Connected Roots Counseling

If you know you need support but the idea of traditional therapy in an office keeps you from reaching out, you're not alone. Many of us need a different kind of space in order to open, reconnect, and heal. Whether being in a small office feels too confining for talking about your feelings, you are your most yourself outdoors, or the usual approaches haven’t worked for you or your child, you deserve a place that meets you as you are. Connected Roots Counseling offers an alternative path. I offer what is called Ecotherapy, or what I sometimes call, Outdoor Therapy. People often ask me what is Ecotherapy, and the truth is, it's a lot of things-- it's an approach to therapy that centers reconnecting with the natural world in order to create healing. While Ecotherapy can be offered in offices, or along city sidewalks, I believe there is no replacement for the powerful healing of the outdoors. With that belief in mind, I created Connected Roots Counseling-- a therapy practice where our work takes place in the outdoors: walking amongst the trees, sitting in quiet groves, or following winding streams. I approach therapy as a radical act of care, connection, and reclamation. I do not see any person as being broken or in need of fixing—but rather, being shaped by systems, histories, and daily conditions that often demand disconnection from self, body, land, and reality, just to survive. Therapy is a space where we can begin to undo that. It’s a space to speak and reclaim what has been taken or hidden. I see my role as therapist as holding space with and for you—not above or outside of you—while working together to build a container strong enough to hold complexity, contradiction, grief, rage, love, and hope. My work is grounded in anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, and liberatory frameworks. While my primary counseling modality is Ecotherapy, I also heavily draw from somatic practices, creative arts interventions, Gestalt therapy, and Buddhist Philosphy. I integrate elements beyond traditional talk therapy—play, land-based work, movement, and art —because healing doesn’t just happen in the mind or through words. We heal in relationship. In the body. In reconnection with the land and ourselves. I come to this work with a foundation in existential and Buddhist philosophy, which informs how I hold space for clients navigating identity, meaning, freedom, loss, and the contradictions of being alive in this moment. I'm especially interested in how dominant systems show up in our personal struggles—and how we can resist those forces in our healing. I offer sessions within city limits as well as in secluded forested settings in the foothills of Mount Hood. The land is not just a backdrop to our work, it’s the co-therapist, and the presence of the Pacific Northwest shapes the depth of healing we can access together. What is unique about Connected Roots Counseling is access to forested land that offers a level of quiet, spaciousness, and safety that can be hard to find elsewhere. Whether close to home or a beautiful drive away, these settings make it possible to slow down, drop into relationship, and do healing work that is somatic, relational, and deeply restorative. I work with children, teens, and adults, with a focus on: Kids and adolescence, especially those With ADHD, ODD, or other behavior-related diagnoses; Minority stress and trauma; Transgender rights; multiracial identity development; Boys and men's issues; and healthy relationships. My style is direct, intuitive, and relational, and I aim to build a space where power is shared, not imposed. I believe that healing doesn’t mean returning to a baseline of functioning defined by oppressive systems—it means reconnecting with your own capacity, voice, and power. In addition to my masters from Lewis & Clark College, I completed the certificate in Ecotherapies where I received specialized training in nature-based therapeutic practices that integrate ecological awareness with traditional counseling methods. Part of my Ecotherapies coursework included Animal Assisted Therapy training with my Assistance Animal, Cooper the Dog, who can be my co-therapist upon request. This work supports my belief in the importance of reconnecting with the non-human world as an essential part of the healing process. Having spent nearly a decade in schools, my background is in mental health in public education, and am a licensed School Counselor in Oregon and Washington. I am passionate about working with youth struggling in the school system, as well as educators navigating the many challenges working in this system. Ecotherapy isn't just about "using" nature to feel better-- it's about connecting with and building a better relationship with the planet we live on, including giving back and caring for our planetary home. At Connected Roots Counseling, we embody this by: -Donating a portion of the proceeds from every session to local groups protecting Old Growth trees -Prioritizing used and recycled furniture and goods -Carefully vetting new purchases for their environmental and ethical impact -Using sustainable materials, like recycled-plantable business cards I am a professional counseling associate and LMHCA. My supervisors are: Alicia Banister, MA, LPC #C6803 Thomas Doherty , Psy. D, Licensed Psychologist Services Offered: -Outdoor Therapy in central Portland and Vancouver -Outdoor Therapy in the foothills of Mount Hood -Indoor/Outdoor Groups: Trans Adults, Trans Youth, Men's Groups -Telehealth -Saturday Sessions -Evening Sessions