Therapists in Portland, OR

I trust that whatever appears in the mind, body, and emotions has its purpose and wants to be deeply heard, honored, understood, and embraced; that all the Psyche expresses are attempts toward our wholeness and realizing the jewel of our Essential Being. With this compassion and care, healing can unfold, patterns and beliefs transformed, and we can live our true potential and purpose, innate wisdom, and experience happiness, peace, and joy.

While the focus of my training and experience is children and couples/families, I love working with individuals of all ages. I help my clients overcome and manage mental health challenges, issues associated with ASD, grief/trauma, relationship/family conflict, behavioral difficulties, life change, career planning and issues associated with identity. As a former educator, I am particularly skilled at differentiating therapeutic interventions to fit individuals to suit their needs. And, I can help parents advocate for the educational needs of their children and provide social/emotional skills training to children and adults.

Start. Restore. Heal. I would like to assist you with gaining control over your life through building positive coping strategies to help you address current psychosocial adaptations and poor coping skills. My focus will help you to reduce your mental health symptoms by developing healthy life choices, positive coping skills, and improved self image. I can assist you in building positive relationships and connections. I am currently providing Telehealth therapeutic services for individuals, couples and families, seeking therapeutic support.

I specialize in providing emotion focused therapy for couples who are interested in working on issues related to communication, trust, infidelity, connection, and intimacy. I also work with individuals who are looking to heal their relationship with food, body image, stress, anxiety, substance use, depression, and manage responses to complex trauma. I welcome folx of all types, including LGBTQI and poly/ENM identifying individuals and couples. People who work with me enjoy integrating mindfulness and humor into the therapeutic tableau.

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".

I wonder what kind of therapists people scroll through psychology profiles to therapist shop for. When people ask me what my ideal client I actually wonder whats people's ideal therapists? I think this is important when thinking about an ideal client and therapists because I see it as a collaborative work. I'm not here to force you what I think is best for you, therapy is something both the client and therapist figure out together to meet the clients' needs and goals.

Hi there! I’m Michelle Ficalora, and I’m a mental health clinician intern here at Positive Inner Self, working towards becoming a LCSW. I’m currently a Clinical Social Work Associate. My pronouns are she/they, and I am trauma-informed and LGBTQIA+ allied. I specialize in working with clients of all ages, helping to address both the symptoms and root causes of your stressors in individual or group sessions. I’ll help guide you on the way to reaching your goals, using humor, play, and light physical engagement to keep things moving.

Sitting and talking about your problems with a stranger isn't as difficult as it seems. It can actually be relieving, enlightening, and even fun at times, with the right therapist. With the right therapist, you can find new ways to cope with life. Through a unique approach to talk therapy, I help my clients navigate through the challenges of daily living, while ensure that their values, beliefs and perspectives are held in a meaningful way.

My goal is to foster a collaborative and supportive environment in order to help my clients identify barriers to happiness and fulfillment in their lives, and then work together to set achievable goals to overcome those barriers. I value working with diverse populations, ensuring equitable access of care to all, and have a strong interest in social justice matters.