About Me

I have known that I wanted to be a psychologist since I was in the third grade. I never questioned that choice, and even after all these years of working as one, I’ve never wished I would have taken a different route. I love being a psychologist. It is a huge part of my identity, and I can't imagine myself doing anything else. It is very hard work, but incredibly rewarding.

You can check out my degrees and the letters after my name over there on the side bar. (Or below this, if you're on your mobile device, which you probably are.) But I presume that your main concern is whether I'll be able to understand you and help you. So I thought I'd tell you something about myself that may help you decide whether I seem like the kind of person you'd like to work with.

A few years ago, I found myself feeling derailed, as if my life had gotten off-track. It’s as if I woke up, looked around me, and wondered, "How did I get here? This isn't how I envisioned my life would look. What happened?" I realized I'd just been floating and letting myself get carried along with the current, rather than living with intention. And I had no one to blame but myself. No one forced me or even told me, "this is what you're supposed to do, and you're not allowed to deviate from it." I'd just done what everyone else was doing. And it wasn't that my life was bad –quite the opposite. It was this curious paradox of having a wonderful life, but not living it the way I wanted to. Strangely, part of the problem was that I'd pretty much accomplished all of my main life goals. This naturally led me to think about my trajectory so far and took me to a big, scary "now what?"

Then there was also how I felt. Happy but... something was not quite right. It wasn't a matter of not being grateful for my life and what I had. I counted my blessings all the time. It was a calling to continue evolving into a better person. It's not that I wanted a better life, but rather, I wanted to be a better me. Or I wanted to do a better job of being the real me, and not some other person that looked like me. I took a step back to get a better view and I wondered, "Where is the Michelle I used to be?" I barely recognized myself. I felt like if I ran into a childhood friend and told them what I was "doing" they would have been surprised and slightly disappointed. I felt like I should have been... more creative, making more music and art. Bringing more originality and inventiveness into my work. Getting involved in social and political activism. Doing more volunteering. Going on some more adventurous experiences. Playing more. Learning more new things. Spending more time with friends. Allowing myself to be more spontaneous. Owning myself more, my unique interests and quirks, not shying away from them, not setting them aside to do what everyone else was doing or was saying was important to do.

It was a matter of honoring my values and my beliefs about how I want to be, toward myself and toward others. I realized I needed to make some changes. (Or rather, I wanted to make some changes.) I wanted to foster new relationships and nurture my existing ones, prioritize my interests, get more involved in my community, fight for equity and social justice, be more civically engaged, more dedicated to my spiritual health, continue to take good care of my body, pay more attention to my financial goals, and –this was a big one– I felt a drive to design exactly the job I wanted. In working for others, I'd always been under certain constraints. I wanted to break out of those and sculpt a job that was the precise concoction of all the different things I’d seen make people feel better and happier, practices that I believe in and trust to be important. I needed to grow outside of the traditional bounds of psychotherapy, to have the freedom to get creative and take chances, to create daily work that would be truly exciting, in which I would excel and thrive –and so would my clients.

I had to curate my life.

So I took a long hard look at my life, and myself, and how the two lined up, and I worked to figure out what was missing, what felt right, and what didn't. I wrote. A lot. I thought. All the time! I talked. I had growing pains. I did art therapy. I practiced yoga. I meditated. I listened to music. I made plans. I came up with The Mandala of Happiness --and that was a game changer. I felt like it showed me the secret to being happier! (Let me know below if you’re interested and I'll send you your own Mandala of Santosha©.)

I then set about molding every different aspect of my life, until slowly it started to take shape. It was strange, scary and exhausting. But it paid off. Now my life –and my personhood– look and feel so much more like the life I would describe if someone asked me to imagine a full and satisfying existence. And I can't begin to tell you how exciting it is that such a big part of my revamped life is my psychology practice, knowing that I’m working at my full capacity to help and serve others, and being able to provide people with something that is creative, transformative and –most importantly– that works!

Sometimes the things we struggle with become the inspiration for how we can help others.

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...But that's me and what I wanted. That's what I continue to work toward, what I always want to move toward. What is it that you want? What don't you like about your life? What do you want to change? What do you want to keep? Who are you? Who are you supposed to be? Who do you want to be?

 

Call me to talk about your goals:

828-82-PSYCH (828-827-7924)

Let's talk!

 

Call. In one year you'll wish you'd started now.

Just the facts.

I am Michelle Álvarez, Psy.D.

I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist.

My career in one sentence.

I've been working as a therapist for more than two decades, in a maximum security prison, the VA, large private hospitals, small clinics, community health centers, an advocacy center for abused children, nursing homes for the elderly and private practice.

My career and education highlights.

