Portland Therapy Center
Joaquin Lopez

Joaquin Lopez (he/him)

Licensed Professional Counselor

M.S.

Evaluating our symptoms is a bridge to healing. Symptoms direct us toward the source of our suffering in order to find solace.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

503-997-2275

12250 SW 2nd Street

Suite A #105

Beaverton, 97005

Email Website

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $150

Provides free initial consultation

Provides telehealth services

Practicing Since: 2018

Languages: English, Español

Services

  • Individual

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket

My Ideal Client

Human beings adapt to life. Humans beings adopt behaviors to avoid conflict, to fight stressors, or to suppress difficult emotions. Over time, the behaviors cause disease or distress. Behavioral adaptations modify the personality. Behavior tells the story the body holds. The client explores their story in counseling, restoring a soulful well-being. I work with clients who are ready to delve into what lies beneath the surface to externalize what longs to be seen.

My Approach to Helping

Our bodies have an inherent ability to heal themselves. Our minds do, too. All clients can tap into their own healing, and with counsel, cultivate their strengths and personhood. Counseling provides a time to understand our state of mind, affect, or mood. Counseling offers a time to be seen and listened to with undivided attention, I offer compassion and listen to understand. I bring my whole being and imagination into the work to offer an authentic connection to create a working relationship based on trust, openness, and possibility. I incorporate tools garnered from psychodynamic approaches, humanistic/existential psychology, motivational interviewing, and CBT. I believe reflecting on life’s past and present relationships offer insight to help us navigate our current and future relationships, experiences, and self. Together we can help you achieve your goals, make new choices to create new experiences that ultimately forge a new understanding and a more satisfying, fulfilling life.

My Values as a Therapist

Pain, stress, and trauma can cause restlessness, sleepless nights, loss of pleasure, difficulty concentrating, low self-esteem, and the sense of not being fully present. The body expresses these symptoms accompanied by feelings of anger, guilt, anxiety, and shame. These feelings separate us from ourselves and from the people we love. These feelings prevent us from forming loving relationships and hinder our ability to enjoy life. In counseling, the client and the counselor enter a mindful and healing professional relationship. This connection is cultivated through the exploration of the client's presenting concerns, feelings, and mental disposition. The counselor listens with a clinical understanding while offering insight, therapeutic awareness, and tools for personal growth. The client works with honesty, vulnerability, and openness. A desire to change, self-awareness, and regular reflection by the client generate an environment for personal healing and growth.

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Psychodynamic  External link

    A Jungian orientation offers a warm, creative, and inviting space for the exploration of personal stories, dreams, and myths. The counselor and the client observe aspects of personality, patterns of behavior, the use of language, and creative imagination. A soulful approach allows the client to feel and explore their inner world. The client gains emotional insight and develops an understanding of the experience called life. The client identifies their values and forges a new identity.

  • Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) External link

    Using the insight garnered from our personal work, CBT offers the tools to restructure our thought patterns, modify our emotional responses, and create practical solutions to adapt new healthy behaviors and patterns that lead to successful mental health outcomes.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Depression External link

    Depression is a debilitating and paralyzing experience of the soul and spirit. Depression lives differently in everyone. I utilize a multifaceted approach that includes soulful explorations, mindfulness, CBT, and unconditional positive regard to work with a client's whole being and life experience.

  • Anxiety External link

    Anxiety is a symptom of uncertainty, experiencing the unknown, and the inability to quiet the 'noise' that permeates our being. I believe in approaching anxiety with mindfulness, stream of consciousness to reveal what lies beneath the surface, and behavior modification.

  • Cultural and Systemic Oppression External link

    Systems of oppression permeate every moment of our lives. Racism, sexism, and classism are few of the many systems of oppression that have been part of our story whether we are aware of it or not. Understanding how oppression has affected my personal being, I am able to work with clients to create a safe authentic space to honor their whole experience, and see them for who they are.

  • LGBTQ Issues External link

    As a Latino gay male in his 40s, my compassion is informed by my survival as an out teenager during the late 80s and 90s during the time of AIDS. LGBTQ issues include self-esteem, code switching, family attachments, feeling safe, forging your own identity, and being seen. I create a loving and safe environment that embraces every aspect of the LBGTQ client.

  • Immigration/Acculturation External link

    Drawing from my experience and identity as a Mexican American person, I understand the nuanced experience of code switching and managing family and social dynamics that come with being bicultural and bilingual (Spanish/English) in a mainstream dominant culture. Immigration issues create additional barriers that affect familial and social interactions.

Contact Joaquin

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