Portland Therapy Center
Christopher Boothby

Christopher Boothby (he/him)

Licensed Professional Counselor

Offering Mindfulness & Somatically Based Teletherapy for Cultivating Resilience Together, we can revise obsolete coping patterns.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

5034829233

Email Website

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $185-$200

Provides free initial consultation

Practicing Since: 2010

Services

  • Individual
  • Relationship

Insurances Accepted

  • OHP CareOregon/HealthShare

My Ideal Client

We are all a product of our environment both physically and relationally. Often we are operating with an obsolete set of beliefs and expectations that prevent fulfillment and freedom to be our best selves. I approach problems from a non-pathologizing perspective understanding that coping strategies we learned to employ were often the best that could be managed in the circumstances we found ourselves. We can update those strategies to better fit our present lives and future dreams.

My Background and Approach

As a counselor, I approach counseling with a holistic assumption of the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit. I work with subtle awareness through mindful somatic exploration of present-moment experience, accessing places of activation without judgment. Through attention to present moment experience comes the discovery of beliefs, thoughts, feelings, memories, and images that negatively impact our quality of life. We can then work with corrective emotional experiences to facilitate the updating of our relational templates. Drawing from my foundational Hakomi training and recent Internal Family Systems (IFS) training, I offer a mindful, somatic, experiential, and relational approach. By integrating the IFS's focus on internal parts with Hakomi’s emphasis on relational presence and mindfulness, I support clients in identifying patterns that may be limiting them. Together we can transform outdated core beliefs, resolve internal conflicts, and enhance self-leadership qualities.

Why I Became a Therapist

My journey to becoming a therapist was by way of an eclectic professional path and years of therapy as a client. During my youth I worked in diverse hands-on trades, from furniture making to home construction and even auto mechanics. Subsequently I became an Architect, specializing in civic and cultural projects from Libraries, to Arts Centers and Municipal projects with my own firm. Seeking a more kinesthetic balance in my work life I became a massage therapist on the side. When emotional content surfaced in my clients during massage, I became interested in the interface of the physical and emotional bodies and the potential for healing therein. Thus, began my study of psychotherapy, first in the Hakomi Method of body centered psychotherapy, then a Masters of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy and subsequently an Internal Family Systems Level I training.

Techniques I Use

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Historical Trauma External link

    Initially working with Trauma is best served by cultivating resources that allow the individual to remain within a window of tolerance, neither hyper-aroused as in fight/flight state, nor hypo-aroused as in freeze, or dissociative states. This work enhances the awareness of the subtle shifts that lead to adrenal responses to triggering stimuli. By cultivating somatic awareness, it becomes easier to recognize when actual danger exists v/s an unconscious fear due to stimulus of traumatic memory.

  • LGBTQ Issues External link

    As an Out Gay man who lived most of his life in a hetero lifestyle, I have personally traversed the landscape of coming to terms with self-acceptance of the person I really am in a world often less than accepting. This journey has given me deep empathy for those navigating both sexual orientation and gender spectrums. I feel confident in holding a safe space to process and explore all points on the spectrum of LBGTQIA issues.

  • Relationship / Marriage Issues External link

    Relationship work involves unpacking unconscious internal responses to our partners, rooted in the relationships we witnessed in childhood. My work with relationships draws from my training in Hakomi, and specifically the approach of Rob Fisher, author of Experiential Psychotherapy With Couples, as well as models such as those of Harville Hendrix (Imago work) and John Gottman. I also conceptualize from the perspectives of Attachment Theory (Bowlby) and Internal Family Systems.

Contact Christopher

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