Disclaimer: This part sounds really boastful, no matter how I write it. Just know that I feel extremely fortunate to have had all these opportunities, and that I work really hard to live up to them.

I attended school from Pre-K all the way to High School in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I was born to Dominican parents. I graduated as a member of the National Honor Society, and received a bunch of awards for academic excellence and achievement, as well as extracurricular engagement and leadership. (But I didn't attend my graduation because I was already in Denmark (see below) –so they kept calling my mom to go up on stage!)

I studied fine arts at Designskolen in Kolding, Denmark. (Designskolen means School of Design, for those few of you who don't know Danish.)

I graduated cum laude from New York University with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Art History. For my art degree, I focused on Subsaharan African art methods, history, and psychology. And I got to go to the West African country of Côte d'Ivoire to conduct coursework and apprentice –and, you know, find my roots.

Having made it in New York, I figured I could make it anywhere, so… I went to China. I taught English in Suzhou (about an hour away from Shanghai by train) for six months, and I surprised myself by picking up a bit of Mandarin along the way. (Sadly, it's all gone now. Though I could probably still order eggplant and tofu.)

Meanwhile, back in the States: I was awarded a fellowship for a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. So off I went to… the University of Indianapolis. From China to Indiana. Of course!

I was selected as Distinguished Scholar, decided to pick up a master's degree along the way as well (because who needs sleep?), and graduated with honors.

During my time at UIndy, I completed two specializations: Child & Adolescent Psychology, and Geropsychology (Geriatric Psychology). So when I say I see people ages 0 to 124, I mean it.

I also interned at the maximum-security Indiana Women's Prison, and at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (the VA).

During my time at the VA, I became a core member of the Indianapolis Healing Arts Project, a wonderful group devoted to providing veterans the opportunity to share and create art. In recognition of my work in that group, I was invited to present at the National Vietnam Veterans Museum on the topic of combat veterans' art and the research surrounding it. I was also asked to write a foreword for Trauma and Metamorphosis II, a book featuring Vietnam veteran artists. And I was awarded the Veterans Affairs Certificate of Honor and FOB Healing Arts Scholarship.

But I was still in grad school full-time. So after passing the comprehensive examinations, and successfully defending my program proposal dissertation –on the therapeutic use of art with combat veterans suffering from PTSD, I jetted back to New York City to get further training at The Fifth Avenue Center for Counseling and Psychotherapy. Well, I didn't "jet," exactly; I drove a U-Haul truck. Through NYC traffic. One of my proudest accomplishments out of this whole list, actually.

Upon graduation –finally officially a doctor!– I was offered a position at one of the nation's premier hospitals, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, in association with Columbia University Medical Center and the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York. I worked with people of all ages there, and I was also part of a treatment team addressing the needs of sexually and physically abused children at the Child Advocacy Center.

Eventually I moved on to a psychologist senior staff position at The Floating Hospital. (It used to be a boat!) I had the opportunity to work extensively with New Yorkers from all walks of life experiencing homelessness, as well as the community at large, and I collaborated regularly with the Administration for Children's Services.

And then I surprised myself by opening a private practice –I always thought going solo would be too scary. But I'm so happy I did. And yes, it was scary –still is. And I'm never going back to the ci$tem of agency work.

I also became a certified yoga instructor (RYT-200) and surprised myself again by giving birth to TALKyoga© after a lightbulb moment of inspiration when I realized the powerful potential of combining yoga with talk therapy to help people set and reach their mental, emotional, spiritual (and physical) health resolutions.

When I'm not providing therapy or yoga, you can find me working to advance social, racial and economic justice, and create awareness around inequity and oppression based on the identities and the intersections of race, socioeconomic class, gender, sexuality, neurotype, body size, etc.

And on my “time off" I serve as an expert consultant for Different Strokes! Performing Arts Collective, a theatre company dedicated to spreading awareness about diversity and equity, and inciting change and social justice. I get to go backstage and wax clinical on issues such as the grieving process or dysfunctional family dynamics, often in the form of simulated therapy sessions with the actors “in character.” In other words, I conduct family, couples and individual therapy sessions not with the performers themselves, but with the roles they play. So, basically, I do pretend therapy with make-believe people.

Wow, I am really obsessed with being a therapist.

 

If you want to know more,

reach out.

Online Therapy
,

hello@drmichellealvarez.com

828-82-PSYCH (828-827-7924)

Got Questions? Ask Me!


By submitting this form via this web portal, you acknowledge and accept the risks of communicating your health information via this unencrypted email and electronic messaging and wish to continue despite those risks. By clicking "Yes, I want to submit this form" you agree to hold Brighter Vision harmless for unauthorized use, disclosure, or access of your protected health information sent via this electronic means.