Personality Disorders Therapists in Portland, OR

Hello there. I have been in practice providing psychotherapy to adults and adolescents since 1994. Some clients see me briefly for focused concerns such as life transitions or work/school issues. Others who seek my help have been struggling with longer term depression/anxiety, effects of past trauma, or problematic relationship patterns, for many years. In either case I work from a psychoanalytic framework, using the power of the here and now therapy relationship to explore how peoples' unconscious thoughts color their experience of themselves and others. Over time this work often leads to deep, lasting life changes.

I offer psychotherapy to individuals and couples who reside in California or Oregon. I offer clinical supervision to associates residing and working in the state of California. As a psychotherapist, I am flexible and tailor my approach to the need of each client. I have been trained in many modalities that offer various benefits, depending on your needs and preferences (EMDR, AEDP, Sensorimotor, Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic, Somatic). As a clinical supervisor, I supervise from a primarily psychodynamic orientation. My practice is anti oppression and trauma informed.

I believe that anyone can benefit from therapy. Whether you’re facing life’s challenges, experiencing anxiety or depression, or you are just interested in growth and strengthening your sense of self; we all need a neutral person to talk to from time to time.

I practice a dynamic style of therapy that is rooted in creating a supportive, caring environment where we establish a good working relationship that fosters self-awareness and insight. I work in-depth with you to discover how past family experiences may (often unconsciously) influence present day issues. We work to understand how difficult situations of the past contribute to longstanding frequently dysfunctional behavior patterns or negative self-perceptions. Therapy can help heal painful emotional wounds and relieve symptoms, improve self-acceptance and coping, improve relationship quality and overall life and work satisfaction.

Only accepting group therapy referrals. In my experience, life is better and easier if you have someone that understands you, sees it from your point of view, and helps you navigate through it. A good therapist is like a fellow traveler who journeys with us into awareness, facilitating the insight necessary to heal and grow. I am a passionate facilitator of this process, helping my clients make sense of their lives and relationships, heal what's kept them stuck, explore new ways of being and live richly. The therapy we do is deep and has long-lasting effects, and the changes become your second nature, even after therapy ends.

I firmly believe that growth has two paths. To truly flourish, one must balance a desire for change with a true willingness to accept oneselve for who you are. A treatment that embraces this idea is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and it's the core philosophy I use with my patients every day. In treatment, DBT concepts focus on changing things that are getting in the way of living the life you want, while accepting yourself unconditionally. The focus is to develop a life worth living. My program offers a full finality DBT which includes individual therapy, group skills training, and phone consultation.

“Why do I feel stuck in my career?” “Why is it so hard to open up with my friends and partner?” “How can I help my child feel confident?” Psychotherapy is an opportunity to reclaim your future as well as help your children and family enjoy productive, loving relationships. Together, we develop a conversation focused upon understanding what interferes with your parenting or a sense of meaning in both your personal and professional life.

We all get stuck sometimes; and we suffer. Life often feels messy and chaotic, and in the midst of "the daily grind" we experience ourselves as unbalanced, fragmented, and "all over the place." Life is perpetually full of transition and change; and our habituated ways of being in the world are often at odds with the ebb and flow of life's events, and we experience stress, conflict and pain. Despite our resources, strategies and efforts to cope with challenges, we often get stuck; and end up feeling dissatisfied with ourselves, disenchanted with others, and disconnected from life, vitality, joy.

Currently I work with people struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, life transitions, addictions, and grief. While I have received training in a number of approaches, my goal is to offer you interventions and tools that best fit for you. I am most influenced by IFS, DBT, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Mindfulness, and Expressive Art Therapy. I look through the lens of trauma, and I take a behaviorally specific approach to support experiences of transformation into long term change and growth. You can expect to have tools and skills to practice in between session to support your work.

