Grief Therapists in Irvington, Portland, OR

Moving Through Uncertainty To Rediscover Peace: Hi, I'm Colette. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Portland, Oregon. I specialize in grief/loss and anxiety, and also help people with depression, addictive behaviors and individuals who experience an unhealthy relationship with food. I know first hand the emotional and mental toll that the death of a loved one can take, and the many ways in which anxiety can leave one feeling stuck and isolated. ​​​My practice is all about helping my clients rediscover their place of peace.

For most people, strong relationships are an important indicator of health and well-being. When we feel stuck in old patterns that no longer serve us, our connection to others suffers too, which can turn up as depression, anxiety, or simply feeling alone and disconnected. By reconnecting with our essential gifts and strengths through the therapy process, we in turn can offer more to family, friends, and community.

As a therapist I’m drawn to those places of breakdown that so often have the potential to become breakthroughs. Usually these are discovered in the midst of broader life-cycle transitions, moments of grief and loss, seasons of depression or anxiety, or in response to the myriad of social and cultural pressures we face. These experiences can be disorienting, frightening and isolating, but with the support of a trusted companion to help us face the journey they can also reveal our own innate wisdom and strength and serve as the gateway to deeper healing and wholeness.

Being present with ourselves and our lives is the most potent force for change. I am a climate-aware therapist working with individuals, couples, and families experiencing loss, grief, confusion, and conflict. My work focuses on grief, death & dying, trauma integration, and climate distress. Increasing our capacity to tolerate our pain and listen to what we really need dramatically increases our well-being. What would it be like to be more present in your life? Our work together can help you move towards a more fulfilling experience of life, even when loss and grief are present.

Curious about EMDR Therapy? EMDR is extensively researched, highly effective, and recommended by organizations such as the APA, WHO, and DoD. In fact, over the last 33 years, millions have been successfully treated with EMDR by over 100,000 clinicians worldwide. EMDR is commonly effective with anxiety, relationship struggles, grief, depression, fears, phobias, panic, trauma, sleep issues, addictions, and performance challenges. What makes EMDR so powerful is how effectively it turns on the brain’s natural healing process, allowing for deep release of the painful past thoughts and wounds that keep you stuck in old, negative patterns.

I am currently accepting new couples clients (self-pay), and individual clients. I offer a personalized and compassionate approach to therapy, informed by years of professional experience as well as in-depth training in somatic approaches, mindfulness techniques, and psychodynamic theory. Specializing in treating people suffering from trauma and eating disorders, I also work with a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, grief, parenting, low self-esteem, addiction, and marital conflicts. I currently offer telehealth sessions to clients in both Oregon and California, as I am fully licensed in both states.

Are you ready to live a better you? You are taking the first step in attaining peace-of-mind, I respect and applaud you for doing so. I have a Masters degree in Social Work from Portland State University and over 40 years of experience working as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I began my private practice, Pathways to Peace Therapy, over 20 years ago, while also working in community mental health and E.R. crisis intervention for over 15 years. In 2014, I also began working with OCD patients. Working in various mental health settings has been invaluable in providing tools to bring to my clients individual needs and goals.

When working with clients I prioritize the therapeutic relationship. We become a team working toward your goals, and I place significant value on honesty, authenticity, humor, compassion, validation, and accountability into our work together. Since starting my counseling practice I have worked with people of all ages and backgrounds experiencing various challenges including but not limited to anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma, gender dysphoria, grief, interpersonal issues, life transitions, adoption, self-esteem, bipolar II disorder, and more.

Welcome. I approach therapy as a collaborative and respectful process to help individuals, couples, and families learn new, adaptive ways to relieve emotional distress from anxiety or depression, illness, loss, grief, and trauma, therefore, becoming much more empowered and successful in their lives. In couples therapy, partners learn to manage and repair conflict, improve sexual intimacy, recover from betrayal, and enhance trust and friendship. Family therapy creates healthy patterns, routines, and behaviors to improve and heal maladaptive family dynamics and learn respectful and loving ways to communicate more successfully.

