Depth-oriented therapy

for

complex trauma, attachment trauma, dissociation, and dissociative disorders

LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergence affirming

If you grew up with some kind of significant dysfunction in your attachment figures or upbringing, it’s normal as an adult to experience a constellation of interconnected symptoms including anxiety, depression, chronic shame, interpersonal patterns like people pleasing or attachment difficulties, dysregulation such as dissociation or reactivity, unwanted coping strategies, being “self-aware” while still stuck, and dissonance between what is rationally known and what feels emotionally true.

I practice from the assumption that these all make sense on a deep and personal level to you, and that we can work with them instead of against them.

My approach.

Hi, I’m Abby. I specialize in working with complex trauma and see difficult symptoms as well-intentioned solutions formed to help you survive.

My approach integrates experiential, depth-oriented styles of therapy including Coherence Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Ego State Therapy with relational safety at the core. Instead of traditional talk therapy (where you stay in your head), we'll explore on an embodied level, using the neurobiological process of memory reconsolidation for profound, lasting change. My hope is that therapy with me will allow your past to be gently untangled and finally left behind.

I'm further grounded in a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive framework that trusts your lived experiences. I value consent, collaboration, and authenticity as central to our work together. As a queer-identified, neuro-affirming therapist, I prioritize understanding and accommodating your unique needs both in and out of the therapy room. I bring a down-to-earth presence and a lot of warmth while also being direct; I’ve been called a “no bullshit” therapist.

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    What's complex trauma?

    While PTSD usually focuses on single traumatic experiences, complex trauma (or CPTSD) usually occurs within relationships during our most formative years. Other terms I use interchangeably are developmental trauma and attachment trauma.

    Emotional learning from chronic misattunement, blurred boundaries or roles, and dysregulation as well as more acute harm within these relationships guides our inner models for how things work, what to expect, and how to survive, usually at the cost of our needs, access to emotions, and sense of self.

    Adverse emotional learning can also take place from systems outside of your family-of-origin or on a larger scale, especially if you have a marginalized identity or are neurodivergent. We’ll look at those too.

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    What's dissociation?

    Dissociation is the brain’s way of getting you away from overwhelming stress, which then disrupts integration of experience. It exists on a wide spectrum, from mild detachment like fogginess to disruption in your perception to greater fragmentation of the self. Often times, because the whole function of it is to keep you from some degree of awareness, dissociation can go completely unnoticed but still have an immense impact on how you relate to yourself and others.

    Emotional neglect has been shown to be a significant, independent predictor of adult dissociation. Dissociative experiences and dissociative disorders are also severely underassessed and underdiagnosed (it’s estimated that people with dissociative disorders wait 5-12 years in therapy before getting an accurate diagnosis). Because of this I am always paying attention to what cues for it may be present and assessing more in depth as needed.

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How this works.

Coherence Therapy

Insight alone usually doesn’t lead to lasting change (if you’re here, I’m suspecting you’re already well aware of this). Coherence Therapy sees the “problems” you’re probably coming into therapy to address as logical, subconscious adaptations to protect you from some suffering or pain from the past, so trying to disprove them or analyze them on a cognitive level won’t get to the subcortical neural networks where they are stored. We instead focus on finding those old realities with laser focus and understanding why these adaptations were so necessary.

When we do this, we can use memory reconsolidation to actually “unlock” the deeply embedded implicit or emotional memories that anchor the symptom in the present and update them there before letting them re-stabilize. This therapy was originally called Depth Oriented Brief Therapy, because it focuses on going deep while also going fast in terms of how quickly change actually can happen.

Internal Family Systems and Ego State Therapy

IFS and Ego State Therapy both fall under the umbrella of “parts work”. They let us engage directly with internal conflicts or differing beliefs inside of how things should work, help separate you from intense feelings or urges, and can bring a sense of inner cohesion and safety, especially if you experience more fragmentation. When we’re working with more acute traumas such as childhood sexual abuse, parts work allows for metabolizing that can feel much softer and safer than traditional exposure-based treatment. The process of memory reconsolidation will also be used here.

In parts work, we can get really creative with how we access the inner world. Somatic or body-based techniques, visualization, even elements of guided hypnosis (don’t worry, we’ll talk about it first) can be used to tap into parts. Because of this we’re able to tailor our sessions together for what feels best for your style of thinking or being.

While I’m not a “homework” therapist, I still recognize that learning skills and strategies to use outside of sessions is important, and you’ll be able to take home techniques from parts work to use independently. This will be especially important if you’re on the dissociative spectrum.

