alice-tong-dote-los-angeles-asian-american-therapist.png

Alice Tong Dote
LCSW

LICENSED CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER

#LCSW25789

How I Can Help

I help people understand and transform feelings related to anxiety and depression to gain access to who they are and want to be. In our work together, you can learn how to access and re-tune your nervous system and embody a more mindful rhythm in your life, as we cultivate both courage and self-compassion within you. Our sessions can give you the time, space, and support to practice truly being in the present moment to enjoy what life has to offer.

Licensed and Experienced

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with extensive training and experience conducting both individual and group therapy in California and New York. I have been licensed for over 17 years. My education and professional experiences include:

  • Masters in Social Work- Columbia University

  • Bachelors in Ethnomusicology- UCLA

  • Professional Ecotherapy Certificate Immersion Program- CA

  • Foundations of Polyvagal Informed Practice- 6 Month Immersive

  • DOT Center- Oakland

  • UCSF Trauma Recovery Center & Rape Treatment Center- SF

  • Sanctuary for Families- NYC

  • Hamilton Madison House- NYC

  • Paws for Purple Hearts- Menlo Park

  • Teaching Love and Compassion at East Bay SPCA- Oakland

My Specialties

I pay attention and attune to your somatic and emotional state, social and cultural location, and attachment history in order to co-create a deep and safe healing experience together. My specialties and lived experience include being Asian American, Neurodiverse, Nonbinary, and a Highly Sensitive Person, and I hold clients who may share these identities with great care and felt understanding.

Therapy modalities I specialize in include:

  • Somatic Therapy- integrating modern neuroscience and Polyvagal Theory to build awareness to your body and nervous system, and the practice of trusting your own body to guide you back to an authentic state of calmness and safety.

  • Expressive Arts Therapy- externalizing and gaining a deeper understanding of your feelings and reactions through incorporating music, art, images, writing, acting, or movement in your therapy sessions.

  • Relational Psychoanalytic Therapy- prioritizing and cultivating a relationship of safety and trust between us as a powerful way to tenderly understand what feels familiar, safe, or triggering to you and why. This can then organically enhance your communication skills and relationships outside of therapy with more care and self-compassion.

  • Ecotherapy- engaging in animal-assisted and nature-assisted therapy.

  • Somatic Music Therapy- sensitively integrating the music your mind and body enjoy into your therapy experience by combining your own ethnomusicology (how music reflects your cultural, social, and personal contexts and experiences) to organically reach a deeper understanding of how you are feeling and what you would like to do next.

By working together and co-creating a safe space, it is possible for you to move through and gain wisdom from the challenges you are facing in your life.

Being…

  • Asian American, Taiwanese-Chinese, BIPOC, multicultural, and bilingual

    • has cultivated resiliency, sensitivity, a deep understanding of multi-generational Asian American experiences, support and allyship with social justice issues, and naturally prioritizing holistic healing.

  • Neurodiverse

    • has allowed me to relate to and experientially understand the somatic and cognitive affects that can come along with being neurodiverse, and to hold my neurodiverse clients with deep care and understanding.

  • Nonbinary

    • has led me to embrace the gender expansiveness in myself and others, and explore the gender non-conforming parts in each of us that can expand our own sense of potential, enjoyment, and authenticity.

  • A musician, singer-songwriter, and freestyle/improvisational dancer

    • has given me the practice and privilege to playfully collaborate and improvise with others in a musical structure, as well as deeply experience the power of creating, performing, and weaving music and movement into therapy.

  • A relational positive reinforcement animal trainer

    • has given me the privilege of experiencing safe co-regulation, learning, and healing with multiple species.

Lived Experiences & Intersectional Identities

Each of us have unique qualities that can provide a felt sense of safety to another based on our past experiences and physical bodies.

Here are some of the lived experiences and intersectional identities that I bring in order to further add safety and support for you in therapy.

There is Expansive Power in Relational Healing

I currently practice on native Tatavium-occupied land in Southern California known as Santa Clarita, CA, and ally with worldviews born from a conscious relationship with the land, beings, and environment around us.

Please reach out if you are interested in seeing if we would be a good fit to work together.

*I am an out-of-network provider and do not bill or accept health insurance.
However, I can provide a superbill to clients who have PPO insurance plans that may offer a % of reimbursement.