An old topographical map showing the Newberry caldera area in Oregon. It is used as the background for a text box.

I believe that our life experiences shape and texture us.

Often, this happens without us even noticing. When we adapt to an oppressive environment, we are often left feeling scattered, anxious, depressed, numb, disconnected, and misaligned. What’s really tricky is that we’re often not even aware of how we ended up there, we just know that it doesn’t feel right.

In therapy, you can learn how to widen your awareness of yourself and to encounter and even befriend the parts of yourself that cause tension and conflict in your everyday life. In my work I use a combination of somatic, psychodynamic, and behavioral approaches, all based on the presumption that the most helpful stance we can have toward ourselves is one of curiosity.

I have a specific focus in working with people who experience anxiety through fixed, repeated patterns of thinking and acting, often referred to as obsessive compulsive disorder. OCD and other anxiety disorders can hijack our internal compass and force us to orient around avoidance, fear, and threat. I use Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), an evidence based treatment for OCD and other anxiety disorders, and Somatic Experiencing (SE) to help you get reconnected with what’s important to you.

My areas of focus:

A simple line drawing of a cross section of a volcano. The magma chamber sits under a narrow channel that leads to the volcano's tip.
A simple line drawing of a cross section of layers of rock. The layers have been split by a fault line so that they aren't lined up with each other.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders

Disconnection from self and others

A simple line drawing of a cross section of layers of earth under a tree. Different layers reveal different features, with one layer toward the bottom containing dinosaur fossils.

Trauma/old wounds

Training

I hold a Master’s degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from Portland State University, as well as the Clinical Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and National Certified Counselor (NCC) credentials. I’m currently working toward licensure as a Registered Counseling Associate under the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (OBLPCT) and as such my work is supervised by Deanna Cor, PhD, NCC, LPC and Kerri Anderson Linde, NCC, LPC.

I am currently engaged in an advanced training program in Somatic Experiencing (SE), which is an approach to trauma healing that focuses on how our bodies process stress and resilience.

Additionally, I have received specific training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), abuse intervention, group facilitation, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).

I aim to provide trauma informed, LGBTQIA+ affirming, body-neutral, and anti-oppressive counseling to all my clients. Accordingly, as a white, straight, cisgender man, I believe it’s important for me to be explicit about how these dominant identities might interact in our work with any marginalized and/or privileged identities you hold.

A photograph of a rock, specifically jasper with swirls of orange, blue, white, and cream colored bands
“Paradoxically, when we feel most private, most deeply ‘into’ ourselves, we are in some other sense most deeply connected with others through whom we have learned to become a self.”
— Steven Mitchell