Our diverse team of professional affiliates includes the following Existential-Humanistic mental health professionals and students located in and around the Portland metro area.
If you are interested in becoming a professional affiliate, please see Affiliation Opportunities above. Note that being added to the Affiliate Directory is subject to board discretion.
Archetypal Associates is a training organization for Shannon Pernetti and Diane Steinbrecher, who co-teach The Fundamentals and Application of Archetypal Pattern Analysis in workshops and monthly training and application groups. They have co-authored a book, called: The Treasure Within, An Archetypal Unfolding Of Your Infinite Potential.
Both of them are on the faculty of the Assisi Institute: The International Center for the Study of Archetypal patterns.
They are currently offering a year long once a month training on Finding The Treasure Within
Shannon Pernetti is an Archetypal Pattern Analyst and Integral Therapist who has been in private practice in Portland, Oregon since 1975. Her work focuses on shifting core patterns and archetypal alignments to facilitate a fundamental unity with the Self.
Diane Steinbrecher is an Archetype Pattern Analyst, Hakomi Somatic Psychotherapist and Addictions and Integral Psychotherapist for over 45 years. She also provides consultations and supervision to clinicians and those attaining licensure.
I am a budding therapist and new to the field. I work in the middle school setting, working with kids, families, and the systems they are a part of to navigate and seek to offer support and healing amidst issues of poverty, addictions, and complex trauma. I deeply value the existential-humanist approach, and seek to cultivate a sense of awe and hope in all those who I work with. The philosophy of the existential-humanist approach resonates with the core of my being, and I constantly strive to make authentic connections with those I meet both professionally and throughout my day to day life. The thought that echoes most loudly in my heart and mind as I encounter each client is: “You are not a problem to be fixed, but a person to be loved.”
I am a therapist in Portland, Oregon. I work with clients on a diverse range of issues, such as depression, anxiety, lack of fulfillment, life transitions, relationship issues, personal growth, LGBTQ issues, and polyamory & consensual non-monogamy.
It is my belief that within each of us lies the potential for personal growth and positive change. I use an Existential-Humanistic approach to therapy, which involves exploring and discovering one’s unique and authentic self. In this work, we will explore themes such as choice, responsibility, meaning, purpose, and authenticity so that you may discover a more intentional way of being.
I also believe that we experience distress when we struggle to reconcile the way things are with the way we want things to be. When this is the case, it can feel like we’ve lost control of our lives, that the world is happening to us, or we’ve lost a sense of who we are. I help clients become empowered to reclaim their lives so that they may live intentionally, authentically, and with integrity, as active players in the creation of their own life experience.
I am an existential-humanistic psychotherapist with over 45 years of experience. I provide individual and couples psychotherapy, as well as consultation, supervision, workshops, and trainings for clinicians, interns, and students. I am a blogger for Psychology Today and have published various writing on the existential-humanistic perspective. I am the founder and current president of the Existential-Humanistic Northwest professional organization.
I am passionate about the existential-humanistic perspective in both my personal and professional life. To me, the perspective embraces all of what it means to exist. It values each unique, individual journey. We always have a choice to change our attitude and behavior, even in the most limited of conditions or circumstances. Our choice matters in that we impact the world by our feelings, thoughts and actions. I believe as we work through our wounds we move towards health and wholeness, both individually and collectively.
Dave is a licensed psychologist, providing compassionate and patient-centered therapy in a primary care setting. He completed a doctorate in clinical psychology and a post-doctoral fellowship in health psychology in the integrated primary care model. He currently works for Premise Health Care, at Intel Health for Life Centers and sees clients that are Intel employees or their dependents. He engages in brief interventions, diagnostic evaluations, and ongoing psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and adolescents. Dave has experience with multi-cultural patients and can provide therapy in Spanish if needed, as he has lived and traveled throughout Latin America. Dave has also taught a variety of psychology courses at several colleges and universities, including coursework in clinical, abnormal, group, adolescent and basic psychology. Dave received a year of specialized training and conducted academic research in psychotherapy with persons living with HIV. As a member of the American Psychological Association and board member of Existential-Humanistic Northwest, he brings and makes space for a broad range of perspectives to each client encounter.
