Dr. Sofia Alvarez, LLC

Approach:

I believe that meaningful change begins by creating a strong and authentic connection to help my clients feel comfortable to open up and explore difficulties. I work in a collaborative manner with clients to help them grow and actualize their potential. I believe that insight, seeing oneself fully, and bringing the unconscious to the conscious is imperative to healing and flourishing. Moreover, I help clients recognize the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to work through difficulty. 

I work in a goal-oriented manner and use one’s goals to customize therapy. Additionally, I teach healthy coping skills; I explore and work through obstacles to progress, identify unhealthy defense mechanisms and replace them with healthy, effective skills. I consider myself a life-long learner, and am dedicated to staying current with the latest research to inform my evidence-based approach in therapy.

Theoretical Orientation:

My orientation is a result of self-reflection, didactic training, and experiential practice. I intentionally integrate psychodynamic, interpersonal and multicultural approaches in my work. I customize my interventions to the individual and usually incorporate mindfulness and CBT/DBT techniques in my work. I strive to guide clients to perceive and understand how past conflicts and defenses impact one’s current interpersonal attachments, and highlight how defenses that have been useful to the client in the past may now be unhelpful now. I consider how identity and social factors impact and perpetuate a client’s distress and concerns. I think the capacity to form healthy relationships, while also understanding one’s needs, are critical to exploring how people develop and function.