Alison Lord, LCSW

Alison Lord, LCSW, is the Associate Director of Therapy at Little Otter and a passionate child and family advocate with over 20 years of experience supporting children, caregivers, and families. She earned her Master’s in Social Work from New York University’s Silver School of Social Work and has spent her career committed to healing and empowering families impacted by trauma, violence, and systemic barriers.

Throughout her career, Alison has worked across a variety of community-based service settings, including early childhood programs, domestic violence agencies, government-led multiservice centers, and community mental health programs. She specializes in addressing traumatic stress and trauma-related struggles such as attachment challenges, sleep difficulties, suicidal or self-harm ideation, depression, anxiety, grief, domestic and family violence, and family conflict and separation.

Her work is built on the belief that children thrive when caregivers are supported, heard, and equipped with the resources they need. Through authentic, compassionate partnerships with families, Alison focuses on creating treatment goals that are grounded in evidence-based practices and aimed at promoting resilience, connection, and healing.

After living in New York City for 18 years, Alison returned to her hometown of Rochester. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, reading, running and love green tea, ice cream and the color yellow. When not working, she's usually chasing around her 3 children while focused on creating special family memories and raising kind, empathetic, resilient humans.