Alla Bolsheva, Ph.D., NCPC

     While self-care ought to be a priority for everyone, it is an absolute necessity for those in helping professions. Alla has been practicing yoga and mindful meditation to replenish herself from being in community mental health for over 15 years. She sees mindfulness as a path to self-compassion and expanding empathy for others. Her vast professional training and experience includes educational workshops, trainings, and early childhood consultation.
     Alla's love of music and the arts sprung from being a student at School of Stolyarsky in Ukraine, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music and majored in piano. The physiological basis of behavior was her primary focus of undergraduate studies at UCSB. She also holds MA in Counseling Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Alla's approach is grounded in depth psychology, family systems, the arts, mythological and religious studies, and eastern philosophy traditions with strong focus on spirituality and mindfulness. She has trained with Stephen Aizenstat, Lionel Corbett, Christine Downing, James Hillman, Veronica Goodchild, Gary Groth-Marnat, and Robert Romanyshyn among others.
     Alla's professional specialization is in parenting, co-parenting, major life transitions, crisis of faith or meaning, grief & loss, trauma, relationships, and communication challenges. She is a Nationally Certified Parenting Coordinator and practices Pastoral Counseling in accordance with section 2908 and 4999.22 (c) of the State of California Business and Professional Code. Alla is dedicated to carrying on the message of appreciating diversity and individual uniqueness, the depths of the psyche, and the wholeness of being and of the world.

Training

Professional Training:

• Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (UCSF Infant-Parent Program)
• Mindfulness with Children and Families (Child Therapy Institute)
• HIV training (UCSF AIDS Health Project)
• Motivational Interviewing/Solution Focused Intervention Model (UBH)
• Cultural Foundations (PGI)
• Social Foundations Human Behavior (PGI)
  
• Clinical Implications and Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview (with Daniel Siegel, MD)
  

Experience

StarVista (Formerly Youth and Family Enrichment Services) 

• Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (case-centered consultation to parents, teachers, center staff and management)
• Child & Family Treatment Collaborative Internship (individual/couples/family psychotherapy)

Stillpoint Counseling Center, private practice

• Psychology Internship (individual/couples/family psychotherapy)

San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center

• Child Track Traineeship (parental stress counseling on T.A.L.K. Line, Parent Drop-In Center, individual/couples/family psychotherapy)

United Behavioral Health (Optum)

• Mental Health Specialist Consultation and crisis intervention (national crisis phone line, special projects & training)
• Intake Counselor Supervisor (management, crisis intervention, quality control, special projects & training)
• Intake Counselor (telephonic consultation and crisis counseling)

KZV Armenian School

• School-Based Counselor Traineeship (children/adolescent/couples/families/group counseling, consultations, family and community outreach, prevention programs, and education training)

Women & Children Family Services, Residential Treatment Program

• Children's Case Management (educational and art groups, outreach, program collaborations)