Alma Gardarsdottir, LCSW
EMDR Certified Therapist, TF-CBT Certified Therapist, Heartmath Certified Practitioner
Meet Alma Gardarsdottir, LCSW, the Clinical Director and Owner at Therasports. With 8 years of clinical counseling experience, she specializes in compassionate, trauma-informed therapy and sport performance counseling. Her education includes a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Social Work with a specialization in children and families. For the past 8 years, she has supported children overcoming abuse and their caregivers at a Child Advocacy Center, serving in roles ranging from Family Advocate and Therapist to her most recent position as Clinical Director.
As a Certified EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Therapist, Alma excels in delivering this advanced trauma therapy to facilitate transformative healing and recovery in a supportive and empathetic environment. She is committed to empowering her clients to process and integrate their traumatic experiences, helping them achieve emotional balance, resilience, and improved overall mental health. Additionally, Alma is certified in TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and is a Certified Heartmath Practitioner. She also integrates IFS (Internal Family Systems), Nature Therapy, Sand Tray Therapy, and Play Therapy into her therapeutic approach.
Alma has 4 years of specialized experience working with athletes of all ages in therapeutic settings. Alma utilizes a combination of therapeutic techniques and interventions when working with athletes, including EMDR, enabling them to effectively process and manage the psychological and emotional aspects of their sport. Furthermore, Alma understands the unique pressures and demands athletes face both mentally and physically which helps her support them in their journey to recovery and peak performance. She represented the Icelandic U17 and U19 national youth teams in soccer and basketball before earning a scholarship to attend Kennesaw State University, where she played Division 1 soccer from 2010 to 2015. Alma has spent the past 4 years helping athletes spanning many sports in therapy with challenges such as injuries, concussions, mental blocks, anxiety, lack of self-esteem, Traumatic Brain Injuries, and mental blocks.
Whether addressing trauma, grief, phobias, anxiety, mental blocks, or any sport related issues, Alma’s unwavering commitment to helping others, coupled with her diverse background in sports and clinical counseling, sets her apart in the field. Through Therasports, she is dedicated to providing strengths-based and personalized care, empowering clients and their families to overcome obstacles and attain optimal well-being.
Larisa Hanger, Pre-Licensed Counselor
Larisa’s approach is warm, collaborative, creative, and trauma-sensitive. She provides therapy for issues such as simple and complex trauma, child sexual abuse, dissociative disorders, self-harm and suicidality, grief, chronic fatigue, anxiety, eating disorders, religious/ spiritual concerns, gender dysphoria, and depression. She especially loves therapy with children and teens but enjoys working with adults as well.
She offers compassionate care for the impact of traumatic and other life events by integrating therapies such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), Somatic Therapy, and Ego-state Therapy (inner parts work) in addition to elements of Sand Tray and Play Therapy. Larisa also pulls from Structural Dissociation Theory and Attachment Theory, and she incorporates art, creativity, and movement into the healing process.
“I contain multitudes” is a Walt Whitman quote she resonates with because it touches on the adaptive strengths each part of us contains. Larisa holds hope for every client and gently carries pain with those who desperately need someone to be in it with them. Nothing is “too much” or “too dark” to bring to therapy. Even if you or your child has received counseling for years without much success, Larisa can help explore inner parts that may be stuck in time and carrying pain which makes present healing difficult.
Something unique Larisa brings to therapy is her lived experience with mental health, which allows her to approach her clients’ suffering with a nuanced understanding. Clinically, her experience includes 2 years working at an intensive treatment center and Child Advocacy Center. She also has 5+ years of experience with teens in non-clinical settings. Her work has made her passionate about fighting against a flawed and discriminatory mental health system through advocacy and by providing culturally sensitive care.