Therapists for college students near Portland, OR

Therapy can help us discover new parts of ourselves, challenge barriers to growth, and develop new skills to create our own paths. We as individuals hold these strengths within us already, but at times life can lead us to believe we are lacking. My hope is to help you discover these strengths! My style is direct yet gentle and I speak from an honest heart. I will often bring humor into the session, as life can funny at times or we may just need a bit of laughter to get through the challenges. I pull from various models but most often utilize Narrative Therapy, CBT, and mindfulness based techniques. Through a combination of these modalities, I work to help clients re-write unhealthy narratives and adjust patterns or ways of thinking that reinforce these inaccurate self-views. I believe in assisting clients in better understanding their own emotions and how their bodies can communicate these emotions. Once we are able to understand this, we can slow down and create new habits that are more effective in meeting our needs and managing symptoms.

Are you struggling to find your purpose or understand the direction your life is taking? Do you grapple with questions of identity or acceptance? Does uncertainty often cloud your thoughts? If any of this resonates with you, or if you're seeking a deeper understanding of your life, I am here to guide you on your journey. I understand the profound importance of finding representation and connecting with someone who shares or understands similar narratives. It can be challenging to trust that a therapist truly relates to your experiences, especially during life’s most difficult moments. I specialize in supporting BIPOC and LGBTQI+ communities, as well as individuals living with SPMI. My approach integrates mindfulness, trauma-informed care, CBT, and other evidence-based practices to address your unique needs. Together, we will collaborate to identify and outline those needs in a safe and supportive environment. My life mantra is: Every day is a teaching moment. Each action and experience presents an opportunity to grow, learn, and evolve. With these moments, we are gifted tools that help guide us forward. Let’s uncover those tools and embark on this transformative journey together.

I am a Licensed Psychologist with over 15 years experience in university settings. My work focuses on students with a range of concerns, including depression and anxiety, difficult life transitions, relationship problems or losses, trauma, and identity. I have specific expertise working with the common challenges experienced during college. I also enjoy working with individuals of diverse identities and backgrounds, which has been a focus in both my career and my ongoing education. My therapeutic style is warm, collaborative, and relational. This allows us to explore your concerns together- providing support, identifying patterns, and processing past events, all with attention to working toward your personal goals and growth. I make space for what feels most important to you, while using my expertise to provide guidance. Our relationship is a priority in my work. I use warmth, humor, and honesty to create a safe space where you can be your most authentic self. Please contact me if you would like to connect for a 15 minute phone consultation.

Among all the uncertainties of life, making the choice to start therapy is yet another risky plunge into the unknown. Before you decide to give me a call I’d like to try and give you a sense of who I am and what it might be like for us to sit together. Although my title is doctor, my clients call me Sarah. I think of my role as one of accompaniment, you’re the lead and it’s my job to follow your pace, your volume, your moments of free expression. Together we get curious in a way that is, open, receptive, and non-judgmental. Sometimes this process is playful, and sometimes I encourage us to look deeper at the hard things. I am always holding your experience with profound respect and the certainty that you have been doing your best to survive in a world that challenges your flexibility. Whether you’re somewhere along the path of higher education or starting off your career, the challenges of young adult life are uniquely complex and ripe for psychological distress. At this stage in life, you may find yourself with more questions than answers and more pressures than solutions. Stressors and concerns may run the gamut from challenges in relationships, family conflict, financial/housing/food insecurity, or answering questions like, “Who am I” and “What do I want in life?” I can appreciate the need for a space to unpack it all, take a step back, and find more clarity.

Hi, I'm Grace. I work with young adults who are recovering from traumatic experiences or are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety and fear. Many of my clients are highly sensitive and seeking relief from fears or worries that interfere with their life, are navigating the effects of a recent traumatic event, or grew up being told they are “too shy” or “too sensitive.” I believe you aren’t “too” anything. I value working with college students because I first sought my own therapy at the student counseling center of my university during a time I felt extremely overwhelmed and couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me to relax. It was transformative to process my experiences with a professional who could put language to what I was thinking and feeling, and offer tools to help me move forward. This was one of the major reasons I decided to pursue my own career as a therapist. Seeking therapy can feel vulnerable and it often takes time to build trust. Whatever your story is, my goal is to create a safe and compassionate space to facilitate healing, reflection, and growth.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Are you experiencing a relational separation or burdened with grief, loss, or trauma? Are you having difficulty with ADHD, depression, or anxiety? You don’t need to suffer in silence or alone. We specialize in individual, couples, and family counseling, and we are ready and available to support you in the healing process.

Is being away at school a little trickier than you had expected? Maybe you're a bit lonely even though there's always loads of people around. So many challenges and expectations--it can be overwhelming even while it's gratifying and fun. We all need support at times. Together we work toward cultivating the inner strength, confidence and wisdom needed to fully and successfully transition into a meaningful and autonomous adulthood. Anything that is causing distress is welcome: grief, confusion, difficult relationships. I'd like to help.