Experiential approach

These are all experiential approaches, which means we focus on tuning in to what’s under the surface and bringing it out to work with. The way “out” is “in”.

Often times the idea of this can make people (especially those who’ve spent a very long time avoiding what’s inside) feel apprehensive; the helpful thing about this kind of approach is that we go at the speed of your system’s trust and typically start with the barriers (defenses, resistance, protective parts, whatever you want to call it) that come up to you, me, or both of us trying to look at what’s there.

I expect and welcome the ways you experience interpersonal relationships outside of therapy to show up in our dynamic, and we’ll use this as an access point to deeper work. Complex trauma happens within a relational experience, so healing from it also generally happens within a relational experience. I take this really seriously.

FAQs

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FAQs *

  • $170 for 55 minute sessions. I can offer 75 minute or 90 minute sessions, helpful for more intensive trauma processing, for an additional rate.

    I have limited sliding scale slots ranging from $100-$150.

    I can accept all major credit/debit cards as well as HSA/FSA cards. Payment is due at time of service.

  • I am in the process of paneling with Providence, Moda, Aetna, and United Healthcare/Optum. Typically it takes 90-120 days to become in network. If you are covered under any of these plans, you would be welcome to start therapy paying out of pocket and transition over to insurance when an option, though I cannot guarantee that I will be offered a contract.

    Superbills are also available upon request for possible out-of-network reimbursement.

  • I am telehealth only. Sessions are conducted through a secure video platform accessible on any web browser.

  • I hold sessions Monday through Thursday; this is also my window for answering emails or inquiry requests.

    As of 5/4: Monday evenings and limited Sunday afternoon openings.

  • I work with adults across the lifespan in Oregon for individual therapy.

    I especially love to work with those who’ve struggled to make progress in therapy before, intellectualizers or those who feel as if they’re “too self-aware”, people who have a hard time with vulnerability, neurodivergent folks, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other therapists.

  • Nope. Reflecting my personal and professional values, I will never use AI in our sessions for note transcription or for any documentation. AI was not used in the process of writing any content on this site.

  • Urgent or emergency services

    Cascadia Urgent Mental Health Walk-in Clinic: open M-F 7:00 am-9:30 pm, no cost

    Multnomah County Crisis Line: call 503-988-8888

    Unity Behavioral Health: Psychiatric emergency room

    988 National Lifeline: call 988

    Please call 911 if unable to keep yourself safe.

    Low cost or sliding scale services

    Owl’s Nest North: $45/session with student interns

    William Temple House: therapy starting at $1

    Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Clinic: $10-75/session with students under supervision

    River’s Way Clinic: process-oriented therapy on sliding scale, reach out for rates

    Other resources

    NAMI Oregon: Free, confidential peer support groups for mental health

    David Romprey Warmline: Free, 24/7 peer support line

Are you thinking “my childhood wasn’t ‘that bad”’?

Attachment or developmental trauma is less about the severity of what happened and more about the meaning and internal organization taken from it. Because a child doesn’t have the capacity to truly hold the emotional reality of chaotic or neglectful caregivers, beliefs form inside to make sense of the unending distress they feel—usually a felt knowing that their core self has something deeply wrong, which can have a cascading effect on how their system then tries to cope with that suffering.

If anything on this site resonates with you in some way, even if you’re not sure why, I’d love to work with you to find out.

About me.

Since 2018, I've worked in various mental health settings including community mental health, school-based outpatient, psychiatric residential treatment, private group practice, and crisis lines. I earned my Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri and my Master's degree in Professional Mental Health Counseling from Lewis & Clark College. I'm licensed in the state of Oregon as an LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor).

My own journey to becoming a therapist was started by spending years in therapy without much success and with a lot of confusion why. It’s very meaningful to me that now I get to help others get where they’d like to be a lot more quickly.

When I'm not being a therapist, I like being outside in a good park, eating all the vegetarian food we have here in Portland, and doting on my senior pitbull Linus (you will likely hear him snoring in the background of our sessions). I use she/they pronouns.

Get in touch.

If you’d like to connect to inquire about services, please use this form or email me at abby@echopsychotherapypdx.com. I will get back to you even if unable to help. Things to include can be a quick summary of what you’re looking to get out of therapy, your current scheduling needs, and what insurance (if any) you’re planning on using. While my email is encrypted and always the most secure option, this contact form is not HIPAA-compliant so please be mindful of what you include if you choose to use it. You can also directly book a free 15 minute consult video call using the button at the top or bottom of the screen.