I provide mental health and career counseling to individuals and couples dealing with life's challenges. Do you want to understand more about yourself, about your identity, about the way the patterns you've learned in the past might no longer be serving you? Do you deal with the challenges of depression, anxiety, guilt, past trauma, and grief or loss? Come on in and we can explore all of it in a supportive environment.

Dear Potential Client! Have you lost someone and can't seem to move on? Do you find that unresolved abuse issues still bother you and get in the way of daily functioning? Are you not able to create the intimacy and closeness you desire in relationships and find yourself repeating the same patterns that you know don't work? Is your confidence level not where you want it to be? Do you and your partner struggle with how to best parent? Is anxiety and depression causing you to isolate, worry a lot, lose sleep, feel hopeless? I can help!

NOW Accepting new clients! I believe that a good fit and feeling confident with your therapist is the first step in reaching your therapeutic goals. Since 2011, I have worked with a wide array of clients and I have specific experience working with people who experience depression, anxiety, Bipolar, life transitions, stress, self-esteem challenges, women’s issues, trauma, and more. Since everyone is different, I utilize a variety of approaches to help people attain the life they desire and deserve. These include but are not limited to CBT, DBT, EMDR, mindfulness, and solution focused therapy.

I have been in practice since 1994 and know that change, growth and healing is possible in the context of a therapeutic relationship. My style is safe, warm and straightforward. We will increase your access to and awareness of underlying beliefs and heighten your ability to tune into and better meet your own needs. You will learn to better tolerate your emotions and bodily sensations, developing an enhanced ability to healthfully soothe yourself. You will cultivate greater courage, clarity and flexibility. My clients create relationships with greater intimacy and become more consistently authentic, creative and effective.

You may be an adult who is empowered in some areas but stuck in others or you may be someone struggling to find meaning in your life. Who ever you are, you are the navigator of your life. Your personal narrative is front and center and you decide what isn't working. Together we will dis-empower the stories in your life that no longer serve you and craft the narrative that is most affirming of who you are or who you want to be.

I am accepting in-office clients only at this time, though I use telehealth when necessary. I work most often with people struggling with the course of their life: its direction, its quality, or their traveling companions. You may arrive at therapy when the problems of living have become too painful, scattered, depressing, frightening, or paralyzing to bear. Reaching an emotional breaking point isn't necessary to seek therapy, however: instead, you may be frustrated at not having "figured out" how to build a rich life that includes satisfying relationships and work that doesn't demean them.

*Sorry, not accepting new clients* The choice to engage in counseling can be difficult yet beneficial. If you choose to engage in this process you will be treated with the respect, care and dignity you deserve. I provide individual, couple and family counseling central to Black people and Black communities. Exploring racial trauma can be a huge part of this work. Counseling allows a safe platform to explore issues that need to be addressed in a healthy and positive manner.

We may feel ready for a new direction and unsure how to make meaningful change. Our habits may seem increasingly inadequate to meet our daily challenges. We may experience patterns of venting and withdrawing, or feel ashamed of our thoughts or desires. Your therapy can focus on providing the means for you to renegotiate your relationships. We also focus on bringing to light the implicit stories, narratives, and beliefs that form the foundation of your self-understanding and relationship with yourself, others, and the world.

I know and believe that healing can be achieved as it has in my own life. With this knowledge, I seek to provide a safe and non-judgmental environment for my clients to begin their healing journey.

I hold PhD in Clinical Psychology and a Master's Degree in Psychology. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I support my clients in achieving greater well being by honing what is genuinely unique and important to them. I teach practices that boost resiliency to stress and inspire self-esteem and self-compassion to bloom. I support my clients in breaking through blocks and in unleashing authentic and dynamic self-expression, so that their values are congruent with their behavior and their intentions and desires become experiences that are truly lived.