Aliya Adenuga

Well, hello there! I am so happy you’re here! My name is Aliya, and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 15 years of experience. I specialize in supporting women, girls and members from the LGBTQIA+ community who are high achieving creatives and public-facing professionals, and are struggling with anxiety, compulsive sexual behaviors and unhealthy relationship patterns. During challenging times, our careers can begin to intersect with high visibility stress, performance pressure, relationship challenges and trauma-induced compulsive “acting out” behaviors.

WHY MY WORK IS IMPORTANT:

Trauma survivors in high-visibility or high-performance roles can often experience:

• Internalized shame or trauma around body image, sexuality, and creative expression (especially in fields that reward objectification or performance)
• Use of sex, fantasy, relationships or romantic fixation to cope with performance anxiety, rejection wounds, poor self worth or inner emptiness
• Public over-functioning, while feeling emotionally dysregulated, lonely, or ashamed privately
• Struggles with boundaries and people-pleasing behaviors, especially when their career depends on being liked, seen, or desired

THE MIND/BODY CONNECTION:

My therapeutic approach is holistic and eclectic, I believe in treating the whole person and I pull from a number of therapeutic modalities. What that means is that my work focuses on reconnecting the mind through the use of cognitive based interventions, and with the body through body based interventions. The modalities I use are:

• Music
• Dance/Body Movement Workshops
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (traditional talk therapy)
• IFS/Parts Work (exploring and integrating all of the different parts of you)
• Exposure and Response Prevention (exposure based therapy used to treat OCD)
• Attachment Style Therapy (identifying your attachment style and learning how it impacts your relationships)
• EMDR (re-processing traumatic memories through incorporation of bilateral eye and body movement)
• Meditative Practices
• Somatic Skill Building (learning about how trauma and stress is stored in your body and building skills around how to release it in a healthy way.)

WORK WITH ME!

I am also a CCE Approved Clinical Supervisor, and offer clinical supervision to clinicians who are still working towards independent licensure.

Clients will find that my communication style is warm and friendly. I believe in working alongside my clients, as a partner, to support them towards positive change. I also like to use laughter, where appropriate, to help clients to feel comfortable and I tend to be transparent to help remind clients that we are all human and doing the best that we can. My aim is to normalize mental healthcare, and challenge the stigmas that are often associated with mental health and trauma recovery. If you decide to work with me, you can expect to feel empowered, motivated and encouraged following our sessions.