About Allison

A lot of what hurts in life happens through relationships and the systems we move through.
And so can healing.

My name is Allison Rivers (she/her). I’m an Associate Clinical Social Worker*, qualitative researcher, facilitator, and therapist based in Nevada City, California. I offer virtual therapy across California as well as research and consulting support for schools, organizations, and communities across the U.S. and beyond.

My work sits at the intersection of therapy, belonging, lived experience, and systems change. Across the different paths my work has taken, from food and sustainability education to participatory research to psychotherapy, I’ve always been interested in the same core questions:

What helps people feel more connected to themselves, each other, and the world around them?
How do environments shape who we become?
And what becomes possible when people feel safe enough to be fully human?

Becoming a mother changed the way I understand almost everything.

It deepened my awareness of how profoundly people are impacted by the support, connection, safety, and resources around them, and how those experiences can ripple outward across relationships, families, and communities over time.

That experience continues to inform both how I understand people's experiences and how I hold space in this work.

How I Got Here

Before becoming a researcher and therapist, I spent many years working as a chef, educator, entrepreneur, and facilitator within food, sustainability, and community-centered projects. I found myself continually drawn toward the relational side of the work: listening deeply, understanding lived experience, facilitating connection, and helping people make sense of their lives.

I’ve also long been interested in the ways environments, relationships, and systems shape people’s lives. Ever since I can remember, I’ve paid attention to how power moves through relationships, families, communities, schools, and culture, including who gets centered, who's left out, whose experiences are taken seriously, and who's expected to manage things.

Returning to university later in life to study social work ultimately brought many of those threads together.

Social work gave language and structure to a lot of what I'd already been noticing. I was especially drawn to its perspective that neither harm nor healing happens in isolation from the environments and systems people are navigating every day.

My path into social work and psychotherapy was shaped not only by professional experience, but also by my own experiences navigating healing, belonging, and the ways relationships and environments can shape us across a lifetime.

Outside of work, you’ll find me reading, spending time with loved ones, dancing, researching for fun (truly!), writing, going to community events, smelling flowers, near rivers, or attempting not to tumble down a mountain as I learn to snowboard. Spending many years teaching movement and dance, I love spaces that bring people together through music, connection, play, and embodiment.

I also deeply value humor and laughter. Some of the most meaningful moments in life and healing happen not only through reflection and deep conversation, but through joy, absurdity, warmth, and being imperfectly human together.

*An Associate Clinical Social Worker (ASW) is a therapist who has completed a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and is registered with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Social workers are trained to consider the relationships, environments, systems, and life experiences that influence well-being. ASWs practice under the supervision of a licensed clinician while completing the experience required for independent licensure.

Education & Training

California State University, Chico
- Master of Social Work (MSW) with Distinction
- Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) with Honors and a Minor in Sociology

Additional Training

Brainspotting Level I
Intergenerational Trauma
Trauma-conscious and attachment-informed approaches
Financial Social Work
Foundations in Somatic Abolitionism
Participatory and qualitative research methods

Foundations

Social work & psychotherapy
Qualitative research
Lived experience as expertise
Belonging & systems thinking
Somatic awareness & embodiment
Community-centered approaches

Approaches

Relational & attachment-informed
Trauma-conscious
Parts-informed
CBT-informed
Strengths-based
Collaborative

Experience

School-based mental health
Youth & young adult support
Group facilitation & education
Consulting & strategic insight
Program & culture development
Movement education
Community engagement

Curious about working together? Whether you’re looking for therapy, collaboration, or consulting support, I welcome you to reach out if what you’ve read feels aligned.

Therapy

Have you been doing your best to hold things together and still something doesn’t feel quite right?

Wondering how you became this version of yourself, and what happened to the parts of you that once felt more alive, connected, or at ease?

Explore Therapy

Research & Consulting

Have you ever created a program, service, or initiative and been surprised by the gap between your intentions and how it was actually experienced?

Wondering what might be missing between your intentions and what’s actually happening in practice?

Explore Consulting