We all can benefit from the support therapy offers from time to time. Some reasons people come to me: they may feel stuck in some area of their life; feel confused about who they are or where their life is heading; find that they have trouble showing up fully in relationships or lose themselves in relationships; struggle with feeling okay within themselves; have experienced a loss, and need someplace safe to grieve; feel lost, alone, and not in control of their life; are having difficulty reaching goals; or want to feel more joy, connection, and love in their life.

Telehealth available in Oregon and California. The process of therapy is as unique and nuanced as the stories of each of our lives. Who we are and who we might discover ourselves to be are at the center of each therapeutic journey. I tailor my therapeutic approach to fit your unique story, the specific challenges you arrive with, and the goals you seek to reach. I offer a space free from judgment where you can speak openly, unhampered by social mores and conventional expectations. I work with individuals, couples, and teenagers. Telehealth available in Oregon and California.

Life is not like a box of chocolates. Life is like a roller coaster with ups and downs, highs and lows, successes and failures. Therapy is about navigating through it. Depression, Anxiety, Substance Abuse and Early Childhood Traumas interfere with everyday functioning and cause us to make decisions that do not serve us well. At one point, most of our unhealthy coping tools were survival skills. They were beneficial and warranted at the time but now interfere with creating a life worth living. It's time to challenge those outdated coping tools with more useful, practical and efficient ones.

Hi! My name is Amber and I am an LCSW in Oregon and Washington. I have much experience working with teens, families, and adults particularly around trauma and more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. My experience has also brought me to working with those with chronic pain, comorbid disorders, body image issues, gender questions, neurodivergence, and self-harm. I have a particular affinity for people who have endured trauma and who feel like they are outsiders. I pride myself in being culturally sensitive and welcoming to all, and someone who works as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Currently on a waitlist. I am a licensed therapist that works with many different types of clients including children/adolescents, families, & couples. My goal is to help my clients work through the issues they are facing so they can work towards their goals in their lives and relationships. Every person has innate strengths and my goal is to help identify those strengths and build on them so that they can reach their goals in treatment and in their lives. Ultimately, I want my clients to feel heard and supported in my practice and I hope to help them on their journey in finding positive change in their lives and relationships.

If you’re reading this, we already know you’re struggling. Maybe you’re having trouble “adulting”. You’re feeling like everyone else seems to have it all together, why can’t you? Your mental health is getting worse and worse, and you just want it to stop. Your day to day life is chaos and worry and you remember better days when things just weren't like this. You might feel like you’re out of control of your life.

I believe that much of what we think, feel, and believe is outside of our immediate awareness. Much of the time we think our conscious mind is 'driving the bus' so to speak, yet it is our unconscious that grips the wheel and drives us down roads we have unwittingly been down many times before. We develop beliefs of the self, of others, and of the world in general based on experiences we have earlier in life, often outside of our current awareness. These unexamined beliefs can prevent us from experiencing ourself and others in a healthy and authentic manner.

(Please note that I am currently located in Illinois and can only offer video or phone sessions). It was Irvin Yalom who said something to the effect that "psychotherapy is like a dress rehearsal for life". With this said, it is my intention to not only offer you support in therapy but to also help you generalize the skills you learn in therapy and apply them in your outside life and relationships. I specialize in anger and anxiety management for adults and adolescents. I also work with highly intelligent adults and teens who have a difficult time adjusting and adapting socially and work with high functioning autistic individuals.

My goal is to meet the client where they are at and work together towards identifying what their struggles are, what gets in the way of addressing them and building skills to grow from there. Using mindfulness to increase awareness and understanding of the connection between mind and body we learn to recognize how emotions and other factors impact mood, attitude, attention and relationships. I view people through a trauma informed lens to ensure that all aspects of their past and present are considered possible influencers and may need to be better understood. I like to say my hope as your therapist is "helping you help yourself".

My approach to counseling is centered on building a relationship with youth and families, adults, and couples that is based on dignity and mutual respect. I attempt to create an atmosphere of cooperation and equality in counseling, based on the belief that clients are the experts on their own lives and experiences, and that this expertise can be utilized in the process of making change. I believe compassion and authenticity are essential to forging a strong therapeutic relationship.