Gestalt Therapy Training Center–Northwest was co-founded in 1996 by Jon Frew, PhD, Eva Gold, PsyD, and Steve Zahm and has been offering Gestalt therapy training and continuing education for mental health professionals for over two decades under their direction as senior faculty. GTTC-NW pioneered the integration of Buddhist psychology/mindfulness into Gestalt therapy training offering cutting edge in-depth beginning, intermediate and advanced programs that are both didactic and experiential with a focus on each trainee’s personal and professional growth and learning needs. Gestalt Therapy Training Center–Northwest is approved by the American Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. GTTC-NW maintains responsibility for the programs and their content. Contact us by email, phone or through our web site for further information on upcoming training and events.
The act of doing therapy is a bit like tending to a garden; it takes diligence and care to achieve growth! It sounds challenging I know, but the outcomes and successes of working on yourself and your relationships far outweigh the negatives. All of us have gardens that need occasional weeding and replanting, and when we’re not attending to these important details, or taking care of ourselves, we can experience feelings of depression, anxiety, restlessness and frustration.
In choosing to work with me, I will guide and encourage you by providing the necessary tools and resources that allow you to create a healthy and bountiful garden of your own. Counseling is a joint effort which cannot be successful without both of our commitment, hard work and courage. I believe therapy provides a place to explore thoughts and feelings about relationships in your life as well as your relationship with yourself. Therapy also allows you the opportunity to practice new ways of interacting with others in a safe and trusting atmosphere where you are not judged or criticized.
Notes
I provide therapy for adolescents, adults, couples and families. I specialize in working with trauma and violence in relationships. I also work frequently with partners of trauma survivors. Additionally I offer six on-going groups for women who have experienced childhood abuse, have been assaulted or have experienced/ or are experiencing violence in relationships; this includes emotional, physical and sexual trauma, intimidation and fear, which all profoundly affect a person’s body, soul and livelihood.
Each individual enters therapy with a constellation of unique life experiences that shapes that person. Experiences, biology, modes of thinking, and environment create who we currently are. I hope to aid you in exploring your past, current, and future selves in order to help alleviate unwanted present-day thoughts, emotions, feelings, and experiences.
My therapeutic approach is tailored to adults who are currently experiencing psychosis, depression, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, interpersonal deficits, and other issues regarding the self. I am a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and work well with the individualistic and affirmative fashions in which human beings choose to self-identify. As a clinical social work associate, I believe that the individual is part of a great system: the micro (familial), the mezzo (immediate community), and the macro (the world at large). I look forward to speaking with you and holding a dialogue around how I can best meet your unique needs.
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Jeffrey Kiilsgaard is a graduate of the Portland State University School of Social Work (MSW), and he received his Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Washington in psychology with a minor in environmental science. He is a current psychotherapist at Windhorse Integrative Mental Health, a private outpatient provider focusing on individual treatment through a contemplative lens. Jeffrey is also currently aiding local community mental health agency start-ups and currently works with Mind Solutions as their lead assessment clinician and consultant.
His work at multiple agency levels (both private and nonprofit) has led him to value the existential-humanistic paradigm, and directed him toward a unique treatment approach that incorporates a global assessment of the individual while also taking into account the individual’s unique wants, needs, and goals.
In his free time, you can find Jeffrey hiking around the Pacific Northwest, snowboarding during the winter months, and enjoying leisure time with his husband and 1.5 year old pug.
My approach to therapy is Humanistic and person-centered. I believe that every person has the right to feel accepted and understood. My practice is built on working with my clients in a collaborative manner that treats them as the experts of their own lived experience. I believe that people are most satisfied when they live according to their values and when they live in a way that feels authentic to them. Sometimes it can be challenging to figure out what that means, and having a supportive partner in the process can help.
I believe that my role as a therapist is to explore with my clients the meaning they make in their lives and help them work toward living intentionally and with purpose – essentially, being who they want to be in life. I strive to build a trusting, caring, and supportive therapeutic relationship with my clients so that even when they feel that the world is against them, they remember that they have someone rooting for them.