Hi there, I’m Annie (she/her). I’m grateful you are here. Therapy can be a big step into the unknown but can also be an opportunity for growth and positive change. I believe human beings make meaning through connection and the relationships we hold. I approach therapy with a systemic perspective and carefully consider the many complexities that work together to form our whole selves. Some of these complexities could include cultural, environmental, or societal factors that may be contributing to barriers or overall challenges to daily functioning. I work collaboratively with you in honoring your story and how it informs your life, while also helping to highlight new stories and meaning-making. Therapy can provide a space for you to reflect upon and better understand the many parts of you.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 20 years of experience working in mental health for non-profit agencies, the VA, and other organizations. Through my own experiences in the military, I experienced first-hand Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety, and depression. After leaving the Navy, I sought therapy to help process what I experienced. While completing my education, I worked at Veterans' Affairs, helping combat Veterans who experienced PTSD and other challenges, including drug and alcohol addiction. I bring this experience to working with you in processing trauma and other issues you may be experiencing. During our therapeutic sessions I primarily utilize CBT, DBT, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) but will also use other approaches as needed. I work from a client centered, integrative approach and believe in working collaboratively with clients to help them achieve their goals, improve coping, and reduce symptoms. Finding a path to live the life you want to lead is a goal of the work I do. I practice a resilience-based approach while working primarily with adults, veterans and their families in individual and couples counseling sessions. I also bring, Kayleigh, a therapy dog in sessions.

With over a decade of experience as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Rachel has seen firsthand the profound transformation that compassionate care can bring. Her mission is to empower clients with strategies to unlock their most confident, courageous, and authentic selves. She is honored to guide others as insight from their work together enables them to navigate challenges and build resilience. Rachel deeply appreciates the courage it takes to try something different. Rachel earned her Bachelor of Social Work from Pacific University and her Master of Social Work from the University of Utah. Her clinical experience includes working with children and adults in medical settings, with over ten years at a Portland-based children's hospital. Most recently, she has supported children and families navigating chronic illness. Rachel takes an eclectic approach to therapy, drawing from Internal Family Systems (IFS), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), tailoring interventions to each client’s unique needs. Throughout her career, she has worked as a group facilitator, crisis worker, case manager, and trauma responder, providing compassionate, evidence-based care in complex situations. Rachel lives in Oregon with her spouse, daughter, and their Golden Irish, Yoshi. As a family, they value balance and time outdoors—you’ll often find them rock climbing, hiking, or camping in the Pacific Northwest.

As a psychologist, Emily supports people to live richer, fuller lives aligned with their personal values. She views her clients as the experts on themselves and sees her role as their collaborator, working together to help bring forward their greatest potential. Emily works with a diverse set of individuals, and with a variety of concerns such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, trauma, interpersonal relationship challenges, overcoming barriers to goals, and other issues her clients strive to work through. She utilizes an assortment of therapeutic modalities, often blending these approaches, including mindfulness, Jungian analysis, Behavioral Modification, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Ecopsychology, and relaxation training, always with a focus on the individual needs of the client. Emily believes that an integrated approach to overall well-being is important, including aspects of nutrition, exercise, and sleep hygiene, with an understanding of how these interact with and impact psychological well-being. Over the years, Emily has worked with children, adolescents, young adults, and not-so-young adults, each seeking help with a range of concerns, problem behaviors, and disorders. Emily also enjoys working with couples as they address problematic areas in their relationship, and as they find ways to improve and reconnect with each other. When she works with children, she is also working to make sure parents are appropriately involved, and helping to implement therapeutic assignments beyond the counseling environment and at home. This is especially important as we impart positive parenting approaches to reinforce certain behaviors, and to help a child feel secure as they learn to cope with trauma, anxiety, or depression. Emily completed her Bachelor’s of Science degrees in Biopsychology and Ecology and Evolution at University of California, Santa Barbara, later earning a PhD in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in neuropsychology, and a second PhD in Wildlands and Wildlife Conservation at Brigham Young University. When Emily is not engaging with her clients in psychotherapy, she teaches psychology undergraduate college courses, and enjoys hiking, spending time with her family, connecting with nature, and cooking.

I believe that everyone deserves an opportunity to foster understanding of their own mental health and create insight into what is needed to build healthy, personalized approaches to self-care and coping. Building this type of self-awareness and reaching the point of implementing these skills is often daunting, so connecting with a therapist to support you in processing these experiences will help lead to genuine change. My focus is to work with adult individuals struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, perfectionism, and high sensitivity (HSPs). My approach incorporates person-centered, psychodynamic, and relational modalities that allow us to explore lifelong, underlying patterns of thinking and behavior in a safe and connected environment. I have experience in providing therapy for young to middle-aged adults from various backgrounds of ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, and SES. I am currently accepting new clients! Please contact me for a phone consultation where we will determine whether my therapy services and availability fit your needs.

