connection.
You deserve good things in your life. You deserve to feel well. Your authentic presence deserves to be felt and experienced. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions to see if I may be a good fit for you.
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” - Rumi
