Alisa Dickson

Hi, I’m Alisa, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and founder of The Hour She Keeps, a virtual psychotherapy practice created with women in mind.

For more than six years, I’ve worked in mental health and substance use treatment with adults, adolescents, couples, and families navigating anxiety, relationships, identity, major life transitions, and the complicated seasons that don’t always look complicated from the outside. I have a particular heart for women who are used to keeping it together. The career is moving. The appointments are booked. Everyone can count on you. Maybe you’re becoming a mother, finding yourself again after motherhood, navigating a relationship, or simply realizing that the woman underneath everything she does deserves some attention too. I earned my Master of Social Work from Rutgers University with a focus in mental health and addictions. With me, you don’t have to make the story prettier before you tell it. Come as you are. We’ll figure out the rest together.

My approach is open-minded, empowering, and deeply human. Therapy with me can be meaningful without feeling stiff or overly clinical. There is room for honesty, depth, humor, and the kind of conversation that helps you hear yourself differently. Together, we’ll look beneath what’s happening on the surface—the boundaries that are hard to hold, the relationships that leave you depleted, the expectations you’ve been carrying, and the version of yourself everyone else has learned to rely on. I’m not interested in giving you another version of yourself to perform. Our work is about understanding yourself more deeply, recognizing what no longer fits, and making intentional choices that create more room for you in your own life.

Your first session is your opportunity to put everything else down for an hour and simply show up as yourself. You don’t need the perfect words or a perfectly organized story. We’ll talk about what brought you here, what has been weighing on you, what life looks like right now, and what you wish felt different. I’ll ask thoughtful questions and begin getting to know the woman beyond the roles, responsibilities, relationships, and expectations she carries. There’s nothing to perform here. My hope is that you leave thinking, “Okay... she gets it.” From there, we’ll begin creating therapy that feels personal, useful, and worthy of the hour you chose to keep for yourself.