About Alisha Allen, LCSW
Our Founder and Your AuDHD Clinician
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker dedicated to providing a profoundly different kind of therapeutic support. My approach is built on a unique fusion of top-tier clinical expertise and lived neurodivergent insight.
My Credentials & Clinical Expertise
My approach to therapy and diagnostic evaluation has been shaped through experience across multiple high-level settings, including my work as a Senior Social Worker at Stanford Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
My clinical background includes:
I am honored to have completed my ADOS-2 and ADI-R training under Dr. Somer Bishop, a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr Bishop is a published co-author of the second edition of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2). This means my evaluations are grounded in the highest standard of autism research and clinical practice.
Therapeutic work with young children and their families in early childhood learning environments, identifying early signs of ADHD and autism spectrum disorder within 0-5 year olds.
Intensive outpatient treatment across child and adolescent populations
Therapeutic work with adults in group practice settings, supporting individuals navigating complex trauma, anxiety, depression, and late-diagnosed ADHD and autism spectrum disorder
This foundation allows me to provide care that is both developmentally attuned and diagnostically rigorous, while remaining deeply affirming of each person’s lived experience.
My Academic Background & Training
I received my undergraduate degree in Human Services from Kennesaw State University and my Master of Social Work from Tulane University—an institution grounded in the ethos Non sibi, sed suis (pronounced “non SEE-bee, sed SWEESE,” meaning “not for oneself, but for others”), a philosophy that continues to shape my approach to care.
My academic training laid the foundation for a career dedicated to providing thoughtful, evidence-based, and neurodivergent-affirming care.
My Clinical Approach & Modalities:
My approach is direct, creative, and rooted in a bottom-up philosophy—beginning with the nervous system and lived experience before moving into cognitive processing. I believe the body often holds the story long before it can be put into words, and meaningful change starts by working with that foundation.
Drawing from psychodynamic and depth-oriented therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Polyvagal Theory, somatic approaches, attachment-based therapy, trauma-focused CBT, and bibliotherapy, I move fluidly between modalities based on what each client needs in the moment.
I work with children, adolescents, and adults, with a clinical focus on ADHD, autism (Level 1 and Level 2), complex trauma, anxiety, depression, narcissistic abuse recovery, and the unique challenges of navigating a neurodivergent identity in a neurotypical world.
Expressive Arts Therapy
Using creative processes (like drawing, music, movement, or metaphor) to explore feelings and experiences that can be hard to articulate with words alone.
Trauma-Informed & Somatic Approaches
Understanding how stress and trauma live in the body and working to release it, rather than just talking about it.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Exploring how your early relationships shape your current connections and patterns, and building security from the ground up.
Neurodivergent-Affirming Frameworks
We take your challenges seriously without making them your whole story. Your hyperfocus, creativity, and deep empathy are just as real — and just as worth understanding
OUR STORY
The Sanctuary I Needed, The Care You Deserve.
Brightmane was born from a lifetime of being told ‘you don’t look autistic’ and the profound loneliness of feeling like an outsider in a world that wasn’t built for our unique inner world.
It was built from the exhaustion of masking, the frustration of being misunderstood, and the personal understanding of how a lifetime of conforming to a neurotypical world leads to anxiety, depression, and trauma.
THE PROFESSIONAL TURNING POINT
Challenging the systemic failure.
This personal reality was reflected in my professional work. At the start of my career with children aged 0-5, I saw the same harmful patterns starting early. I witnessed educators and clinicians dismiss clear signs, saying a child was “too young” for a diagnosis. I saw the system set up brilliant minds for a lifetime of confusion and self-doubt by refusing to see them clearly.
This systemic failure was a reality I faced not just as a clinician observing it, but as a neurodivergent person living within it. From large institutions to small group practices, I experienced firsthand what it was like to work in environments that were fundamentally unsustainable for how my nervous system and brain function. I felt the direct impact of systems that stifled rather than supported, and I knew intimately the exhaustion of trying to thrive within them.
My innate pattern recognition—the same strength that helps me understand neurodivergent brains—allowed me to see the systemic inefficiencies and harms with stark clarity. However, when I pointed them out, advocating for a better way, I was often met with resistance. I was targeted for challenging the status quo and for my inability to follow social norms that felt performative and inauthentic. It was a painful confirmation that the system was not just broken, but often actively defended its brokenness.
My most important goal is to empower you with self-knowledge and practical strategies.
I invite you to reach out for a consultation to see if we are a good fit. When you’re ready to begin, you can book your consultation.
Brightmane Therapeutic Center
Where Every Mind Belongs™
Meet Our Clinicians
Tianna (T) Lui, LMFT (they/she)
Hi, I’m T! I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, neurodivergent, non-binary, and first-generation — and I bring all of who I am into the work I do with clients.
I’ve been practicing since 2020 and specialize in supporting individuals who are ready to go beneath the surface. My approach is relational and humanistic, grounded in the belief that authenticity and honest connection are at the heart of real healing. Drawing from CBT, attachment theory, neurodivergent-affirming, and psychodynamic frameworks, I work collaboratively with clients to explore the root of thoughts and behaviors and deepen self-understanding.
I work with individuals 12 and older and specialize in anxiety, depression, life transitions, neurodivergence, and LGBTQ+ stress.
Whoever you are and wherever you’re starting from — you belong here. I’d love to work with you.
Our Mission: A Blueprint for a Different Way
It was Alisha’s journey through the heart of a broken system—and seeing the same harm everywhere—that cemented our mission. We weren’t just going to point out the problems—We were going to build the blueprint for the solution from the ground up. Brightmane Therapeutic Center was created to be the sanctuary we needed to thrive, both as clinicians and as a human beings, and that our clients and their families deserve.
The Brightmane Promise
This is a place where you never have to apologize for the way your brain functions. You can finally let your guard down in a space where eye contact isn’t demanded, fidgeting is welcomed, and you are given all the time you need to find your words and process your experiences. To work in collaboration with a clinician that understands and embodies the neurodivergent experience is a unique way to heal and be supported. It’s built on a simple, radical belief: you should not have to change your neurology to belong.