I also believe that finding meaningful work (whether paid or unpaid) can lend a sense of autonomy, mastery, purpose, and structure to life and to that end, I incorporate career counseling into my therapeutic work when appropriate.
I offer individual psychotherapy for adolescents and adults to work towards your personal growth or to address issues such as depression, anxiety, and addictions. I offer traditional, Humanistic talk therapy, substance abuse assessment & therapy, conflict resolution, desensitization or assertiveness training, and sprituality searching including Reiki energy work. Therapy with me is often spirited and marked by humor, frequently challenging (but always supportive) and can be life changing. In therapy you will move towards introspection and self-awareness. With my support, you will work towards answering your personal life questions.
In relation to the field of psychotherapy and counseling, I hold a Master of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark College in Counseling Psychology completing both Counseling Psychology and Marriage, Couples and Family programs. I completed my internship training at DePaul’s Youth Residential Treatment Center (Portland, OR) in both in-patient and out-patient.
I studied philosophy as an undergraduate at Lewis & Clark College. During this time, I studied predominantly phenomenology, existentialism and philosophy of mind. I also studied in Weimar, Germany at the Nietzsche archives in writing my thesis and earning myself Honors in Philosophy when graduating.
I am currently under supervision of Bob Edelstein, an existential-humanistic therapist in continuing to merge my two studies of philosophy and therapy.
I am a licensed psychologist (Oregon and Washington State) in private practice in Portland, Oregon. I received my doctoral training in counseling psychology at the University of Washington, and have an MA degree in counseling from California State University, Northridge. From the time I first entered this field in 1969 as an undergraduate student working as a camp counselor with children labeled as having ’emotional difficulties’ I found myself drawn to a humanistic psychological perspective. My interest in Reichian and Gestalt Therapy- two humanistic psychological approaches – began in the early 1970’s. My master’s project was an exploration of Reichian therapy, and my doctoral dissertation was a study on the relationship between the inhibition of breathing and emotional repression. I have had extensive training in both Neo-Reichian therapy and in Reich’s more traditional orgone therapeutic approach, the latter with Michael Rothenberg, MD, a student of Reich’s. In 1997 I began studying Gestalt Therapy at the Gestalt Training Therapy Center Northwest, which I continued over a period of 10 years. In addition to my clinical work I have been an adjunct faculty member in psychology at Seattle Central Community College, Antioch University, the Washington School of Professional Psychology, and currently at Lewis and Clark college where I offer a course in somatic psychology. I have lectured widely on topics related to emotions, psychotherapy, and Reichian and Gestalt therapy to both public and professional audiences, and provide clinical seminars, training and supervision to mental health professionals.
I am a licensed professional counselor (LPC) working from an Existential-Humanistic framework. I have been in private practice as a mental health counselor for over fifteen years working mostly with adults with a wide range of emotional and mental health issues. I use a variety of tools to support their healing process, including art expression and EMDR. I have found that having a sense of why we are here on this planet has a tremendous impact on our mental and emotional well being. In counseling, I help my clients discover what blocks them from a sense of meaning in their lives and find ways to live more fully. Some clients are discovering their purpose for the first time while others are discovering a new meaning after facing the loss of their life purpose. I am, also, a certified Archetypal Pattern Analyst which helps me further identify life patterns which may be standing in the way of fully embracing life and living with authenticity. I began my career as an early childhood educator, working with parents and young children, training preschool teachers and providing a lab site for Chemeketa Community College’s Early Childhood training program. Next, I taught parenting and personal growth classes at Chemeketa Community College. I worked in a program designed to help people overcome life difficulties and begin a career or find a new career after suffering the loss of their life’s work. Those years taught me much about what it takes to overcome injustice, poverty, abuse, mental illness, addictions and trauma to find meaning on the other side. I serve on the board for Existential-Humanistic NorthWest, a professional organization which promotes existential-humanistic values including authenticity, integrity, responsibility, inclusion, and awe.
