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My name is Toran Ailisheva (they/them), and I am a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist. My approach is informed by a liberatory framework and radical mental health approaches. We care for ourselves in order to get free and channel our energies into building a better world. This involves finding creative and courageous ways to heal our personal, ancestral, and collective trauma and to hold the infinite contradictions we face daily.
My approach
I am trained in a number of treatment modalities and frameworks, including Expressive Arts Therapy, Seeking Safety, Stages of Change, Mindfulness, and Motivational Interviewing, and have begun training in Internal Family Systems. I am also a trained yoga teacher with experience integrating movement and somatic awareness into clinical work. I integrate an anti-oppression-focused Narrative Therapy lens, recognizing that we can shape the stories that shape our understanding of ourselves.
My focus
I work with many queer, trans, and gender-expansive clients, as well as clients who are involved in activism and social change and who struggle to balance integrity and values alignment with surviving and thriving in this messy world. I also support clients navigating kink/bdsm and consentual non-monogamy in their relationships. Much of my clinical experience is in the community mental health field, working with adults and adolescents struggling with intersectional oppression, chronic mental illness, chronic pain, anxiety, grief/loss, and addiction.
My communication style
This world throws so much at us; sometimes, we just need to be reminded we have support and are not in it alone. Whatever you are dealing with, I'm here to help create a safer space for you to do the work of healing and growing. I believe in the dialectic - that we are perfect as we are, and we have things we need to change in order to live the lives we desire. In our sessions together, we will integrate evidence-based practices with our respective wisdom and intuition. We may also bring in art, music, movement, or other modalities to support our work together. You will also have the option of doing "homework assignments" between sessions.
