Ali Drake, MA, LMHCA, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate, who works with tweens & teens ages 11-20 years old. Her areas of focus are: life transitions, anxiety, OCD, childhood trauma, ASD/ADHD and supporting the unique challenges faced by young folks who identify as LGBTQIA+ or are exploring areas of their identity.

Ali earned their Master's from the University of Washington, in Applied Child + Adolescent Psychology. Ali also holds Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and is a professionally certified K-8 teacher in IL & AZ. Before earning their Master's, Ali worked as a both a classroom teacher and school administrator supporting students in 3rd-8th grade. Through her work her work as an educator and mental health counselor, Ali has developed unique understanding of the current school environment teens are experiencing today and the real world challenges of being a teen in a post-pandemic world.

Ali works with her clients to build skills around self-esteem, self-advocacy, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and identity issues to support her clients in building relationships, healing past trauma, and gaining tools to manage the various challenges & opportunities life offers young folks. Ali strives to provide a judgment-free, gender-affirming, & culturally competent care for all of her clients. She understand that the relationship between a young person and their therapist is central to the success for therapy outcomes. Ali uses individualized and personalized approaches to adapt evidenced-based treatments to fit the unique needs of each teen she works with.

In her free time, Ali enjoys spending time with her dog (Griffin), playing video games, watching stand-up comedy, and spending time exploring the outdoors with family + friends.

Ali uses a variety of modalities to support their clients, including:
--Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
--Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
--Motivational Interviewing (MI)
--Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
--Psychotherapy + Talk Therapy
--Creative Expression
--Existential-Humanistic Therapy