Emotionally Focused

Gabriel Trees (He / Him)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

Masters of Arts, Marriage, Couple & Family Therapy

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) founded on the evidence that emotions are not accessories to human experience but organizing principles of our lives. By being able to more fully experience our emotional range, our relationships can thrive. Let’s dig in and support you and your partner’s emotional well-being.

Mahina Therapy PLLC (they/them)

Student Counselor

LMFT

Trish Nicholson (she/her)

Professional Counselor Associate

Board-certified (NCC)

Have you ever felt like you just couldn't find the words? Our emotions are at the heart of our relationships and personal well-being. Exploring, slowing down, and gaining understanding of our emotional experiencing can lead to transformative changes. This approach can give you the tools to articulate your feelings and gain clarity about your inner world, allowing you to express yourself in ways that nurture healthy connections with both yourself and others.

Emily Palmgren (she/they)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

M.A. Marriage, Couple, Family Therapy

I have completed the Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFCT) Externship through ICEEFT.

Yael Kievsky (she/her/ella)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

I have advanced training in EFT for working with couples, a compassionate and deeply effective attachment based approach for transforming relationship patterns.

Michael Running (he/him)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, MS, NCC

I have completed both individual and couples Emotion-Focused Therapy training programs from Edwards Psychotherapy here in Portland. EFT, Relational Gestalt, and mindfulness-based approaches are naturally complementary and offer a powerful fit for many clients.

Paula Emerick (she/they)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

It's not as fluffy as it sounds. I believe in it. It works. But it goes deep. In a nutshell - integrating emotional understanding with intellectual meaning and attending to the body while creating a trusting relationship with me working from the foundation of attachment. Wow. That's quite a sentence, Paula! Or just google it. ;)

Dasia Star (she/they)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

Master of Arts in Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy

We all get into patterns based on our attachment histories. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) supports folx (individuals, couples, nonmonogamous partners, friends) in getting to the heart of what is causing ongoing conflicts or difficult stuck points. Using EFT, we can slow down and uncover our attachment dance, find more authentic connection, and move toward deeper connection with ourselves and others.

Ajay Dheer (He/They)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

M.S. Marriage and Family Therapy

I am currently being trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with anticipated completion in spring of 2021. EFT attunes to our own emotions and emotional regulation as well as how they interact with those of our partner(s). I primarily use EFT with relationships (monogamous couples as well as polyamorous/open relationships), though the benefits of my training can also be utilized with individuals.

DeLyn Griffin (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

MA in Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling

Chelsea Kellogg (she/her/hers)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

EFT is used with families, couples and individuals. Sometimes when we're stressed, tired, spread too thin, or triggered we can struggle to connect emotionally with our partners or ourselves. I use both S. Johnson's Emotionally Focused Therapy and L. Greenberg's Emotion Focused Therapy to help make sense of negative cycles of interaction, connect to underlying emotion, balance identity with relationship, and become skillful in both self regulation and co-regulation.

Stacey Vallas (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MS in Mental Health Counseling; PhD in English and American Literature

Emotions can illuminate our genuine needs and guide us in fulfilling them. But when our feelings aren't recognized and valued, we learn to respond to life with patterns of emotion that undermine our well being and even mask what we authentically feel. I will support your experiencing and working through of your own emotional patterns to gain clarity about your authentic feelings and needs.

David Kremmel (He/Him/His)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

M.A. LMFT

From my training as a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, I am experienced in helping couples and individuals foster emotional connection and healing. I specialize in identifying and addressing negative interaction patterns, helping clients express vulnerable emotions, and promoting secure emotional bonds. By utilizing EFT techniques, I support clients in creating lasting, positive changes in their relationships, cultivating intimacy, trust, and emotional resilience.

Alexa Adams (she/her/hers)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

Though I pull from several treatment modalities, Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is the orientation that I most root myself in. This model guides my work through my focus on attachment and patterns within a relationship (family and/or romantic) and within the individual. Much of this orientation weaves the historical throughout the current, allowing us to gain increased understanding and awareness for how our history influences our now.

