Portland Therapy Center
Pearl Waldorf

Pearl Waldorf (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MA, MSed, LPC

Relationship is everything. I bring new frameworks, humor and queer wisdom to all I do. Let's free you up to live a vital, meaningful life.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

971-258-2968

2505 SE 11th Ste. 222

Portland, 97202

Email Website

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $200

Provides free initial consultation

Provides telehealth services

Practicing Since: 2012

Languages: English

Services

  • Individual
  • Group
  • Teen

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket
  • Out of Network

My Approach to Helping

Our human physiology is a brilliant system which can guide you to life you wish to live. I work experientially and collaboratively to build connections to your inner wisdom. Through a combination of psychoeducation, somatic and relational approaches, I offer an empowered excursion into the world of your self. My work is deeply grounded in an attachment orientation, which supports a deep sorting process: As a client you'll begin to feel, choose and act from a sense of who you truly are vs. from historical models that no longer serve you. Offered in both individual and group formats, our work creates a space that activates your knowing for yourself what is right for you, as well as the capacity to stand in the challenging yet enlivening space that opens up, when we set clear boundaries. We'll grow the solidity that comes from moving through your life connected to what you think, feel and want. I'm looking forward to meeting you to learn more about how I might be of help.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

I received my education at the California Institute of Integral Studies, as I believe that in addition to our psychology, there is a spiritual element to the human journey. My journey from a first career as a theater artist/ waitperson through 13 years as a special education teacher in the portland public schools to my current career has shown me that we must honor ourselves as we are and find connections and work that offers us the opportunity to express ourselves creatively in the world. This looks different for each of us. I specialize in Attachment and Somatically Oriented psychotherapy and working with folks for who struggle around identity, connection and individuation. Many of my clients grew up with care-givers who were emotionally immature or unavailable. My clients are insightful, committed to their healing journeys and work hard in life, often a little too hard. You can count on me to be an active participant in your therapy experience. I'll be engaged and responsive.

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Attachment Theory External link

    It is during our early development that our ways of understanding relationship are being mapped into our brains. Attachment therapy can awaken these networks for reconfiguration. Deep change is possible in how we experience ourselves, in our ways of connecting with others and in our capacity to act effectively in the world.

  • Somatic Therapy (Body Centered) External link

    The body holds the story of our lives in the present moment. We can work here and now to heal the wounds which thwart satisfaction in our lives. Through deep listening we learn to attend to the wisdom deep in implicit memory system and to sort what's past from what's actually happening right now.

  • Relational  External link

    In the therapy relationship, we can begin to understand what gets in the way of connection for us. Together, we are detectives in search of answers to the conundrum of what makes connecting hard, life satisfaction illusive and vitality available in such small or intermittent reserves.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Relationship / Marriage Issues External link

    Sometimes working with an individual or group therapist to sort through our relationship issues can save our most tenuous connections. Rather than placing the pressure directly on relational struggles that are founded on insecure attachment strategies, why not make room for ourselves to discover our deeper solidity and bring this back into our connections.

  • Codependency External link

    Setting clear boundaries as adults has everything to do with how we were reflected and tended to as little ones. It's easy to mix ourselves up with others, if we were not valued for simply being our unique selves. We can't learn our own yeses and nos in a vacuum. What's exciting, is we can learn differentiation as an adult, with the guidance of a skilled attachment therapist.

  • Anxiety External link

    An activated Nervous System can make satisfying engagement with others nearly impossible. My anxiety clients may feel confused about why you struggle as you do. When asked about your history, it's likely you'll say you had good parents. Parents who provided you with everything you needed. I dig deeper with my clients to understand, what may have been missing and to begin filling in the gaps.

  • Depression External link

    Depression is a way we protect ourselves from overwhelming experiences. If we have no functional way to regulate ourselves through life's emotional stresses and relationships' natural shifts in and out of connection, often our nervous systems will jump in, take over and shut us down. Engaging with a skilled Attachment therapist, can support reigniting the aliveness that is your human birthright.

  • Cultural and Systemic Oppression External link

    I am an assimilated white, Jewish identified cis gendered queer able-bodied woman. The anti-racism work I have been engaged in over the past few years is transforming my spirit, my world view and my lens on the work of relational therapy. Together we can help you ground into your own privileged and subjugated identities with an aim towards more more community and work effectiveness, more relationship satisfaction and deeper enjoyment in your life.

Contact Pearl

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