MEET THE THERAPISTS
Therapy Is Personal. Your Therapist Should Be, Too.
Different people. Different specialties. A shared belief that meaningful change begins with understanding the whole person.
At Alison Hunter Therapy, we provide warm, relational, and thoughtful care for individuals, couples, children, teens, and families throughout California.
Our therapists bring different backgrounds and areas of expertise to the work, but we're connected by a shared approach: therapy should feel deeply human.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We Want to Understand More Than What's Going Wrong.
You are more than the problem that brought you to therapy.
Your relationships matter.
Your history matters.
The roles you've learned to play matter.
The ways you've adapted, protected yourself, connected with people, and learned to move through the world matter.
At the heart of our practice is a relational approach to therapy.
We believe the relationship you have with yourself influences the relationships you have with everyone else- and that many of the patterns affecting us today make more sense when we understand where they began.
That doesn't mean spending every session analyzing your childhood.
It means getting curious about the whole picture.
What shaped you? What protects you? What keeps repeating? What feels authentic to you now? And what might you want to do differently?
Our work creates room for those questions.
MEET THE TEAM
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Alison Hunter, LMFT
Individuals • Couples • Families
Relational, experiential therapy focused on helping you understand the patterns shaping how you connect with yourself and the people around you.
SPECIALTIES
Relationships • Couples • Parenting • Family Dynamics • Communication • Intimacy • Life TransitionsAPPROACH
Relational • Family Systems • Equine-Assisted • Ketamine-Assisted -
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Chelsea Engberg, AMFT, APCC
Individuals • Couples • Teens
Warm, active, and collaborative therapy for navigating difficult seasons and finding a clearer way forward.
SPECIALTIES
Anxiety • Grief & Loss • Relationships • Life Transitions • Burnout • High-Stress Careers • Compassion FatigueAPPROACH
Relational • Nature-Based • Grounded • Practical -
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Cecilie Garcia, AMFT
Children • Teens • Adults • Couples
Compassionate, relational therapy that looks beyond symptoms to understand the experiences and patterns shaping how you feel and connect today.
SPECIALTIES
Anxiety • Trauma • Stress • Life Transitions • Relationships • Parenting • Family DynamicsAPPROACH
Trauma-Informed • Relational • Developmentally Attuned • Compassionate
WHY THIS PRACTICE
Therapy Can Be More Than Sitting in a Room Talking About Problems.
Sometimes healing happens through conversation.
Sometimes it happens when you finally understand a family pattern you've spent years repeating without realizing it.
Sometimes it happens when you experience a boundary rather than simply talking about setting one.
Sometimes it happens while walking outside.
Sometimes a horse responds to the way you're approaching a relationship before you've consciously recognized the pattern yourself.
And sometimes the most meaningful thing that happens in therapy is much quieter:
You begin feeling more like yourself.
We want therapy to leave room for all of that.
Our goal isn't to fit every client into one particular way of working.
It's to create thoughtful, individualized care that helps you become more grounded in who you are and more intentional about how you want to live and relate.
ALISON'S BACKGROUND
The Experience Behind the Practice
Alison Hunter is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Tulane University and her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Chaminade University.
Her additional clinical training includes:
Relational Life Therapy with Terry Real
Developmental Model of Couples Therapy through The Couples Institute
Prepare-Enrich Premarital Counseling
Prepare-Enrich Parenting Assessment
Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy training through Polaris Insight Center in San Francisco
Alison's interest in experiential work also has roots far outside graduate school.
Horses have been part of her life since childhood.
Growing up with horses gave her an early understanding of how much can be communicated without words- and how clearly horses respond to presence, boundaries, trust, leadership, communication, and authenticity.
As an adult, she wanted to intentionally integrate that lifelong relationship into her professional work.
Alison became a Master Facilitator Equus Coach through the Koelle Institute and now incorporates horses into both therapeutic and coaching experiences.
She offers Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy and Equus Coaching and facilitates leadership and team-building retreats where horses become active partners in the learning process.
For Alison, experiential work isn't separate from her relational philosophy.
It's another way of exploring the same fundamental question:
How are you showing up in relationship- with other people and with yourself?
THERAPY ACROSS CALIFORNIA
Online & In-Person Therapy Across California
Our therapists provide online therapy throughout California, making it possible to access relational, individualized support from wherever you call home.
In-person, nature-based and experiential therapy services are also available in select Northern and Central California communities.
Therapy in Salinas
Explore therapy for adults, couples, children, teens and families in Salinas, California, including in-person services.
Connections Boarding Stables 22400 Indian Springs Rd
Salinas, CA 93908
Therapy in Auburn
Explore therapy services for individuals, couples and families in Auburn and the surrounding Northern California communities.
Therapy in Truckee
Find therapy in Truckee for relationships, anxiety, trauma, stress, life transitions and other challenges, with virtual and select experiential options.
ALISON HUNTER THERAPY
Come As You Are. We'll Get Curious From There.
Warm, relational therapy for the complicated experience of being a person in relationship with other people.
Explore therapy for individuals, couples, children, teens, parents, and families throughout California.