I partner with individuals and relationships, romantic or otherwise, experiencing both the challenges and joys of this gorgeous and tragic world. I partner with those who are seeking to thrive.

I am interested in you as a whole person, the communities you are a part of and the world you inhabit. I work with people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds, identities and relationship styles. I honor your experiences and acknowledge your thoughts and feelings as we go into their depths. With an Emotionally Focused Therapy and Relational-Cultural Therapy mindset, our interactions are made of curiosity, equity and empathy. Mindfulness and body awareness are core to our explorations.

I have a therapeutic focus on illness, disability, chronic and new pain, grief and loss, trauma, vicarious trauma, oppression and justice, incarceration, substance use, (in)fertility, miscarriage, pregnancy, birth, traumatic or challenging births and the postpartum period.

I also appreciate working with people and relationships that are experiencing other emotions and situations not mentioned above…all with the hopes to further growth, compassion and love.

I’d be honored to work alongside you to promote your versions of healthfulness, vulnerability, understanding and resiliency.

If you are interested to explore if this therapeutic relationship is for you, please inquire – see the ‘Contact and Logistics’ tab. 

 

 

I offer compassionate, engaged and transparent therapeutic services where we are all encouraged to contribute to and change the course of therapy. As a part of your team, I will be present to consistently promote mindful understanding, reflection, worthiness, healing and thriving.

• I practice from the Relational Cultural Therapy model where empathy is central.
• I have training in Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT), a model for relationship therapy that embraces the impactful role of attachment.
• I have a Masters in Social Work from the University of Pittsburgh, have attended many conferences, workshops and trainings by Universities, foundations and from the brilliant people of my community. I find learning in a variety of environments, including especially from the individuals I work along side, to be key for my growth and am committed to this throughout my whole life.
• As a certified birth doula, I have experience with the prenatal, pregnancy and the postpartum period, as well as assisting in healing challenging or traumatic births. I have a unique perspective as to how pregnancy, attempts at pregnancy, miscarriage, birth, new children and shifting family dynamics have effects on individuals, relationships and whole families. I have trained healthcare professionals and birth support people in supporting LGBTQ people in the pregnancy, birth and during the postpartum period.
• I am trained and practiced in conflict resolution and mediation, which offer insight into moments of conflict stress. I have particular interest in restorative and transformative justice.
• I have practiced therapy with individuals who are in jail. In that context, and within others, I have worked with people who experience impact from substance use while using a harm reductionist lens.
• I am interested in and understanding of illness, (chronic) pain and disability and the significance on a person and relationships. I have led and continue to lead support groups for people with MS and am dedicated to promoting disability justice.
• I have experience with trauma and resiliency. I have taken and given trainings on trauma, and have worked alongside survivors of intimate partner violence and homelessness. Through my specific training from the Community Resilience Model I have learned about trauma in relation to the nervous system.  I work therapeutically with people who have experiences challenging and/or traumatic childbirth.
• I am supportive of healing and moving with grief and loss and all the many different forms it takes. I have been and continue to be a grief support group facilitator for people with different kinds of losses. I have been trained as a death doula and am very interested in compassionate death care.
• I am LGBTQIA+, kink, and polyamorous aware and affirming.
• I am rooted in social justice and community organizing. I have a focus on promoting racial justice, health care justice, disability justice and supporting those who are incarcerated.

CONTACT:

Please contact me by phone at (412) 407-2476 or by email at connect@lizzieanderson.com.

LOCATION:

My office is located in 2840 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222 – in the Strip District. There is visitor parking, bus access and a place to lock bikes. The building and bathrooms are accessible to those with mobility impairments and those in wheelchairs. If you make an appointment or plan to attend a group, I will share more information about the office.

PAYMENT:

I accept UPMC Commercial insurance and Cigna Insurance.

If you have another insurance, I can give you an out-of-network invoice that you can turn into your insurance to be reimbursed if your insurance is open to this. We can figure this out together.

I strive to be within reach for all. For those who need, I accept payment on a sliding scale. We will work out a payment plan upon your first visit. This plan can change as your life changes.

I am influenced by many. Friends, family, teachers. bell hooks, Brene Brown, Sue Johnson (EFT), Jane Addams, Audre Lorde, James Hillman, Mia Mingus, the early practitioners of Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) such as Judith Jordan and Jean Baker Miller and many other smart and poised people of various disciplines: all supporters of love, care, vulnerability, strength and transformation.

