Credentials

Education and Licensure

Alice Baland earned her Master of Arts in Counseling from Amber University in Dallas, one of the finest training programs for psychotherapists and licensed professional counselors in the country.

Alice has also earned the following degrees:

Master of Arts in Counseling from Amber University in Dallas, Texas
Bachelor of Science in Clinical Dietetics from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and
Bachelor of Science in Foods and Nutrition/Business from Texas Tech University in Lubbock,
Associate in Science from Amarillo College with a specialty in foods and nutrition and home economics.

After receiving her Master’s degree and successfully completing an intensive internship and training program and examinations, Alice earned her Professional Counselor license (LPC) from the State of Texas. Alice is also a Specialist in Group Work.

Alice earned certification as a Medical/Analytical Hypnotherapist while operating a successful counseling practice in Plano, Texas

Besides her expertise as an LPC, Alice is also a Registered/Licensed Dietitian (RD/LD) through the American Dietetic Association and the State of Texas.

Experience

Alice began her private practice in 1981 in Dallas, improving the nutritional status and health of clients with high cholesterol, hypertension, eating disorders, weight management and body image issues. She works with executives, professionals, athletes, homemakers, students, and a wide variety of organizations.

She has extensive experience working with individuals, couples, families, and groups. Her expertise includes treating eating disorders, relationships and marriages, sexual trauma recovery, depression, grief, anger management, suicide prevention, conflict resolution, communication, and life coping skills. Alice provides confidential, quality care in her Plano therapy office with the philosophy that “You deserve life’s best! ...and I can help you get there.”

Psychotherapy Experience

Private Practice, Plano, Texas

Alice specializes in treating eating disorders, exercise resistance and exercise addiction, so clients benefit from her expertise as both a psychotherapist and as a dietitian. She works with individuals, groups, corporations, schools. She also works with a psychologist in an Intensive Outpatient Clinic (IOP) for adults in crisis. She helps stabilize adults with severe stress, trauma and abuse, PTSD, grief/loss issues, anger management, and acute or chronic suicidal or homicidal ideation. The most frequent diagnoses include Major Depression, Bipolar Disorders I and II, Panic and other anxiety disorders, plus many with dual diagnosis, eating disorders, weight management.

Therapeutic elements used by Alice include: solution-focused, marriage and family systems, suicide prevention, cognitive-behavioral, life recovery skills (boundaries, anger management, etc.), expressive therapies (including art therapy), support system building, redecision therapy (with gestault, transactional analysis), brief therapy, Jungian psychotherapy, mythology and nutrition therapy.

Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center

Prior to her private psychotherapy practice Alice trained at the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center (CCCAC) in Plano, Texas. This multi-team center includes play therapists, law enforcement, Child Protective Services, legal intervention and more. As a therapist with CCCAC Alice treated sexually, physically, and emotionally abused and neglected children and their families. She also led a “Grandparents as Parents” group for grandparents who had custody of their grandchildren.

Therapeutic approaches she used here included: Play therapy for children; individual therapy for adults; family and marital therapy; cognitive-behavioral therapy; solution-focused therapy; recovery skills; redecision therapy; support systems; suicide prevention. She consulted with other therapists, CPS caseworkers, parents, sheriff and police departments, rape crisis center, DA’s office, school teachers and counselors, federal probation officers, and more.

Charter Behavioral Health Care System, Dallas/Plano

Alice was also a therapist for Charter Behavioral Health Care System, Dallas/Plano: She performed psychosocial interviews, needs assessment, counseled multi-family and other groups for patients and families with suicidal/homicidal ideation, psychiatric disorders, trauma and abuse issues, poly-substance abuse and dependence, crisis intervention and more. Her work included the Adult Psychiatric Unit, Intensive Outpatient Group, and the Adult Substance Recovery Unit.

Mental Health Connection

As a dietitian Alice also combined her psychotherapy skills at the MHMR/MHC: Mental Health Connection: a locked psychiatric unit at St. Paul Hospital in Dallas. She did nutrition assessments, education, and group classes for those with Axis I & II diagnoses, including bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, suicidal/ homicidal ideation, plus poly-substance abuse, malnutrition, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and more. Clients ranged from private pay to homeless, well educated to low educational levels, and a multicultural population. She worked with team psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, techs, substance abuse counselors, and others.

Nutrition Therapy Experience

Alice also has extensive experience working in a wide range of areas – including public and community health, the Visiting Nurses Association, corporate wellness and sales, restaurants, hospitals, medical centers, spas, retail specialty stores, cardiac rehab, the federal WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) nutrition program, cooking demonstrations, writing a column “Alice’s Restaurant Guide to Lighter Dining,” working with chefs, continuing education at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, CA and Hyde Park, NY), catering, and more. As a volunteer dietitian with Operation Frontline (Share Our Strength/SOS & North Texas Food Bank), Alice taught nutrition, supermarket shopping, and cooking classes with a local chef for low-income families at risk of hunger in the Dallas area. SOS is a national hunger-fighting organization.

Media Experience

As a Nutrition Therapist Alice has addressed such organizations as the Texas Legislature on consumer health and safety issues and nutrition. She is a Resource Spokesperson and a former Ambassador/ National Spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association and national food corporations, reaching millions of consumers on health, fitness, and nutrition- related issues. Alice has been featured in such television, radio, and print interviews as CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, USA Today, the Dallas Morning News, the Wall Street Journal, and many more media groups across the United States. She gained extensive media experience and crisis management expertise. Alice was a nutrition consultant for the National Touring Food & Beverage Festival, state fairs, medical and health care conventions, with exhibitions for consumers, physicians, dentists, nurses, and dietitians.

Research

Alice has written numerous research papers, worked on many projects, given hundreds of speeches, and is a media spokesperson, furthering the personal growth and health of millions of Americans. Some of her papers include:

Domestic Violence: Causes & Effects
Narrative & Brief Therapy and Self-Awareness
Coping with Job Loss
Guilt vs. Joy in Sexual Expression vs. Repression
Body Image: Values & Attitudes
Exercise Addiction and Exercise Resistance
Insights from a Multicultural Journal
Body Fat Measurements, Diet, and Exercise as Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Dallas/Fort Worth Executives
Eating Disorders Assessment Tools
Career Autobiography – Assessment and Guidance

Professional Organizations & Honors

Alice participates in a wide variety of professional organizations, including:

Nutrition Entrepreneur of the Year 2002
International Eating Disorders Network
The International Speakers Network (ISN)
C.G. Jung Society of North Texas
Redecision Therapy Workshops & Training
Nutrition Entrepreneurs (NE), DPG
Sports, Cardiovascular, and Wellness Nutritionists (SCAN), DPG
The American, Texas, and Dallas Dietetic Associations (ADA, TDA, DDA)
Nominated Registered Young Dietitian of the Year for the DDA