Who is Aly?

Alyson Zurek, LICSW, is the owner and clinical director of River Counseling in Minnesota and is also Dear Aly.

“I want to use my story of trials, recovery, setbacks, and healing to help others on their journey. There is hope, don’t give up, keep healing.”

Aly uses wisdom gained through personal and professional experiences to guide people toward safe, meaningful, and healthy relationships.

“My main objective,” Aly says, “is to offer resources, ideas, answers, advice, and love. I want to offer love to anyone with ears to hear and eyes to see. I want to help married couples stay married, to help raise kids well, and help everyone build meaningful relationships with others.”

Aly wants to help all children (this includes child parts inside adult bodies) to be free of abuse and distressing experiences. Aly adds, “We were not designed to be hurt as little children. We were designed to be loved and cared for. We should all know what it means to be safe and loved.”

 

Is your inner struggle keeping you from leading a healthy and meaningful life? Let’s talk today!

Want to know more?

Aly’s Journey

I have worked in social services for nearly 35 years. I volunteered with children in classrooms, attained a B.S. in Elementary Education, and worked in many facilities for adults with developmental disabilities, hospital crises, and grief services. I earned my MSW in social work and trained as a caretaker for autistic children. I have worked with child protection teams, including the sexual abuse program in northern Minnesota. For the past 18 years, I have worked as a clinical therapist providing outpatient mental health counseling to people of all ages and with various mental health conditions. As a trained trauma therapist, I have dedicated my life to this field of study.

I have discovered that those who enter the helping professions more often have life histories that mirror their work. Knowingly or not, we seek answers to what is unanswered in our lives. It should surprise no one that I have experienced childhood abandonment, emotional and sexual abuse. My parents struggled with mental illness that impacted their ability to raise me; their attachment to me was avoidant, anxious, and disorganized. Their divorce, remarriage, blended family dynamics, frequent moves across the country, and two broken legs created a survival story I wish I did not have to tell. But I am going to say it in hopes that thousands of others will get to hear these words.

I get it, I hear you. None of it was your fault! That should have never happened to you and I am so sorry that it did. Let’s work together to help you be better now!

As a result of chronic childhood traumas, including sexual abuse, without help and healing along the way, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I was raped (twice), pregnant before marriage, abandoned (again), hurt others who never deserved to be hurt, had an affair with an abusive man, been divorced, and a single mom. In the midst of all of my suffering, I was introduced to God’s compassionate love for me, and I was blessed with two fabulous kids whom I got to raise and now know as successful young adults. I married again in search of my true self and then suffered a severe motorcycle accident in 2020. This lifelong recovery journey has humbled me to begin writing my story and creating this website. When my son was in Kindergarten, I served the PTO as the school social worker, and in 2001 I was asked to be Dear Aly. It is a fun surprise to have that part of my life re-born now; I get to help others from the comfort of my couch while I heal from post-concussion syndrome (PCS).

I have a deep understanding and insight into complex issues like childhood and adult trauma, marriage, divorce, affairs, and single parenting. Dear Aly and River Counseling have become my ministries aimed at helping people recognize and acknowledge their inner struggles, then heal and live, really live!!! I would not be experiencing the peace and joy that fill me every day if it were not for Gods consuming love and my invitation to Jesus to guide my way. Despite the trials I press on with endurance, running the race. God’s not done with me yet.