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. I view therapy as a means of achieving personal transformation and a way to navigate the challenges of life. So often, we come to counseling not because we don't know what we "should” or “could" do differently, but because we feel stuck. I am committed to walking alongside you and providing opportunities for you to move through challenges, to heal, and to connect with your inner resilience. My theoretical approach is rooted in mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral and somatic focused therapy. I approach my work through a trauma-informed lens, which means that I prioritize a sense of safety and compassion when I work with clients. I have specialized experience and training in perinatal mental health, meaning your mental and emotional well-being during pregnancy, birth and postpartum stages. I am a certified EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapist and have completed training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, both are body-centered ways to process emotions and experiences. I am currently studying interpersonal neurobiology and enjoy deepening my understanding of mental health through neuroscience. I am also a registered yoga instructor and often call on the tools of yoga and mindfulness practices. Depending on your needs, we may use some or all of these strategies to achieve your goals. I come to private practice with a background in primary care medical clinics providing integrated behavioral health counseling, and have worked as a child and family therapist and with survivors of domestic and sexual violence. I graduated from Portland State University in 2011 with a Masters in Social Work, during which time I completed internships with a refugee resettlement program and at OHSU’s Center for Women's Health. My work as a therapist is grounded in social justice and I am committed to making my practice welcoming as possible for everybody. I am a queer and trans affirming provider and work from an intersectional and anti-oppressive lens.

Dr. Kittinger is passionate about entering into the depths and carving out an intentional space that cultivates curiosity and authentic connection. As a relational psychodynamic therapist, Dr. Kittinger’s approach to therapy focuses on transformational change through the context of relationship. She engages her patients with a balance of acknowledging suffering and challenging difficult patterns to facilitate each persons own unique healing. Dr. Kittinger prioritizes the authenticity of the moment, attending to and unlocking conscious and unconscious patterns of how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us. She utilizes a soft but direct approach to explore with each patient what it means to increase awareness into their own needs, wants, and to increase agency in their own lives. Wherever you are at in your process, her hope is to co-create a space open to deep and thoughtful self-reflection established gradually with trust and safety to take steps toward healing, transformation, and personal fulfillment. Dr. Kittinger meets with patients in-person and virtually and is licensed in Oregon and Washington.

With over 12 years experience providing mental health therapy, I pride myself on my ability to connect and build strong relationships with all kinds of people. My therapy is based in our relationship – it’s the vessel for building trust, rapport and from which change emerges. My style is energetic and conversational, using the language of emotion to explore our body’s responses and reactions to issues. I specialize in investigating trauma, relationship difficulties, substance use issues and have many years of experience treating depression, anxiety and other frequently experienced mental health conditions. Equity is a major foundation of both my work and my personal ethic – I have experience treating people from many diverse backgrounds, with recent experience working with folks navigating sexual and gender identity questions. I am open and friendly toward working with individuals exploring kink and other non-traditional relationship styles. Outside of therapy, my passions include music (creating It, listening to it, going to see it!), gardening and preserving food, and spending time with my partner and dog and our friends. I am a keen enjoyer of all things nerdy – from video games to comics and most especially heavy metal music of all kinds. Because I believe in balance, I am also an avid enjoyer of sports, especially soccer and baseball!

I help college students cope with mental health challenges that get in the way of school and relationships. Having too much self-control, or overcontrol, makes it hard to enjoy life and connect meaningfully with others. It’s exhausting to feel like you’re always ‘on’, performing, or wearing a mask. Overcontrol can lead to problems like anxiety, depression, disordered eating, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and intimacy avoidance. You don’t have to struggle alone–I’ve been a therapist working with LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other overcontrolled folks for over 10 years. Together, we can get you unstuck. Using practical (and fun!) research-validated strategies, you’ll learn to harness your self-control as a strength and break free from patterns that burn you out. Finding a therapist who gets you can be stressful. Let’s make this process easier for you: email me, call me, or visit waveways.org, and we’ll schedule a free consultation to discuss your hopes and needs.

The world is extra stressful right now and your plate may feel way past full. You know it's time for a change. Together we can work on overcoming stressors, calming anxiety, building self-compassion and breaking free of the cycle of worry.

Life comes with a lot of challenges and unexpected twists and turns. I enjoy helping people work through discovering themselves and exploring identity, as well as learning skills to cope with areas impacting everyday life. I provide a welcoming and low-pressure environment with a focus on building a good therapeutic relationship.

Therapy is completely different for each individual because everyone is going through different issues and have personalized goals. From a strengths-based perspective, I work to empower clients to gain the skills necessary to address and resolve problems, change behaviors, improve relationships and navigate and cope with stressors. During your session, we will explore your thoughts, feelings, habits, and experiences to gain a better understanding of yourself and to develop coping skills to achieve goals and improve your well-being. I place a strong emphasis on developing insight and empathy within a non-judgmental and compassionate environment. I have over 14 years of experience practicing as a nurse and working within social services providing counseling and care coordination to adolescents, adults, and families. My therapeutic background is rooted in medical and health psychology, assisting individuals and families coping with normal or unwanted transitions, chronic illness, end of life issues, and those experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression. ​ I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker through the Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers and I am an active member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).