About Me

Look, we are not unspectacular things.
      We’ve come this far, survived this much. What

would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?

ADA LIMON

Who I am

FOR OVER THIRTY-FIVE YEARS I’ve offered psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families, with a special interest in trauma and resilience, narrative therapy, mindfulness, and creativity, as well as interpersonal neurobiology.

Writing and reading are my creative pursuits, and yoga is my sanity, and I integrate both of them into my therapy practice with clients.

For seventeen years I taught clinical practice to graduate students in the School of Social Work at Portland State University, as well as other universities. Currently, I do a lot of continuing education for other professionals.

I live with my partner in Portland, Oregon, and we have three young adult children who live nearby.

Education &
Publications

I have undergraduate (Humanities, 1986) and graduate (Clinical Social Work, 1989) degrees from The University of Chicago, as well as a Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing, 1995) from The American University in Washington, DC.

The Therapist Who Sees Therapists: Working with the Trickiest Clients (The Psychotherapy Networker, March/April 2025)

The Silent Treatment: What I Wish I Could Tell My First Therapist (The Psychotherapy Networker, January/February 2025)

Top 6 Books Therapists Recommend to Clients (The Psychotherapy Networker, January/February 2025)

Finding Your Way as a New Clinician: Three Tips to Guide Your First Session (The Psychotherapy Networker, November/December 2023)

Exploring Consensual Nonmonogamy (The Psychotherapy Networker, May/June 2023)

The Divorce Announcement (The Psychotherapy Networker, January/February 2023)

More recently personal essays have appeared in The New York TimesThe SunPoets and WritersHuffington Post, and Salon, among others. My memoir, The Maps They Gave Us: One Marriage Reimagined, about a couple’s adventures in relationship therapy, is available from Black Lawrence Press.

You can follow my monthly microblog, Heart’s Imagination (on psychotherapy, healing, and the creative life), through Substack or my mailing list.

Contact Me About Therapy

Ask questions, inquire about a free consultation call, or schedule your first appointment.