How to Enhance Your Mind-Body Connection with Alicia Perzichilli, AMFT

Who is Alicia?  
Alicia is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who enjoys working with couples and individuals, as well as those exploring polyamorous relationships. She has extensive experience working with the LGBTQ+ community and is proud to be a strong ally and advocate for this group. Alicia is very well-rounded in her experience, which includes trauma healing, somatic work, and exploring inner parts. Previously, she has worked in private clinics over telehealth and in-person, so she is comfortable with navigating the therapeutic space in both environments. She also has prior experience caring for adolescents who were diagnosed with autism. One of her favorite hobbies, which is movement of her body, often comes into play in her therapy sessions for clients who are interested in connecting the mind and body. 

What are her specialities?
One of Alicia’s specialties is focusing on the mind-body connection. She leans on yogic philosophy and mindfulness practices as guidelines to facilitate deeper listening to the body. If clients are interested in experiencing this connection, she is definitely open to guiding them through the process. This can work for telehealth clients too! In virtual sessions, she would do this by calling attention to the body and implementing awareness. Her certification in trauma-informed yoga, allows clients to safely rebuild their mind-body connection. 

Alicia also specializes in inner parts work. Stemming from Internal Family Systems theory, Alicia encourages clients to look at their inner world. Once clients feel ready and comfortable to do so, she guides them through balancing the various inner parts that might be present. For example, there may be a part of the client that feels really mad about a situation and another part that may feel really hurt by the same situation. The multiplicity of parts is something we all experience and it can be quite confusing and conflicting at times. She likes to carefully guide clients in stepping back from their direct experience and witness the multiple parts of their inner world with compassion. In doing so, Alicia aims to help clients navigate their road to self-healing.

What does a therapy session with Alicia look like?
Sessions with Alicia look flexible and gentle. She likes to start sessions with a check-in to see if there is something that really needs to be addressed in that session. If something came up since the last session, she would want clients to be able to voice that and work on it together. Doing this highlights the collaborative process and allows clients the freedom to actively take part in their treatment plan. Goals might change from week to week, which Alicia is comfortable navigating and supporting clients through. There is room for flexibility in the treatment process and Alicia is able to provide ample support as clients navigate work through that process. She also emphasizes an intuitive trust in the therapeutic process, by providing clients with confidence to trust the process and trust that what surfaces during sessions needs attention.

Can you give an example of what a previous session looked like with a client?
Alicia really emphasizes meeting a client where they are at, to provide the most personalized care. One of her clients, who had quite a traumatic background, worked together for over a year processing the client’s experiences. During this time, Alicia took care to build safety, trust, and open communication with the client. Once the client felt comfortable and ready, Alicia began guiding the client to explore their inner parts that felt sensitive to being triggered. In this process, the client closed their eyes to better focus on their inner world and help visualize their parts. She guided them to relate to the hurt parts of themselves with compassion, kindness, and curiosity to form a more cohesive relationship with themselves. At the end of the session, the client felt a greater sense of connection to self and their body. By the end of their work together, Alicia had helped the client relate more lovingly to parts of themselves and gain confidence and trust in listening to their inner world.  

This process might differ per person based on previous history. For example, if someone had severe sexual trauma, Alicia would work with the client to create a sense of comfort and safety in their body, both from physically and emotionally carrying the weight of the traumatic experience. Alicia only goes to this level if and when clients feel ready. She truly meets clients where they are at and doesn’t push them to be anything other than what they are ready for. 

growgood psychology has a team of trauma-informed therapists that are committed to creating a safe, collaborative environment to heal. 
Working through some of the most vulnerable experiences can be difficult and uncomfortable, but the healing that comes from that work can be liberating. Here at growgood, we have multiple trauma-informed therapists that are ready to walk with you as you begin your journey of healing. We aim to create a safe place for you to work through those experiences by meeting you where you are at. Wherever that stage may be, our therapists are ready to sit with you and help you heal. 

Connect with us today to start your journey of healing and self-growth!