Alex Rothman, MSS, LSW

Accepting new clients.

Introduction

Hi, I’m Alex Rothman. I’m trained as a social worker and I identify as white, genderqueer, able-bodied, and neurodivergent (I have ADHD). I've spent the last 20 years partnered with and then married to a wonderful nonbinary person.

For most of my life I identified as a cisgender man. I am still read that way in most situations and carry the privilege of those assumptions. Those labels never felt like they captured who I truly am and I’m not sure any do. I think a lot about how our names for things (like identities and diagnoses) can both free and confine us. 

About me

Before I became a therapist I worked as an editor and ran a small press. I have an artistic practice myself, using the visual language of comics to write poetry, and years of thinking about creativity inform my current work. I grew up going to Quaker schools and while I am not dogmatic, I have a deep interest in religions and spiritual traditions. I enjoy gardening and being outdoors, cooking when I have time, and tinkering with electronics. My spouse and I live in Philadelphia with a small, mighty dog named Spatula. 

Education

I received a BA in English from Harvard in 2007 and a Master of Social Services (MSS) degree from Bryn Mawr in 2020. I trained working with students in the University of Pennsylvania’s Counseling and Psychological Services department and with housing-insecure adults in Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Porchlight Program. 

What it’s like to work with me as a therapist

I am here to help you be most fully yourself, and to move through the world in a way you find most fulfilling. I believe deeply that our work together belongs to you and that you are the expert of your own experience. I’m here to help you clarify your own thinking, work through your own concerns, and toward your own goals.

I know that many folks have experienced mental healthcare as a space that is less about exploration and growth than about judgment and pathologizing. I strive to confront my own privileges and biases and to practice in a way that is anti-oppressive.

If we work together, I hope you will experience me as someone who listens closely and empathetically, and whose questions help you to deepen your understanding of yourself and the things that matter to you. (I also hope you’ll get to know me as someone who isn’t always as serious as this bio may make me sound.)

Ages

Adults

Specialties

• Depression

• Anxiety

• Grief and loss

• Identity Development

• Life changes

• Existential concerns (looking for meaning and purpose)

• Trauma

• Relationship concerns

• Creativity 

• Neurodiversity

Modalities

I am an integrative therapist, meaning I draw from multiple theories. Primarily, I’d describe my work as relational or psychodynamic. I see our working relationship as the strongest tool we’ll have to work toward healing and growth. I also pay close attention to how unconscious factors and childhood experiences shape us. Other lenses I regularly use include: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical-behavioral therapy (DBT), an existential orientation, a social-justice or anti-oppressive orientation, trauma-informed theory, and mindfulness theory.