Alaina Van Gelder is a National Certified Counselor and a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor specializing in adults battling eating disorders. Alaina joins our Chrysalis team from Maryland where she worked as an individual therapist with a concentration on eating disorders. She developed and led a Women’s Empowerment Group for clients with anxiety and depression, a Binge Eating Disorder group, and a general support group for eating disorder recovery. Alaina uses Person-Centered, Strengths Based, and Experiential approaches in her treatment with the firm belief that a person’s way of being is deeply rooted in childhood experiences. Alaina also uses other evidence based practices such as CBT and Gestalt therapy. She takes an eclectic stance in sessions, tailoring treatment to the individual to help meet clients where they are and to help them heal from the pain that is both underlying and caused by their eating disorder. Alaina earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from The University of Mary Washington and a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Wilmington University in Dover, Delaware. Alaina presented on eating disorder treatment at the annual S.W.E.L.L. conference in Ocean City, Maryland in the Spring of 2021.