I practice in a support net with connections and referrals to other important and credible healers: body workers, herbalists, energy healers, physical therapists, other mental health practitioners, and western medical doctors in this area.

This is a short list of resources I have found helpful and insightful, organized by topic. If you have resources that have been influential to your life and healing, please do share!

Illness, disability, pain:

Access Intimacy: The Missing Link – Mia Mingus

Spoons – Savannah Logsdon-Breakstone

You feel like shit – An Interaction Self-care guide

Grief and loss: How to lose and honor and not lose ourselves

grief is gratitude, fear is intelligence, truth is strategic – Adrienne Maree Brown

Grief and Gratitude – Adrienne Maree Brown

grief is not linear and it is everywhere – Adrienne Maree Brown

lighting candles for orlando, and for all of us – Adrienne Maree Brown

the dark magic of grief – Rae Swersey

What Does it Mean to Hold Space – Heather Plett

Caitlin Doughty on Death Positivity and Rituals

Attachment:

John Bowlby – the person who first spoke about attachment in the way we know it now. Plus some exploration of the ideas.

How Your Attachment Style Affects Your Relationship – in relation to relationships, models, building.

Hold Me Tight– a book by Sue Johnson, the founder of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

The Art of Wellbeing – on attachment theory

Your Attachment Style Influences the Success of Your Relationship

How Therapy Works – a Deep Eddy Psychotherapy therapist writing about their practice, but with really general and helpful ideas

How to Change Your Attachment Style

EFT research

The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture – Nora Samaran

Sue Johnson: Changes in Relationship-Specific Romantic Attachment in EFT

Mind and body, Somatics:

Generative Somatics 

Somatic Experiencing

The Charming Science of Your Gut – video on how our gut and brain interact, including how our mental health is impacted

Trauma and resiliency:

The art of healing trauma – Heidi Hanson

15 Trauma Healing Goals  – Symbolic Representations

Window of Tolerance  – Laura Kerr

Trauma Stewardship – This is a book that I have found extremely helpful for people experiencing intensity, vicarious/secondary trauma

Radical mental healthcare:

The Icarus Project

Mad In American

Culture, Healing justice and Activism:

Healing Justice for the Black Lives Matter Movement – Just Healing

Medical Industrial Complex – Visual – Mia Mingus

The Opposite of Rape Culture is Nurturance Culture– Nora Samaran

Conflict and trauma transformation:

Transforming Historical Harms – Coming to the Table

What isn’t transformative justice – Adrienne Maree Brown

Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet – by the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective on relationships to turn towards for both support and responsibility

Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective Resources

Pregnancy, birth and postpartum:

Darkside of Motherhood Therapeutic Group – Pittsburgh’s Post Traumatic Birth Therapeutic Group

Postpartum Pittsburgh  – Mental health resources for people who are pregnant or postpartum

Therapy:

A Therapist Walks into a Bar  – A podcast that brings therapy to you

Why We Feel Lonely and Odd– short animated video

On Soul, Character and Calling: A Conversation with James Hillman – Scott London

 

 

 

I facilitate four therapeutic groups – all are open to new members each session. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or are planning to attend.

Grief and loss support group — Open to all loss experiences
The next two groups are Wednesdays May 23rd and June 20th, 2018, both from 6 pm- 7:30 pm at 2840 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222 – in the Strip District.

This building is physically accessible. There is street parking on 29th Street, right out front, and a lot behind the building, also on 29th Street. The 54, 86, 87, 88 and 91 come right to the building. Suggested donation of $5-25/group and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please RSVP so I know who to expect and can provide the most up to date information.

Support group for couples where at least one person has MS
Variable Wednesdays, once a month from 6 pm – 8 pm.
We meet in variable locations. They are sometimes at the National MS Society’s Office in the Northside- 1501 Redesdale St., Suite 105, Pittsburgh, PA, 15233. We also meet out at restaurants.

The MS Society’s building is physically accessible with convenient parking and the 18 and 14 buses come close by.  No fee for the group. Please contact me for more specific information.

I also hold two groups in the Allegheny County Jail – a grief and loss support group and a healing trauma group. They alternate Thursdays and are from 4:30-5:30 pm for a  women’s pod in the jail. If someone you know who is currently in the jail may be interested in attending, please write me directly and we can coordinate an invite.