Allison Helen Grimes

Allison Grimes is a Licensed Mental Health Clinician based in Cambridge, MA and licensed in both MA and NY. Allison is passionate about working with young to midlife adults who feel motivated in their lives but held back by Medical Trauma or health challenges.

Here are some signs you might have Medical PTSD:

• Blaming yourself for your health challenges

• Anxiety attacks leading up to, during, or on the way home from doctors’ appointments

• Avoiding medical appointments

• Feeling a sense of dread about your future and how illness could impact it

• Replaying parts of an experience with the medical care system over and over (i.e. getting a diagnosis,

unjust treatment by providers, or medical gaslighting)

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is highly effective for Medical Trauma. Allison is a certified EMDR therapist. In an EMDR session, Allison will support the client through a negative memory or experience, offering emotional support, in the hopes of allowing the brain to break free of its reactive states of panic or shutdown.

As an Attachment-based EMDR therapist she creates a safe, comfortable atmosphere by taking her clients through breathing and grounding exercises, sandtray work, or art therapy. By bringing her full presence to client relationships, she engages both client's high achieving selves and their more playful sides. She also holds space for clients to explore the more hidden parts of self that don’t get the attention they truly deserve.

Allison earned her Masters degree from Lesley University. Her inclusive nature makes sessions collaborative, exploratory, and intentionally mindful about a client’s window of tolerance. By stretching this window (or finding ways to feel more comfortable in the existing window), Allison teaches skills to find peace in everyday life.