Portland Counseling Services

My approach to Counseling

As children developing into adults, we naturally encounter challenges and trials that require us to grow and evolve.

When we grow up without appropriate support and understanding, we may not know how to meet these challenges, leaving us with unmet needs and insufficient coping skills. We may feel anxious, depressed, or traumatized and live with the belief that we don’t have what it takes to have what we want or be happy.

I believe that people have a natural capacity for healing and that given a safe space and the gentle guidance of a trained therapist, issues with anxiety, depression, doubts about who we are, and relationship problems can be resolved.

Empathy, Connection and Insight

I bring empathy, connection, and insight to our therapeutic relationship, listening for what is important in your life and collaborating with you to uncover and explore your values and goals.

When you want to focus on particular areas of change, I offer a variety of tools you can use to shift your perspective and behavior. I draw on a number of methods, including expressive art therapies to enhance self-insight, and mindfulness techniques to calm anxiety and increase awareness. I work from an existential-humanistic framework as I support you in looking for meaning and understanding yourself individually and in relationship.

I listen to what is troubling you and offer you insight and clarification so you can start to understand what isn’t working in your life and what you’d like to do about it.

I offer ways you can interact with your thoughts and feelings with greater mindfulness so that you better understand yourself and how to have what you want in your life.

I offer a variety of expressive art options for those who enjoy accessing their unconscious for insight and healing.

I’m an LGBTQ and BIPOC ally and value my work with people of all cultures and backgrounds.

How I work with You

Therapy with me is relational.

Our client-therapist relationship gives you the opportunity to practice how you relate to others in an emotionally safe and caring environment. Using therapy to explore how you think, feel, and react in relationships brings you insights you can apply to improve all the important relationships in your life.

Practice using mindfulness to study your life.

I am trained in Hakomi, a therapy that uses mindfulness to study how you view the world. Learning to notice your patterns of approaching life leads to an understanding of the core beliefs that limit your happiness. Through my own practice of mindfulness meditation I’ve come to believe that by strengthening our awareness of the present moment, we increase our ability to take pleasure in the joys of being human and build the resilience we need to manage its challenges.

Open yourself to your innate creativity.

With my expressive arts background I can give you the option to explore your challenges and dreams through the use of images, clay, sand tray, and poetry. Bringing your own creative explorations into therapy gives you another way to discover, understand, and value the deep yearnings and gifts that lie deep within you.