Hi! I’m Alison Hundt Russell, founder of Root & Resolve, LLC. I spent nearly two decades trying to create change within the limited confines of non-profit organizations whose actions and policies failed to align with their missions. Root & Resolve is the result of a distant dream, manifested in my early childhood.

My interest in mental health began long before my career. As early as three years old, I witnessed the lasting effects of unresolved trauma firsthand. A month prior to my conception, my 18-year-old mother was discharged from an inpatient facility. She struggled with severe mental illness, addiction, and self-harm that began when she herself was a young child - the result of a traumatic childhood and generational dysfunction. We lived on food stamps and free lunches. As a child, I sorted through the “overdue” notices in the mail, which were unopened and stuffed in a cupboard. Sometimes there was no heat in the winter. Sometimes no water to bathe.

I wrote a short story for an assignment in elementary school. My teacher asked if it was a cry for help. I lied. In middle school, my first research paper delved into drug addiction. My second, on schizophrenia. I wanted to understand and help my mom. It wouldn’t be until years later that I realized I needed to heal myself first.

I saw a mental health therapist in sixth grade. Then again in ninth. But it wasn’t until I was a first-generation college student - burdened and isolated by trauma - that I experienced palpable healing. My college’s low-cost mental health center became a refuge. My dedicated and empathic psychologist provided a warm and safe space, holding me with a compassion and patience I had never experienced - the very things I’d spent a lifetime seeking.

I’ve sat in every kind of therapy room - individual, marriage, and family. I’ve sat as a student in the school counseling office. I’ve also sat in the chair of the school counselor. I’ve been that student, taken under the refuge of kind teachers. I’ve been that teacher, providing the refuge that once saved me.

I know what it’s like to tell your story with the hope that someone will really hear it. I know how powerful it is to have someone simply hold space and validate the injustices and uncomfortable feelings. I also know the deep ache of not being seen - of not feeling understood. I believe you can’t truly see through a therapist’s eyes unless you’ve sat in the client’s chair. I’ve done both. And I carry that perspective into every session.

My work is about helping, healing, and holding space. I strive to always offer the kind of presence that initiated healing and compassion for not only those who hurt me but for the parts of myself I once tried to silence: the parts who survived.

In my practice, I carry humility, knowing the therapist and client need to trust each other - if there is a disconnected relationship, my first priority will be to find you the help you need. Even if that person isn’t me. You come first. Your healing is paramount.

Healing isn’t about changing who you are. It’s about seeing yourself through a new set of lenses - with a learned perspective of self-compassion, forgiveness, and the practice of loving yourself again. Join me in the journey - there’s space for you here.

Alison Hundt Russell, M.Ed., LMHC, CCTP, CTMH
Practice Owner, Licensed Trauma Therapist, Mitigation Specialist