Meet Alec!

Positionality:
I identify as a white, queer, transgender man.
 
My Background & Approach: 
 

​“Being an Other, in America, teaches you to imagine what can’t imagine you.” - Margo Jefferson


​

My experiences as a queer, transgender man from the South inform how I move through the world and how I work with clients. I understand the challenges and inherent stress of navigating institutional, educational, and family systems that fail to make space for all identities and backgrounds. My approach is grounded in anti-oppressive and culturally affirming principles and I enjoy working with individuals of all backgrounds. I aim to create a warm, nonjudgmental, and collaborative space where clients can experience and examine themselves and experiment with new skills and perspectives. I collaborate with clients to co-create realistic goals and sustainable solutions that honor and encompass their unique identities, challenges, and strengths. I have experience working with a variety of backgrounds and concerns and I have particular expertise working with gender identity and sexuality (LGBTQIA+), trauma, individuals living in larger bodies, individuals in helping professions, life transitions, and young adults.

My commitment to social justice and advocacy extends to my work as a researcher and counselor educator-in-training. My primary areas of research are improving counselor training concerning LGBTQIA+ and larger-bodied individuals, demystifying research for students from marginalized backgrounds, and combating cisnormativity in counseling research.

​

Theoretical & Clinical Orientation: 

​My theoretical approach is grounded in constructivist, existentialist, and humanistic theories. Constructivism emphasizes personal agency and the importance of understanding a client’s subjective experiences and perspectives instead of imposing external interpretations or judgments. I believe clients are the experts on their lives and that my role is to help clients foster self-awareness and autonomy toward building healthier and more meaningful lives and relationships. I aim to offer challenge and support equally, often with a strong dose of humor, to facilitate client growth. I believe that humans don’t exist in a vacuum and therapy shouldn’t either; considering cultural, social, and historical oppression and impacts on mental health is critical for creating lasting change and wellness. While understanding the past is useful, my work with clients is focused on how past patterns and relationships manifest in the present and how we can improve for the future. Change can be scary, exhilarating, and exhausting and I aim to create a space where clients feel safe and empowered to show up as authentic works-in-progress.

I believe we have inherent mental, emotional, and physical wisdom that we can harness to heal and grow. To encompass various areas of healing, I incorporate mindfulness, somatic, Gestalt, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and art-based techniques into my work. I have training in Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), an evidence-based approach to treating multiple and complex trauma and PTSD.​