ALISON "ALI" MANLEY, LPC, SUDS, CEDS

Ali Manley (she/her) is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS). She assumes that her clients are doing the best they can, AND they want to do better. She engages clients to actively make changes to be where they want to be in life. This may mean making significant changes to one’s lifestyle, processing trauma, learning mindfulness skills, connecting more with other people, or working on changing habits. In therapy, Ali works hard to strike a balance between helping clients learn and use new skills, and gaining insight into past experiences. She believes that a successful therapy experience does not mean that people are "fixed" because no one is “broken.” Rather, a successful therapy experience means you are better able to tap into your inner and outer resources. Ali likes to think of this as moving from coping to healing and getting to the roots of our issues.

Ali strives to build a therapeutic relationship that feels safe, supportive, and goal-oriented. She values authenticity and encourages clients to show up as their full selves—both in and out of session. Creative and nonjudgmental, Ali is proud to be trauma-informed, queer- and trans-competent, sex-positive, and poly- and kink-friendly. She brings knowledge and sensitivity to working with clients who have ADHD or are Autistic, tailoring her approach to honor the unique ways neurodivergence can shape experience and expression. She is also attuned to how neurodivergence may intersect with eating disorders, disordered eating, and trauma.

Ali identifies as a life-long learner and is often engaging in continuing education and building specialization with various therapeutic modalities. Her approaches to therapy include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and IFS/Ego State/Parts work. She also teaches clients skills informed by Polyvagal Theory, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RO-DBT).

She holds degrees in Psychology, Gender and Women's Studies, and Counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her areas of clinical specialization include working with eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image; mood and anxiety disorders (including OCD); LGBTQIA+ issues; and PTSD, CPTSD, and trauma.

 

Trainings:


• IAEDP core courses, as part of Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) credential.
• Exposure and Response Prevention training through the Cognitive Behavioral Institute
• Prolonged Exposure training through the Cognitive Behavioral Institute
• Family-Based Treatment (family eating disorder treatment) through Stanford University
• EMDR basic and advanced trainings
• Level 1 and 2 of Healing Our Core Issues training
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Learning Circle
• Radically Open Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (RO-DBT) Levels 1 and 2
• UCLA PEERS Clinic Training (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relationship Skills)