It’s a jungle out in there.
Sometimes the wilderness within calls us nonetheless. Life was not always meant to be comfortable.
Welcome to your voyage. I hope you packed some snacks.
The best breakthroughs begin with breakdowns.
It’s disorienting at first. That’s normal. We’ll help you set up camp for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll reassess the lay of the land.
Meet your inner safari guide.
Sometimes, the vines are so thick, you can’t see five feet in front of your face. I’ll show you how to wield a machete.
Sometimes, you don’t know what will kill you and what will make you stronger. I’ll teach you to distinguish the edible berries from the poisonous ones.
Sometimes, you don’t know which way is north. I’ll teach you how to read the stars for navigation.
Sometimes, the mud is so thick, you feel like you’re going to sink into the ground. I’ll help you find the right boots and stepping stones.
Relationships matter. Therapy is no exception.
Relationships are the #1 most significant factor influencing health and happiness. And the quality of a client’s relationship with their therapist is the #1 most important factor influencing how successful their therapy will be in helping them achieve their goals.
Why Therapy Without Ideology?
My field, psychotherapy, has been captured by ideology at the expense of professional integrity, ethical care, and the need for exploratory therapy. This has caused unnecessary harm to detransitioners, desisters, parents of youth with rapid onset gender dysphoria, and other victims of gender medicine. It has also alienated and at times traumatized people who do not fit with certain ideological narratives: men who have been victims of abuse at the hands of women; white people who have been victims of racially motivated abuse; black people with views that diverge from progressive ideas of how racial minorities “should” think; police officers who have been called “bastards;” gender critical feminists who have been called “terfs” and worse; political moderates and conservatives; people who have been doxxed, threatened, harassed, banned, silenced, slandered, and fired for heterodox views; and anyone who feels a need for appropriate professional boundaries in their counseling experience, such as to be treated as a whole person and a unique individual… not a demographic.
Portland, Oregon is a place that was once dominated by liberal values that I agreed with. But as the left has become increasingly radical, what is done in the name of “progress” is anything but progressive. Many people nowadays feel politically homeless, isolated, and afraid to speak out. They fear how hostile and self-destructive our city has become. They worry what their children are being indoctrinated into in our public schools. They fear backlash over “misgendering” someone. In a fear-based environment, people fear.
It saddens and concerns me to know how many kind, intelligent people have lost respect for my profession, and for good reasons. Lack of trust in therapists comes at a severe cost to those who still need, and could stand to benefit from, counseling. If that’s you, consider this an olive branch. All hope has not been lost. Ethical therapy still exists.
In my career, including extracurricular activities outside of my therapy practice such as my blog and podcast, I aim to restore dignity, integrity, and trustworthiness to the art and science of psychotherapy.
If you are looking for a therapist who will unquestioningly affirm your self-diagnosis, there are many in Oregon who will. However, that is not how I view my job. I am here for the politically homeless, the victims of gender medicine, and anyone else who feels that this approach is for them.
