Alicia King Anderson has a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies and Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her dissertation on The Storyteller Archetype explores the responsibilities of storytellers. She was particularly struck by the healing functions of storytelling that were made very clear in her research. Her areas of academic interest include trauma, burnout, fairy tales (particularly fairy tale retellings), mythology retellings, as well as archetypal symbols such as the tarot and unicorns.
After nearly twenty years as an expert in organic search and digital marketing, Alicia is leveraging her experience as a marketer and a manager to help others navigate burnout in a novel way. She offers workshops, 1:1 coaching, as well as on-demand online courses in addition to a book on achieving lasting burnout recovery.
Alicia lives in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in New Mexico, and her home is just a mile from the Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon fire scar. Using her experience of living so close to the largest wildfire in state history, she focuses upon wildfire as an eco-psychological metaphor for the burnout cycle. Wildfire serves as a roadmap for creating sustainable, lasting change following either professional burnout, autistic burnout, or both. This metaphor is how she successfully navigated her own long burnout recovery journey. Because it is rooted in the natural world, it is beautiful and full of hope.
An accomplished public speaker, her training and instruction style is collaborative, convivial, and memorable. Her teaching creates lasting change for students – whether she’s discussing complicated technological concepts or teaching a course on Morbid Anatomy. Her wide array of courses offered circle around the idea that telling and retelling stories can offer paths for healing. As a long-time student of information architecture and instructional design, she focuses on making her courses tactical and actionable.