more about Justin
I grew up in Northern Nevada and California, and moved to Portland where I earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology and a minor in East Asian Studies from Lewis & Clark College. After that I moved to Japan for two years where I taught English to elementary and middle school students. It was there I realized that I enjoy working with youth. I returned to the US and earned a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Washington State University. After a couple of years there, I returned to Portland in 2007 where I have practiced as a therapist since. My work has focused on children, families, adolescents, and young adults primarily. AD/HD is one of my main specialties, and I am often referred to by school counselors for youth experiencing behavioral, school, and social struggles. I also specialize in working with youth with Anxiety and Depression, and with young adults experiencing failure to launch or college transitioning struggles. I often work with individuals and families of varying religions, cultures, ethnicities, sexualities, and genders, and pride myself in being respectful and competent in helping all backgrounds. I am motivated to help make real change in the lives of my clients so that they can be happier and have a better quality of life. In my free time I enjoy playing tennis, watching volleyball, going to movies, traveling to other countries, and being with family.
Services I provide
Intake/initial assessment:
Every new patient will have an Initial intake/assessment appointment. These typically go between 50-60 minutes. I have every new patient complete a thorough checklist to identify objective areas of concerns. Then in the intake session we go over your concerns for yourself or your child, the areas of you/your families life, and identify goals to work on moving forward. We then determine what type of therapy sessions we think would be a best fit and the frequency of sessions.
individual therapy:
In Individual therapy we address your concerns. We will check on your goals. Sessions typically last from 40-50 minutes, depending on the presenting issues. Generally, I will utilize Cognitive behavioral techniques, psychoeducation regarding mental health, solution focused techniques, and other insight oriented techniques, with the ultimate goal of you being happier and feeling like you are doing better in life. I can also utilize Anxiety and AD/HD specific approaches, and DBT (grounding/relaxation techniques).
Family therapy/parenting:
If we decide some family therapy sessions would be helpful, I utilize collaborative problem solving and psychoeducation techniques. In parenting sessions we will focus on empowering you as a parent to feel more in control and successful, but also with having a better understanding of your child, the reason they are having struggles, and effective communication and skill strategies to help the family function better.
Mental health assessment:
I start each client with a comprehensive checklist at the start of treatment. If client and/or parent request additional testing, additional assessments can be used, including assessments for AD/HD, Anxiety, and Depression. These assessments are meant to be for diagnosis or treatment clarifications. I do not provide a "psychological assessment," nor do I do learning testing.
specialties/trainings
As a licensed professional counselor I complete continuing education every year. I utilize these times to further my expertise on clinical issues, particularly issues related to youth and young adults, but also to solidify my counseling ethics and cultural understanding. Here are a list of some of the recent specialty trainings I have attended:
Holistic approaches to treating Psychological disorders
Interventions for Teens with web/technological Addiction
AD/HD Recent Developments
Marijuana and Opiate Dependence
AD/HD Child specialist training
Affirmative Mental Health Services for Transgender Youth
Autism 101
Kids and Families Legal, Forensic and Ethics
Multicultural Trauma Informed care
EMDR Specialty training
