Empowering Lives Together

Duaa Alam, LMSW, is a therapist and case manager specializing in evidence-based mental and behavioral health, blending clinical expertise with holistic healing practices. She takes a trauma-informed, whole-person approach to support people through mental health challenges and life transitions. Duaa earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Texas at Arlington, with a focus on mental health and substance use treatment. 

      Shcanto integrates biofeedback, yoga, breathwork, and somatic therapies to help clients process emotions, regulate their nervous systems, and reconnect with themselves. She believes therapy should be a safe, empowering space where people can come home to themselves. With a deep understanding of diverse cultural backgrounds, Duaa ensures her practice is accessible, inclusive, and respectful of each client’s unique experience. She is skilled in advocacy, navigating systems of care, and creating personalized treatment plans that meet clients where they are. 

      Outside of work, you will find her surfing, arranging flowers, shaping pottery, or reconnecting with her cultural roots. To her, healing is not just something that happens in therapy; it is a way of living, loving, and being present for ourselves and our communities.

 Biofeedback is a therapeutic technique that teaches individuals to control certain involuntary bodily functions—like heart rate, muscle tension, skin temperature, and brain wave activity—using real-time data provided by electronic monitoring devices.

• How it works: Sensors are placed on the body to measure physiological activity. A computer displays this data, and the individual learns to regulate it through relaxation, breathing, or mental exercises.
   
• Purpose: Improve control over stress, anxiety, chronic pain, migraines, blood pressure, and more.
   
• Example: A person learns to lower their heart rate by using deep breathing after seeing it spike on a monitor during stress.
   

Think of it as a mirror for your nervous system that helps train your brain and body to work together more calmly and efficiently.

 Yogic therapy (also known as yoga therapy) is a personalized application of yoga principles and practices to address physical, emotional, or psychological conditions under the guidance of a trained therapist.

• Components: Asanas (postures), pranayama (breath control), meditation, chanting, and ethical lifestyle practices from traditional yogic teachings.
   
• Goals: Improve flexibility, reduce pain, calm the mind, balance the nervous system, and support healing of chronic illness or trauma.
   
• Used for: Depression, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, PTSD, back pain, insomnia, and more.
   

It blends ancient wisdom with modern therapeutic insights to support holistic healing—body, mind, and spirit.

 Breathwork refers to a range of breathing techniques used consciously to influence mental, emotional, and physical states. It's often used for stress relief, emotional release, trauma processing, and spiritual experiences.

• Types: Diaphragmatic breathing, box breathing, holotropic breathwork, coherent breathing, and alternate nostril breathing (nadi shodhana).
   
• Benefits: Activates the parasympathetic nervous system, improves emotional regulation, increases mindfulness, reduces anxiety, and can bring up suppressed emotions for healing.
   
• Scientific basis: Deep, slow breathing can lower cortisol levels and heart rate variability, enhancing calm and focus.
   

Breathwork is like a built-in nervous system reset—accessible anytime, anywhere.
 

 Somatic therapy is a body-centered therapeutic approach that integrates traditional talk therapy with physical awareness and movement to process trauma, stress, and emotional pain stored in the body.

• Focus: It emphasizes how emotions and trauma can live in the body, not just the mind.
   
• Techniques: Breath awareness, humming, grounding, movement, touch (when appropriate), sensation tracking, and guided visualization.
   
• Used for: PTSD, chronic stress, dissociation, and emotional dysregulation.
   
• Popular models: Somatic Experiencing (Peter Levine), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.
   

In short, it helps individuals reconnect with their bodies, release stored trauma, and regulate their nervous systems more effectively.
 

Individual, Family, & Group Therapy