A Note Before We Begin
I spend a lot of time in quiet rooms, listening closely to what people say and what they don’t. I also think a lot about what happens outside those rooms.
A while ago, a colleague said to me, “Therapy is one hour out of 168 in the week,” and it stuck. Most of life happens in the in-between. The routines, the pauses, the moments that don’t usually get named.
That’s the space I’m interested in here.
I’m Ally. I’m a therapist, but I’m also a business owner, a writer, and someone who pays close attention to how people actually live. How stress shows up. How rest gets postponed. How meaning gets made in a world that often feels too busy and a little under-supported.
Mental health doesn’t only show up in obvious moments of crisis. It’s woven into how we move through our days, how we talk to ourselves when no one’s listening, and how much room we leave for uncertainty. It also shows up in who has access to care and who doesn’t.
The mental health system in the U.S. is strained in ways that are hard to ignore. Care can be expensive, difficult to find, and hard to sustain. Clinicians are tired. Clients are frustrated. Many people are doing what they’re supposed to do and still not getting what they need. That reality sits quietly alongside my work every day.
Notes Between Sessions is a place to talk about some of that without trying to wrap it up neatly. The personal and the practical. The inner world and the systems around it.
Some of what I write here is shaped by my work as a therapist. Some comes from my own life, conversations with colleagues, and patterns I keep noticing. This isn’t therapy, and it isn’t advice. It’s reflection. A place to slow things down and look a little more closely at what’s actually happening.
I’m also beginning to use this space to talk more openly about burnout, especially among clinicians and healthcare workers who spend their days caring for others while quietly running on empty. Better systems matter. Clearer boundaries matter. Naming that feels like part of the conversation.
Mostly, I’m curious about what changes when we stop rushing to fix ourselves and start paying attention instead. When we question the pace we’ve accepted. When we notice what’s actually going on beneath the surface of our very full lives.
