Mindfulness-Based (MBCT) Therapists in Portland, OR

I’m interested in working with people who would like to take a holistic look at their mental health. This can include an interpersonal counseling approach as well as testing for and treating any potential underlying physiological causes of mental and emotional symptoms. I particularly enjoy working with people with mood disorders, ADHD, anxiety, and OCD.

I enjoy working with clients who feel that their minds have become unmanageable. This experience often arises from a belief that inner conflict and complexity is a problem to be solved rather than a state of affairs to be understood and befriended. Sometimes this unmanageability shows up as anxiety, where the mind dreads bad outcomes and wont allow you to enjoy your life. Other times as depression, where the mind is mired in hopelessness, despair, or resentment. Addictions of various sorts can also arise from this state of affairs, whereby we try to distract or quiet our minds through destructive patterns of behavior.

You've let go of the toxic relationship, addictive behavior, and self defeating patterns, and you want to remain empowered, strong, supported through it all. You seek someone you can talk to, someone other than friend or family. Whether you're recovering from a break-up or a major life event like Pandemic or career change, it's time to build support and concrete skills for the healthy, authentic life you've always desired.

I love supporting teens, young adults, and adults as they work to grow their self-acceptance, trust their own intuition, and get "unstuck" from past experiences and big losses.

Feeling trapped by your circumstances or struggling to find meaning in your life? Maybe you feel powerless to change your personal or relational thought patterns and habits; fortunately, therapy can offer a welcoming space to explore your inner world while providing valuable tools to diffuse negative thinking, develop greater self-love and compassion, and help you reach your full potential. We can all benefit from additional support to address specific problems in life or as a means to further personal growth. If you are motivated and willing, you can make the transformative changes you seek.

My approach to therapy is based on mindfulness and self-compassion. Mindfulness teaches us how to be present and self-compassion teaches how to be a friend and ally to ourselves no matter what. I offer a warm and safe relationship, good old fashioned listening, and skills to improve effective communication, managing and learning from emotions, self-acceptance, compassion, and connecting with and living your values. Mindfulness -based therapy is practical, evidence-based, and it works. You don't have to be stuck, overwhelmed, or feel disconnected from your life. You can make positive changes, heal, grow, and thrive.

Recently adding Relational Life approaches into my treatment, I believe that we all have developed adaptive patterns that were formed from our past and worked then, but can stop working as we move forward. These adaptive patterns may keep us; unhappy, disconnected and isolated or angry, hurt and lonely. I can teach you new ways to live in the world that help you get what you seek.

I will help you get to the heart of the matter, the root of what is causing suffering in your life, and we will work together to create the changes you seek. I work from a mind-body lens with a focus on nervous system regulation, somatic interventions, NLP, mindfulness , and EFT meridian tapping (Emotional Freedom Techniques). We work together to help unstick the parts of yourself and your life that are stuck. We will work together to create a different relationship with these parts so you can have the experience of being happy, healthy, well, and fulfilled in you life.

I want to help you seek a more balanced life, build a greater sense of self acceptance, and develop the confidence to pursue growth. My goal as a therapist is to provide a supportive space where you can develop the skills necessary to enhance the quality of your life, heal from trauma and shame, and begin to live in greater alignment with your values. Using a strength-based therapeutic style centered around your knowledge and experience allows us to find strategies that will support you in managing unwanted symptoms. I value the importance that trust, humor, and transparency play in this process of exploration and change.

Leadership Skills, Performance Enhancement and Life Coaching. I am confident in the ability of the individual to change. We all face many difficult challenges in life, but these can become opportunities for growth and personal development. Most of us have never really learned the optimal skills and strategies to deal with these challenges. After 30 years working with individuals from a great variety of economic, educational and cultural backgrounds, I have found that identifying and letting go of our old, unproductive coping strategies, and replacing them with new ways of engaging with the world, allows us to live in a more rewarding and productive fashion.

Are you looking to deepen your connection to body and self? Has therapy been helpful, and you sense there's more to uncover? Do you want to connect and relate to yourself and others differently? Do you want to be more self-full?