New to Grow
I'm Dr. Les Aria, a pain psychologist with over 23 years of experience helping people understand and recover from chronic pain. I specialize in the neuroscience of pain — how the brain and nervous system learn pain, and more importantly, how they can unlearn it. My work draws from Polyvagal Theory, Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and mind-body medicine. I offer both individual therapy and group-based pain recovery programs.
Our first session is a conversation, not an intake form. I want to understand your full pain story — not just where it hurts, but how long you've been carrying it, what you've already tried, and what you've been told about your body that may or may not be true. I'll also share a different way of understanding your pain — one grounded in modern neuroscience rather than the old structural model most people have been given. For many clients, this reframe alone begins to shift something. By the end of our first session, you'll have a clearer picture of why your nervous system has been protecting you the way it has, what recovery actually looks like, and whether working together makes sense. There's no pressure and no agenda other than understanding you — and giving you something genuinely useful to walk away with.
What sets my work apart is that I don't treat pain as something to manage — I treat it as something the nervous system learned, which means it can be unlearned. After 23 years specializing exclusively in chronic pain, I've developed a framework called Nervous System Recovery (NSR) that integrates the latest pain neuroscience with Polyvagal Theory, Pain Reprocessing Therapy, IFS, and ACT. I'm not a generalist who sees pain on the side. This is all I do. That depth of focus means I can meet patients where traditional care has fallen short — after the surgeries, the medications, the diagnoses that still didn't explain why they're still hurting. My clients often tell me that our work together is the first time anyone has actually explained their pain in a way that made sense — and gave them a real path forward. That shift in understanding is where recovery begins.
I work best with adults living with chronic pain who are ready to move beyond pain management and toward genuine recovery. My ideal client is curious about the mind-body connection, open to understanding how the nervous system drives their pain experience, and willing to do the inner work that lasting change requires. Whether you've been in pain for months or decades, if you're ready to understand your pain differently — and reclaim your life — we're a good fit.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Before applying Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), patients are taught ACT to acquire skills to separate from their mind's narratives to enhance PRT's applications. I often incorproate vagal stimulation such as The Safe & Sound Protocol (SSP) to enhance the outcome of a more regulated nervous system.