Alyssa Howard
Registered Psychotherapist in Hamilton, ON | In-Person and Virtual Therapy
Helping individuals and couples feel grounded, connected, and more at home.
Finding space to reflect, feel, and heal can be difficult, especially when your experiences of identity, culture, or community are misunderstood or ignored. Whether you're navigating burnout, exploring your identity, or working through the emotional toll of racial trauma, you deserve support that honours your full self.
I’m Alyssa Howard, a Registered Psychotherapist and the founder of Grounding Place Therapy. I work with adults and couples who want to feel more connected to themselves and the people around them. My approach is warm, affirming, and collaborative, guided by deep respect for each client’s lived experience. It can take time to find someone who truly gets where you’re coming from. My goal is to offer care that does.
Why Work With Me
Clients often find their way to me when they’re feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure how to move forward. Many are racialized, part of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and navigating the complexities of being immigrants or children of immigrants. They’re carrying the weight of expectations from family, culture, work, and quietly wondering if it’s okay to finally center themselves.
I became a therapist because I’ve been there. It took me years to find someone who truly understood the layers of my experience, someone who could meet me with compassion and curiosity, not confusion. That therapeutic relationship changed everything. It helped me reclaim my peace, my voice, and my sense of worth. Now, I’m honored to support others in doing the same.
Clients often tell me they feel safe, seen, and gently challenged in our work together. They appreciate my empathy, my warmth, and my ability to bring lightness to hard conversations. I believe therapy should be a space where you can be fully human, including space to laugh, feel, question, and grow.
How I Can Help
Many of the people I work with are carrying the emotional weight of burnout, racism, perfectionism, or the pressure of living between cultures. Some are exploring their gender or sexuality in environments that haven’t always felt supportive. Others are in relationships where values or communication styles feel at odds due to cultural differences.
Whatever you're working through, therapy offers room to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with what matters most to you.
In our sessions, you can expect to:
Cultivate self-compassion and heal old patterns
Set and uphold boundaries in ways that feel empowering
Understand your emotions and respond to them with care
Reconnect with your identity and inner voice
Release perfectionism and begin honouring what feels right for you.
What Therapy Looks Like With Me
Our first session is a chance to get to know each other. It’s relaxed, conversational, and guided by what feels comfortable for you. I’ll begin with a quick check-in about how you’re feeling walking into the session, then review a few key points from your intake form, like consent and confidentiality.
From there, we’ll talk about what’s bringing you in—what you’re feeling, what’s been hard lately, and what you’re hoping will feel different. I’ll ask about your current support system, personal strengths, and any barriers that are making life harder than it needs to be.
In ongoing sessions, I bring a warm, thoughtful presence to help you reflect and grow. I’ll ask meaningful questions, offer new perspectives, and sometimes use humour to bring lightness to tough moments. We’ll work collaboratively, checking in often to make sure our sessions are supporting what matters most to you.
My Approach to Therapy
I work with a few core therapy approaches that offer structure and guidance in our sessions. Rather than following a rigid formula, I adapt these methods to support what feels most meaningful for you and your goals.
At the heart of it all, these approaches are tools to help you reconnect with yourself, with others, and with a life that feels more honest and aligned.
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This approach helps you look at problems as something outside of yourself, rather than something that defines you. Together, we explore the stories you've been told (or internalized) about your identity, your worth, and your place in the world. You’ll begin to re-author those narratives in ways that feel more aligned and empowering.
This can lead to:
A stronger sense of self
More compassion for your past
Motivation to create meaningful change
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EFT is especially helpful for individuals and couples working through patterns of disconnection or emotional overwhelm. We take a closer look at how you relate to others, what gets in the way of closeness, and how to express yourself with more clarity and care.
This can support:
Healthier relationships
More effective communication
Stronger emotional connection
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ACT helps you shift the way you relate to your thoughts and emotions. Instead of trying to suppress or avoid discomfort, we practice noticing what shows up—and learning how to respond in ways that reflect our values and what truly matters to us.
This can help with:
Feeling less emotionally stuck
Becoming more resilient during difficult moments
Living with greater clarity and intention
Common Struggles I Help With
My clients often show up carrying a quiet heaviness, things they’ve been managing alone for a long time. Many are exhausted by the pressure to meet others’ expectations while trying to stay true to themselves. Others are emotionally stretched thin by the toll of being racialized, or queer in spaces and communities that do not feel safe.
Some of the experiences I support clients through include:
Emotional exhaustion and burnout, especially in workplaces that lack support or equity
The weight of perfectionism and internalized pressure to “keep it together”
Exploring gender identity or sexuality within cultural or religious frameworks
Healing from racial trauma and systemic discrimination
Struggles with emotional regulation, self-expression, and setting boundaries
Cross-cultural tensions in relationships with partners, family, or community
Feeling disconnected from one’s identity, values, or sense of purpose
Therapy with me is about making space to understand what’s happening beneath the surface—what hurts, what’s been missing, and what might feel better. We’ll work together to untangle what’s been holding you back and explore what’s possible from here.
A Bit About Me
Outside of therapy, I’m someone who loves working with my hands and getting lost in creative projects. I sew, knit, write, paint, cook, and garden—often cycling through a new hobby just for the joy of learning. My ideal day ends with a cozy dinner and a bowl of popcorn (salty, always), probably while watching The Great British Baking Show or The Traitors.
I bring that same curiosity and creativity into the therapy room. I believe healing should be as individual as you are—and that there’s strength in finding what works for you, not just what’s expected.
Let’s Work Together
If you’re looking for a registered psychotherapist in Hamilton, Ontario, or anywhere across the province, I’d be honoured to support you. I offer in-person therapy in Hamilton and virtual counselling for individuals and couples throughout Ontario.
You don’t need to have it all figured out to start. You just need a space where your story is heard and your experience is honoured. That’s what I aim to create.
Credentials and Professional Background
Registered Psychotherapist, CRPO #12153
Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology – Yorkville University
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English – The University of Texas at Austin
Previous experience at a community agency supporting survivors of sexual violence
Additional training in Narrative Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Support in Hamilton is here when you're ready
Grounding Place Therapy offers space to slow down, reflect, and reconnect. No pressure. No expectations. Just a supportive space to see what feels right.