LGBT therapists in Hartford, CT

If you've lost someone to suicide, you know that grief doesn't fit neatly into a box, and finding a therapist who truly understands that kind of loss can feel impossible. I've spent my career doing crisis work alongside police departments and mobile crisis units, and I specialize in working with people navigating suicide loss, as well as first responders and fellow mental health professionals who carry more than most people realize. If that sounds like you, you're in the right place.

I am Franchesca Ali (DNP, PMHNP-BC), a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner dedicated to providing wholistic care to adults. I offer medication management and psychiatric evaluations. My practice specialties include, but are not limited to, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, OCD, mood disorders, insomnia, peri-partum, college mental health, life transitions, and burn-out. I earned my Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Columbia University, along with a Psychiatric Certification from Hunter College in New York.

My approach is one that is centered on growth and not perfection. My specialties are helping clients with issues related to trauma, anxiety, bereavement/ grief, and major life changes. My clients are of various ages and backgrounds. I have formal training in EMDR, CBT, Solution Focused Therapy, and Play Therapy. I am also a Certified School Social Worker in New York City where I utilize Restorative Justice techniques with a clinical focus with adolescents.

With 20 years of experience, I am a licensed therapist here to support you through life's ups and downs. I provide individual therapy in a safe and nonjudgmental environment, using evidence-based practices attuned to your specific needs. I believe that therapy will help you navigate current challenges -- as well as provide insight and skills that will continue to benefit you in the future, long after our sessions end.

Difficult experiences in our lives can bring up feelings of anxiety, depression, or lack of direction. I aim to help you work through these issues and identify inner strengths to be a happier and healthier version of you.

I explore a patient's need for external validation and identify old, negative motivators used to inspire achievement-based goals. I teach self-care and self-regulating practices while modeling healthy attunement. Together, we explore conflict-avoidant behaviors and healthy dependency. Being a highly sensitive person is not a weakness but an empathic strength. I explore the guilt, shame, and fear that cause "analysis paralysis." I analyze unhealthy habits and teach clients to build trust and reconnect with a traumatic body that no longer trusts. You are the expert and I am your guide.

Mental healthcare has been a lifelong passion of mine, and I am committed to helping others. My therapeutic style builds on my compassionate, empathetic, and attentive nature. In the past, I have worked well with clients with anxiety, complex trauma, PTSD, narcissistic abuse, personality and/or mood disorders. I genuinely care about the people who entrust me within my therapy practice and consider being a therapist one of the greatest privileges of my life.

*Former clients are welcome to reach out if they want to resume therapy, even if I do not have scheduled openings on Headway.