Elizabeth Anne Alicea-Torres

Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Alicea-Torres is an occupational therapist, educator, and consultant with 20 years of clinical experience advancing health, wellness, and functional independence across diverse practice settings and populations. She is the owner of Hemlock Health and Wellness LLC, a female-owned practice dedicated to promoting accessibility, aging-in-place, and holistic well-being through individualized occupational therapy services and consultation rooted in evidence. The motto of Hemlock Health and Wellness LLC is “Live your life your way” encapsulating a client-centered individualized approach to function, wellbeing and independence.

In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Alicea-Torres serves as Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT. In this role she serves as an educator, mentor and advisor to students as they prepare to become occupational therapy practitioners. Her role in education is specific but not limited to the adult and older adult populations with integration of evidence-based practice habits, cultural awareness and competency, professionalism and experiential learning opportunities through using a flipped-classroom model while incorporating simulation-based education strategies. In this role she also engages in scholarly activities through research, scholarly writing and presenting at conferences. 

Her clinical background spans acute care, short-term rehabilitation, long-term care, outpatient lymphedema and wound care, community-based practice, and home health, with specialized expertise in accessibility, functional mobility, active aging, lymphedema management, and wellness programming. She has also served as a clinical fieldwork educator, faculty mentor, academic advisor and program developer, ensuring future occupational therapists are prepared to deliver client-centered and evidence-informed care.

Dr. Alicea-Torres is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS), specializing in helping individuals make their home functionally safe with the goal of promoting aging-in-place. Her practice is guided by a variety of theoretical influences such as the Kawa Model developed by Dr. Michael Iwama, a Japanese occupational therapy practitioner which explores using the metaphor of a river to represent life’s journeys, challenges and overall well-being. Integrating both occupation-focused theories, models and frames of reference along with those external to the profession such as adult social-emotional learning frameworks, cognitive-behavioral theory and adult learning theory guide her abilities to effectively support humankind.

An active contributor to the profession, Dr. Alicea-Torres has published and presented on topics including but not limited to occupational therapy’s role in mental health, wellness, and end-of-life care along with engaging in current research efforts aimed at facilitating aging-in-place for older adults through the use of high-fidelity simulation. She serves as an appointed Public Health Council Member for the City of Springfield, MA, and is actively engaged with AOTA, and MAOT upholding her strong beliefs in community service. Grounded in a belief that participation in meaningful occupations is central to health, Dr. Alicea-Torres integrates clinical expertise, scholarship, and consultation to help individuals and communities thrive.

Joining Living Whole Online as a facilitator affords Dr. Alicea-Torres the opportunity to honor the integrative whole health model through the intentional merging of an occupation-focused, human-centric holistic lens on health and wellbeing-focused education within pre-existing and future content.