Introduce Yourself : From Psychotherapist to Actress and Coach for Creatives by Alexandra Stevens

Hi, Alexandra Stevens. I hope you're enjoying the weekend! What are some of the roles you want to play in movies, shows, etc.?

Alexandra Stevens, I just want to say how much I appreciate having you in the community. Your story is such a powerful reminder that it’s never too late to return to what lights us up, and your presence here both as a performer and as a coach adds so much heart and depth to the space. I’m so grateful for the way you show up in the Acting Lounge and throughout Stage 32, always uplifting others with authenticity and care. Thank you for being such a vibrant part of this creative circle.

Aww thank you so much Ashley Renee Smith . Your words are uplifting me :)

Maurice Vaughan ooh that's a really great question. I'm drawn to quite dark, gritty films with emotionally complex 'grey" (good parts and bad parts) characters. I love the English director Mike Leigh so anything he does. I love the way he works too, getting the cast to improvise the script. I loved Annalise Keating played amazingly well by VIola Davis in "How To Get Away With Murder". I also liked Juliet Binoche's character in 'Three Colours Blue" as she is dealing with grief and trying to live with no attachments. In one of my acting show cases at my training school I played Ingrid Magnussen in White Oleander, played by Michelle Pfeiffer in real life. Again, what a fun challenge to play such a complex and troubled character. I'm interested, what characters are you most drawn to in your writing?

I like watching and writing emotionally complex "grey" characters, Alexandra Stevens. VIola Davis said she wanted to act in a zombie movie a little while back, and I outlined a script for her to star in. I outlined it so anyone can play the lead though. Michelle Pfeiffer is my favorite Catwoman. I'm most drawn to heroes, loners, family men and women, and strange characters in my writing.

Thank you for sharing this Alexandra Stevens! Grief can be a powerful motivator and an opportunity to achieve clarity on how you want to move forward in your own life. I've been there myself. Your energy and dedication very much come through in your words!

Great to meet you Alexandra Stevens

Never too late to pursue your dreams.

Maurice Vaughan I enjoy reading about the range of characters you like. Sounds like we have a few in common. Rooting for you that Viola takes you up on your script!

Nick Phillips thank you so much for what you say and for sharing your own experience with grief. I just took a look at your profile and feel chuffed to be in this community with someone as creative and productive as you are.

Alexandra Stevens wondering what your take is on the emerging consensus that talk therapy (endlessly revisiting a traumatic event or multiple events) can retard rather than accelerate recovery among those diagnosed with CPTSD. (Obviously those events can serve as writing prompts and sense memory exercises, but I'm talking now just about from a therapeutic standpoint.) Also curious about your take on how writers and actors can safely navigate such terrain. Thanks in advance.

Yusuf Toropov that's a really good question. Hmm....i can really only speak from my own client experience where I have not seen re-traumatisation. I think a lot comes under the umbrella of 'talk therapy'. From cognitive based therapies (trauma-informed CBT ) to somatic approaches like Sensorimotor Therapy) to integrative therapies like Gestalt Therapy and EMDR. So I don't think we can generalise. I think that a good therapy/therapist will ensure the client is sufficiently supported/resourced/stabilised before directly working with CPTSD to prevent possible re-traumatising. But to be honest, I think any decent therapeutic approach (I am biased towards Gestalt and EMDR due to my training) is about addressing the 'unfinished business' and helping the individual to close the negative feedback loop and change negative beliefs to positive beliefs as a result. To to this best it involves talking as well as feeling and sensing. There is some great work being done by another Stage 32 member who I am collaborating with on how to support actors to not have their trauma triggered by characters. We can discuss this in a private message more if you like? I guess that the ways already established and those we are currently exploring would also work for writers. It starts with helping to resource you, and to create a boundary between you and the character/s you are acting or writing about. Look forward to speaking more and finding out whether you have been triggered when creating?

Clear enough from context I think that I have CPTSD :-) I lean toward REBT ("Hmm -- Do I choose to believe that thought I just had?")-- riding the bike on my own now after a lot of help from a really gifted therapist who (bless her) was not so interested in the backstory but more interested with whether I could tell when I was dysregulated and with the "how" of reregulation. Sometimes CPTSD originates in multiple experiences, some of which may be blocked by evolutionary survival processes or simply not remembered well. I'm not saying others wouldn't benefit from a talk-it-all-out approach, I understand it's an ongoing debate. Thanks for the thoughtful response. I can't imagine being an actor and trying to deal with this. As a writer the act of writing about noticing the triggers is an increasingly vital (and therapeutic) "writing prompt." The act of taking lots of notes dovetails as a creative pursuit and a therapeutic one.

one last observation -- lots of people diagnosed with CPTSD have the experience of interacting with a well-meaning therapist/caregiver who insists that "talking it through" is the only valid approach, and then having that not deliver results for them. This video gives an excellent overview of the problem. https://youtu.be/eRmOUJI-wFM?si=s_bKr8ScygGDrEYu Not everyone has CPTSD, of course. Just sharing what it looks like from this corner of the room.

Thanks for sharing the video Yusuf Toropov — I’m familiar with Anna Runkle’s work, and I agree that her focus on nervous system regulation is helpful for many people navigating CPTSD. Her Daily Practice (writing to offload stress, then meditating) can definitely support emotional regulation.

That said, I still think we have to be careful about generalising when it comes to therapy. You mentioned frustration with the "talk it through" model — totally valid, and I’ve seen that too. But I’d argue that good therapy doesn’t just mean endless rehashing; it’s about safely processing and updating internal beliefs, ideally with resourcing in place to avoid retraumatisation. That’s why I lean towards integrative approaches like EMDR and Gestalt, which are as much about somatic and emotional work as they are about narrative. There's value in 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' approaches. In fact i have a blog article coming out on this soon.

I also really like what you said about writers using note-taking and self-inquiry to notice triggers — that overlaps with what I’m exploring with actors around setting boundaries between themselves and their characters. Maybe there’s a creative crossover there worth unpacking more?

"You don't have to believe everything you think" is a liferaft I hang on to :-) How each person gets to that place of healthy questioning is a lifelong project, I think.

Thanks, Alexandra Stevens. I'm rooting for you to get those roles!

So glad to meet you Alexandra Stevens and to have your help moderating the Acting Lounge. I am in a similar space as you. At 47, after being fired from yet another conventional job as the result of a traumatic experience from the year prior, I figured there was no time like the present to go full bore on pursuing acting. I had been going to therapy for PTSD and she helped me see my recent PTSD was because I have PTSD from my childhood. I have done a lot of work in the past three years, I am still seeing my therapist on a weekly basis. I have done EDMR and a couple other techinques. CBT as well. I would say what has helped me most is what Yusuf Toropov has done. Learning how to self soothe (not thought when raised by parents with NPD) and regulation of emotions. Overcoming the negative thoughts, which has been the bigggest struggle for me -amazing who indoctrinated we get as children- and I would say why I never believed in myself as an actor, that I could make a living at it. I have been crippled by fear for so long. Tolle, Dooley, and Dyer are my senseis. The Stage 32 Community has helped me a lot, for a time it was the only positive force in my life. I am excited to see how your therapuetic work will inform you as an actor. I can say that I am mentally in a great place. To Yusuf, I say I don't get retraumatized when I'm acting. I think my childhood trauma informs my acting, probably what drives me to it. I can be emotionally free and connected to people on a deep level that I never experienced before. Anyway, I hope that others will be encouraged by our stories and find Stage 32 to be a safe space. Feel free to DM if you want to keep the conversation going.

Thanks so much for sharing that, Suzanne! Creativity= healing