Effective therapy for individuals and couples, offered in-person or from the comfort of your home.
Alla’s Approach to Individual and Couples Therapy
Psychotherapy is an open field offering many pathways to positive change. Over the years, I have been trained in a variety of therapeutic methods designed to help with issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, addiction, couples relational problems, and many more. After our first session, we can collaboratively discuss which modality will be best suited for you, based on your needs.
Here are some of the research-based methods I have used to help individuals and couples learn more about themselves and transform their lives.
Couples Intensive
Couples intensives are a proven way to create meaningful change – the kind that can save relationships. Over the course of an intensive, we do not focus on techniques and insights that only skim the surface. This focused, two-day experience is for no one but you. There are no other couples in the room; only the two of you with me as your guide. Our goal is to look at what’s unique about you and your relationship – and from there, to create a detailed strategy for transforming it. (By the way, couples intensives are not only for married people. Life partners in virtually any form of committed relationship can benefit.)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Created by Dr. Richard Schwartz 35+ years ago, this therapeutic approach is gaining more and more popularity because it normalizes the idea that we all have different parts inside of us that make up an internal family system. Some of these parts of us are developed early on and pulled into intensive protective roles as the result of some type of emotional/psychological injury. By learning to connect with those parts internally and learning to feel them in our bodies, we can learn how to release the burden they have been carrying and restore them to their original wholeness. If you are ready for intricate, deep work that will help to heal traumatic wounds and in turn alleviate anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, and more, this is the right modality for you.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
Founded by Dr. Francine Shapiro, EMDR is one of the most widely used treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder. A time-effective, comprehensive method for the treatment of the disturbing experiences that underlie many pathologies, EMDR is an integrated model that incorporates aspects of psychodynamic, experiential, behavioral, cognitive, body-based, and systems therapies. If you have experienced any type of trauma, either in the past or recently, big or little, and it is still vivid and present in your life right now, EMDR would be an effective approach. EMDR allows your brain an opportunity to reprocess the old traumatic experience and gain a new, more adaptive narrative, releasing the old trauma from the parts of your brain where it was frozen up.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT was first pioneered by Dr. Aaron Beck as a way to treat depression. This model teaches you to identify your automatic negative thoughts and change them to more realistic positive ones. When you learn to identify and change the underlying negative beliefs about yourself, you begin to feel better about yourself and the world around you. CBT has been studied and has demonstrated its effectiveness for a wide variety of psychological problems, especially for depression, all types of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and addictions.
Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level I & II
Gottman Method Treating Affairs & Trauma & Gottman Method Treating Addiction in Couples Relationships
Based on extensive research conducted by Drs. John and Julie Gottman, these couples therapy methods help couples — gay and lesbian as well as heterosexual — build skills for managing conflict, create shared meaning and deeper emotional and physical intimacy, and learn effective communication and emotional self-regulation skills. These interventions are based on longitudinal studies conducted in the Gottmans’ Love Laboratory, where couples are carefully assessed using different measuring gadgets and mathematical models to provide them with suggestions for positively changing the course of their life together.
Developmental Model for Couples Therapy
Created by Dr. Ellyn Bader and Dr. Peter Pearson, this comprehensive approach is based on the combination of attachment theory, self-differentiation, and neuroscience. Using this model, couples learn how their initial attachment style and their level of differentiation, as well as their internal self-regulation, are affecting the way they show up to and for one another. By learning to expand their tolerance for each other’s differences, and to also gain more compassion and empathy for one another, they create a deeper connection that continues to grow over the lifespan of their journey together.
Meet Alla Jones
From the narrow cobblestone streets of a city full of ancient history in Northern Europe to Manhattan's busy streets, and eventually, to a small town surrounded by cornfields and lakes in South Dakota, traveling has always been my passion. My curiosity has taken me worldwide, where I’ve met different people along the way, learned other languages, and lived in different cultures. In my travels, it has become clear that there are greater similarities than differences in all of us. We all have the lifelong desire to feel loved, connected, and accepted by others. The idea that in the end, “We are all just walking each other home,” is becoming more apparent to me. Whether you are going through some situational struggles or are ready to release a deep-seated trauma, I will be honored to walk with you along your journey. Together, we will set goals to help you reach your aspirations.
I am Alla Jones. Since 2004 I’ve been a licensed mental health and addiction counselor who has assisted adults and couples in their attempt to bring more healing and restoration to their mental, emotional, and spiritual health.