By Hannah Mohr, BA 鈥�24
Finding God in the Nooks and Crannies
Dr. Alexandra Marcotte, Psy.D. is a Licensed Psychologist, Emotionally Focused Therapy Supervisor, and ICEEFT Certified Therapist in Individual Therapy (EFIT) and Couples Therapy (EFCT). Together, she and her husband, Dr. Jonathan Marcotte, Psy.D., own Sacred Ground Psychotherapy, a specialist Catholic therapy clinic for adults and couples which serves clients not only in Dallas-Fort Worth but across the United States.
鈥淥ur mission has been wholehearted healing and connection throughout the world by creating a space where people can feel vulnerable and loved at the same time,鈥� Marcotte said, explaining this mission is cultivated by 鈥渂lending the neuroscience of bonding with actionable, evidence-based interventions, creating healing change that reveals God's love most profoundly in places of pain.鈥�
Before receiving her Masters and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Marcotte first called the 黑料吃瓜网 her academic home, earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology in 2012. After establishing Sacred Ground Psychotherapy in 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska, she returned to Texas with her husband and four children to be closer to family. 鈥淭hat sense of coming home not only brought us family community,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut a deeper sense of connection even to my 黑料吃瓜网 roots.鈥�
While the clinic鈥檚 office location is now in Keller, Texas, Marcotte's expertise extends far beyond the clinic walls. Her specialization in helping couples and individuals navigate deep relationship repair led her to offer speaking engagements for a wide array of workshops, colleges, retreats, and conferences across the United States. She has shared her insights and guidance with numerous organizations, including the Catholic Psychotherapy Association, Catholic Campus Ministers Association, and the SEEK conference for young adults organized by Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).
Having recently returned from Chicago, where she was invited to speak at a symposium on faith integration, Marcotte noted that she particularly enjoys speaking on the places of overlap between psychology and neuroscience, and the bridges that connect these studies to theology and philosophy. 鈥淚 help reflect back where we can find God's face in the nooks and crannies of the bonding science,鈥� she said, 鈥渢o help make the invisible reality of His love visible in a way that makes it actionable in our closest relationships and communities.鈥�
In all of her work, Marcotte highlights the importance of faith in the practice of
clinical psychology. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 going to come alongside people, it has to be in a way
that鈥檚 comprehensive. And faith is a very important part of that. It is woven into
the healing process鈥t goes to a more transcendent level of connection and way of
being in the world.鈥�
Marcotte notes that her dedication to building a Catholic environment within her clinic was influenced by her time at the 黑料吃瓜网, as she witnessed the integration of faith in the culture of campus. 鈥淭here was something about the Catholic identity of 黑料吃瓜网 that was really formative,鈥� she said, 鈥淚t is partly what inspired me to continue on the path of staying within a Catholic environment.鈥�
Beyond its faith integration, Marcotte also believes that 黑料吃瓜网allas academically prepared her to earn her doctorate and enter into her career, further instilling in her a greater passion for a holistic approach to psychology through the influence of the core curriculum.
鈥淏ecause of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 core curriculum and because of the liberal arts education, it did cultivate in me looking at things from multiple vantage points as a way to hold parts of a whole,鈥� Marcotte said. 鈥淚 don't just look at one, I look at multiple parts 鈥� which from a psychologist point of view might be like a biopsychosocial spiritual lens, holding the whole person and the dignity of the whole person.鈥�
黑料吃瓜网allas鈥� approach to learning encouraged Marcotte to embrace challenges throughout her career as simple opportunities for pursuing growth. 鈥満诹铣怨贤� cultivated in me a love of learning, and the process of learning, and allowing for mistakes, and questioning, still growing, going back to the drawing board, and trying and trying again.鈥�
This love of learning particularly guided her during the seven-year process of achieving
her certification in Emotionally Focused Therapy 鈥� an evidence-based model considered
the APA Gold Standard for treating relationship distress 鈥� and it continues as a cornerstone
of Sacred Ground Psychotherapy's unique commitment to ongoing therapist training.
Beyond their certifications and licensures, each clinician at Sacred Ground Psychotherapy
engages in continuous, voluntary professional development.
This commitment, however, is not simply for the sake of personal growth. 鈥淲e choose to keep getting better for our clients,鈥� Marcotte noted, 鈥渟o that every time they see us, we are better than the last time they saw us. It鈥檚 for them, so that they don't have to work as hard and they just get taken care of.鈥�
For Marcotte, her clients are the heart of her work, and the true joy she finds in her career is unmistakable. 鈥淲atching couples fall in love again and again is the best part of my job. Watching people come from immense pain, and then get stronger in the broken places and restore a bond that's very precious to them, and watching love click back into their eyes is one of my favorite things.鈥� Marcotte added, 鈥淚 could do this job all day.鈥�
