About Me

Welcome! You can call me Sami or Samantha (she/her). I’m a mental health counselor who practices in-person in Portland, Oregon, and via telehealth throughout the state of Oregon. I specialize in trauma and chronic illness/disability. You can learn more about what I work with here.

My practice is feminist, antiracist, and anti-ableist, as well as LGBTQIA+ allied and size-inclusive. I do my own work to challenge my biases to best support my clients. I am by no means perfect, but always striving, and always open to feedback.

Education & training

I have a Master of Science (MS) in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from Portland State University, a dual track program in clinical mental health counseling and rehabilitation counseling. I’m fully trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I also have training in other evidenced-based practices, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Inference-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). As you might be able to tell from my list of trainings, I’m a bit of a therapy nerd.

Credentials

I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Oregon. My license number is C7117. Nationally, I’m a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), which means I have specific education, training, and experience in working with people with disabilities and chronic illness. I’m also as a National Certified Counselor (NCC), which means I’m a board-certified clinician through the National Board for Certified Counselors.

Past experience

Prior to opening my private practice, I completed my practicum at a community counseling clinic in 2017-2018 and my internship at a federal re-entry center for people reentering the community after prison in 2018-2019. In my past life, I was a writer and marketer, primarily in the design and construction industry, for almost 5 years. I decided to become a therapist after a transformative experience in therapy in my mid-20s. I love my job and consider it such an honor to be trusted with my clients’ suffering and their triumphs.