Portland Therapy Center
Douglas Johns

Douglas Johns (he/him)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW

I'm a relationship specialist; I only work with couples. I teach skills and provide tools anchored in Collaborative Couple Therapy.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

503-252-3739

811 NW 20th Ave

Suite 104

Portland, 97209

Email Website

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $180-$225

Provides free initial consultation

Provides telehealth services

Practicing Since: 1998

Languages: English

Services

  • Relationship

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket
  • Out of Network

My Ideal Client

Sessions are a full 90 minutes; this helps couples fully transition into each session and explore their needs most effectively. I also offer "Last Chance" therapy: One session, three hours in length, to understand what changes your relationship needs for both of you to be happy together. I have over 30 years experience as a family therapist & have been a relationship specialist, who only sees couples, since 2014. I help couples turn arguments into opportunities for intimacy & connection.

My Approach to Helping

Collaborative Couple Therapy (originated by my mentor, Dan Wile, Ph.D.) structures and models intimate conversations that enable couples to maintain emotional connection during painful interactions. These skills are foundational to healthy relationships. Differentiation (as described by David Schnarch, Ph.D.) is the ability to 'self-soothe' when painful interactions tempt you to angrily blame your partner and/or surrender your innate strength and resiliency. It can take courage to maintain emotional presence and connection in relationship. Remaining present means you relate with both the pleasure and the pain in the relationship. In so doing you cultivate intimacy with yourself, learn to compassionately soothe your own hurt feelings, and deepen emotional intimacy between you and your partner. Cultivating differentiation and practicing collaborative and intimate conversations encourages you and your partner to grow individually and as a couple.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

As a relationship specialist I devote my entire practice and professional life to understanding what skills make relationships strong and joyful. My primary orientation is called Collaborative Couple Therapy (CCT). I have over sixty hours of training in CCT through direct mentorship with Dan Wile, Ph.D., the originator of CCT. I believe so strongly in CCT that, prior to Dan's death in 2020, I invested six years regularly traveling down to Oakland to train with him. I will bring that same level of commitment to my work with you. John Gottman, Ph.D., arguably the foremost research psychologist on what factors build good relationships, has written that Dan Wile is a “genius” and that CCT comports with his research findings for effective couple therapy. I am also informed by David Schnarch’s description of ‘differentiation’, by depth training in Existential Psychotherapy, by many years of training in and practice of Brief-Solution Focused Therapy, and by Buddhist Psychology.

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Collaborative Couple Therapy External link

    Collaborative Couple Therapy (CCT) starts from the belief that problems in relationship are also opportunities for increasing intimacy and connection through understanding & communicating the deeper truth of your feelings, beneath anger and defensiveness, with your partner. I have 66+ hours of CCT training with its originator, Dan Wile, whom John Gottman has called a "genius" and "the greatest living marital therapist."

  • Gottman Method External link

    John Gottman has described Collaborative Couple Therapy, my speciality, as completely consistent with his research findings for cultivating loving relationships. I have 36+ hours of training with the Gottman Institute and, in particular, utilize Gottman Institute Research to inform my practice methodology.

  • Mindfulness-based External link

    I have been a dedicated student of Zen Buddhism since 2002. My daily meditation practice has only changed my life for the better. I am also a student of Jon Kabat-Zinn, having participated in his week long training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in 2008. Mindfulness is a potent way to soothe our own vulnerable feelings and reduce our suffering.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Relationship / Marriage Issues External link

    Couples therapy is my practice speciality. Without a doubt my work with couples informs my personal relationship and vise versa. This reflexive quality invigorates me and keeps our work together alive and present. The skills and tools I teach are not in a vacuum; everything you will learn and practice I actively incorporate into my life too. I provide a mature perspective refined through only working with couples.

Contact Douglas

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