Meet the Helping Families Thrive Team
Licensed Psychologists Parents Trust With the Hard Stuff
Helping Families Thrive was built on the belief that parenting support should be grounded in evidence, shaped by lived experience, and honest about how hard being human can be. The team includes registered psychologists chosen for their clinical depth, critical thinking, and ability to show up fully in both the mess and the growth.
Therapy and courses are structured and evidence-based, while remaining real, direct, and deeply human. Therapy is not about aimless venting or quick reassurance. Support focuses on helping parents move toward their values, sometimes by doing more, and sometimes by doing less.
Families who work with this team are met with honesty, challenge, compassion, and respect. The goal is not perfection. The goal is a life that feels more aligned, meaningful, and manageable, even amid the chaos of parenting and family life.
Dr. Shanna Sarita Alvarez Founder and Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Shanna Sarita Alvarez is the founder of Helping Families Thrive. A licensed psychologist and mother of 3. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Washington and completed an APA-accredited internship in Clinical Psychology at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. Dr. Alvarez completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington’s Center for Human Development and Disability.
Dr. Shanna Sarita Alvarez has worked in a wide array of clinical, educational, and research settings across the U.S and internationally. Her clinical and research focus has included Autism Spectrum Disorders, parental well-being, challenging behaviors, and Acceptance Commitment Therapy. Her greatest passions are evidence-based, systems-focused interventions. By addressing the familial and educational systems that surround each child, she truly embraces the complexity of individual growth and change.
Dr. Alvarez is part of the team at the Seattle Clinic. She is based in White Rock, BC, and is establishing the Canadian branch of Helping Families Thrive.
When not working with families and combating misinformation, Dr. Alvarez spends time with her 3 children and her dog, enjoys walks at the beach, and dancing.
She is a passionate parent of all stripes (foster, adoptive, biological, kinship) and knows the power and challenges of using science-based strategies in everyday parenting. Dr. Alvarez is also a long-time fitness instructor who loves dance, family mud-races, and all things hip-hop and reggaeton.
Dr. Alvarez believes in creating warm, authentic connections through which she can bring evidence-based practices into her clients’ daily lives.
Dr. Alvarez provides telehealth services in Washington State and all PSYPACT-participating states of the USA. Telehealth services are offered in accordance with licensing and PSYPACT regulations.
Telehealth services are also available in British Columbia, Canada.
Dr. Heather Davis, Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Heather Davis is a licensed pediatric neuropsychologist. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Seattle Pacific University. Then completed an APA- accredited internship in Pediatric Neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and Children’s Hospital. Dr. Davis then completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuropsychology at Brooks Powers Group, where she continues to conduct neuropsychological evaluations for neurodiverse and medically complex families.
In addition, Dr. Heather Davis is trained and certified to evaluate for the presence of Autism Spectrum Disorder and is a Center of Excellence (COE) provider through the Washington State Department of Health.
Dr. Heather Davis has worked in a wide array of clinical, medical, and research settings across the U.S. Her clinical and research focus has included Autism Spectrum Disorders, complex learning and behavioral disorders, both neurological and neurodevelopmental in etiology, and mental health diagnoses.
Dr. Davis co-directs the Incredible Years Program with Dr. Alvarez and leads the child side of the IY program (known as “Dinosaur school”) from the Seattle Branch of HFT. Dr. Davis is also part of the team at Brooks Powers Group.
When not leading Dinosaur school, Dr. Davis spends time with her husband and two little girls. Dr. Davis and her family love exploring the Pacific Northwest. Dr. Davis is also an organizational wizard and design enthusiast.
Dr. Davis’s greatest passions are supporting children with complex mental health needs, engaging children, building strong therapeutic relationships, and focusing on the entire system, which is central to Dr. Davis’s work with patients.
Dr. Davis provides telehealth services in Washington State and all PSYPACT-participating states of the USA. Telehealth services are offered in accordance with licensing and PSYPACT regulations.
Dr. Miles Feller-Mende, Doctoral Student
Dr. Miles Feller-Mende is a recently graduated clinical psychologist, the best uncle with another nephew or niece on the way, and a passionate advocate for children and their families. Dr. Feller-Mende received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Seattle Pacific University and completed an APA-accredited internship in Clinical Psychology at the C.A.R.E.S. community mental health clinic in Manhattan, New York.
He is currently completing his Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pediatric Psychology with major rotations in oncology/hematology, inpatient consultation, and minor rotations in endocrinology and chronic pain at Nemours Children’s Health/Baptist Health Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
Dr. Feller-Mende has gained expertise in treating and evaluating neurodevelopmental disorders, intellectual disability, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, parent training and support, family systems, adult psychiatric disorders, couples/co-parenting therapy, and now acute and chronic pediatric medical conditions, including end-of-life grief processing and planning.
Dr. Feller-Mende plays an active role in his nephew’s life, attending his nephew’s theater performances and fostering his healthy development. He has two fur babies (a cat and a dog), enjoys hiking, exercise, cold plunging, paddleboarding, travelling, and attending concerts and music festivals.
Dr. Feller-Mende takes a client-centered, holistic approach to understanding the whole person and their familial and communal systems within which they thrive, leveraging psychological and evidence-based practices to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Dr. Feller-Mende provides telehealth services in Washington State.
Cecile Nouaille, Licensed Mental Health Associate (LMHCA)
Cecile Nouaille is a licensed mental health associate who provides trauma-informed, attachment-based therapy for adults, parents and their children, and couples.
You may be navigating a high-demand, high-stress profession, parenting a trauma-impacted or neurodivergent child, or managing conflict within your family or relationship. You might be part of a couple or family stuck in an escalation, a shutdown, or a chronic misunderstanding.
Shaped by trauma, domestic violence, or prolonged survival mode under stress, you want clarity, steadiness, and practical ways to protect your family and yourself while moving forward.
Cecile integrates IFS, ACT, CBT, and systemic approaches to support burnout and trauma recovery, including domestic violence, parenting under pressure, emotional regulation, and relational repair. She brings developing forensic competence and offers contained, ethical support—focused on stabilization and insight, not advocacy—within high-conflict or court-adjacent conflict.
When life has required you to stay alert or strong, it’s understandable to feel overwhelmed, confused, or depleted. Therapy can be a place to slow down, try tools to reduce the strain, make sense of your system, its adaptive protections and loops, and rebuild safer ways of relating and being.
Cecile provides telehealth services in Washington State.
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