If you’ve made it this far on a website for Lake Oswego counseling, you probably hope to gain a better understanding of how working with a therapist will make a positive difference in your life, and help you make better decisions about the suffering you experience daily.

Let’s first start with how I see you: You are a capable person, with many examples of making challenging and satisfying decisions throughout your life. You have struggled, thought, planned and corrected your path on many occasions before you came to see me. You have probably been working on the problems that are frustrating and discouraging you now for many months, if not years. You are persistent, but discouraged, and remain eager to learn something new. You have been resilient before, but may fear you are losing your resiliency and hope. You have friends and family that want you to get the help and support you need.

Now, what to do?  

What I do as a Lake Oswego therapist is rooted in the training I have received and my 30 years of experience helping patients. I see you as a person with a history; one where you have learned from parents and friends how to understand yourself and your place in the world around you. Sometimes, that results in seeing yourself in limited, even hopeless ways. I will endeavor to see you in the context of your early training, while understanding your current relationships and current coping skills. Occasionally, what we have been taught and what we have learned, doesn’t help us deal with depression, trauma, anxiety, or addiction. As a therapist, my job is to notice how your pain is connected to the world around you, understand why your current coping strategies have proven ineffective, and to challenge you to experiment with new solutions until you find the ones that work the best.