Peter Ragen (He/Him)

Professional Counselor Associate

MA

I incorporate Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help individuals better understand their emotional experiences and strengthen their most important relationships. EFT is a research-supported approach that focuses on identifying attachment needs and transforming negative interaction patterns into deeper emotional connection. By creating a safe space to explore vulnerable emotions, I help clients move from disconnection and conflict toward greater security, empathy, and trust.

Elyse Beckman (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, CADC, LMHC, SUDP

Bea Hurston (them/them)

Professional Counselor Associate

M.A. in Professional Mental Health Counseling

Lillian Dunham (she/her)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

MA MCFT from Lewis & Clark College

Melissa Tomecek (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, LMHC

Provided for individuals and couples therapy

Midori Ferris Wayne (she/her)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

MA

J.C. Stewart (he/him)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

Michael Wilson, MA

Licensed Professional Counselor

I view my therapy through an attachment lens. Attachment lays the groundwork for how we will interpret and process the world around us. Utilizing EFT I examine my clients attachment style, identify mismanaged emotions, and develop healthier strategies of coping with negative emotional experiences.

Kelly Arthur, LMFT, LPC, CADC I

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

Emotionally Focused Therapy has been my primary modality in working with couples since 2015. I find it a most beneficial therapeutic modality because it enables me to help couples get right down to the root of what's happening in problematic interactions. Using EFT helps me help couples much more quickly because we work with the shared human experience of emotions rather than staying in the story.

Sarah Howeth (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT, Certified EFT Therapist for Couples

Couples and intimate partners all have patterns in the way that they relate based on their early attachment histories. EFT uses present-moment experience to become more aware of these usually unconscious ways of relating and help partners find more connection by communicating more vulnerably and directly to each other. I am Certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. You can view a list of EFT training I have completed here: https://radicalrelatingtherapy.com/background

Jamie Friedman (she/her)

Professional Counselor Associate

MA, PMHC

Bree Koenig (she/her/hers)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, MS Clinical Psychology

Benita Munson (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

I am trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples through Edwards Psychotherapy in Portland. In EFT I will teach you how to access your primary emotions (IE sadness, fear) that are underlying secondary defensive reactions (resentment, jealousy). Once a person can communicate their primary emotion to a partner, it helps to increase connection and attachment. We will also do enactments in session which heighten emotion and also build connection and attachment.

Nadya Mirza (she/her)

Student Counselor

Robin Magdahlen

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC RDT

Emotionally focused therapy proposes that emotions themselves have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated, can help clients change problematic emotional states or unwanted self-experiences. Emotions themselves do not inhibit the therapeutic process, however learning better coping strategies enables clients to move through old behaviors and patterns into a state of increased well being.

Chris Lehman

Licensed Professional Counselor

MA, MS, LPC

I studied and practiced emotionally focused therapy at Portland State University. In my experience I find this approach to be an effective way for a client to change and grow through an authentic relationship with their therapist.

Couples Clinic of Portland

Licensed Professional Counselor

Jordan Curtis (He/him)

Professional Counselor Associate

MA, NCC

In 2022 I began studying emotionally focused therapy (EFT) for couples with Dr. Sue Johnson. I have been working with couples of all walks ever since: pregnant, married, polyamorous, monogamous, trans, queer, non-binary, and asexual couples. In EFT, I work with relationships to: *Identify and step out of subconscious feedback systems *Communicate clearly *Respond more effectively *Work as a team *Increase engagement and availability *Repair relationship injuries & resolve relationship traumas

Anchor Within Counseling

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Behavioral Health Office

Alana Ogilvie (she/they)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT, CST

Using an integrated EFT approach I help couples and individuals identify their primary emotions, work through maladaptive responses, and develop empathy and compassion for themselves and others.

Allison Strausberg (she/they)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an experiential approach that draws primarily from attachment science to facilitate relational healing and foster secure connections with self and others. With EFT, I will help you and your partner identify the patterns and cycles that create distress and transform them into opportunities for deeper understanding and connection, resulting in a more joyful and satisfying relationship.

Anchi Howitz (she/her)

Student Counselor

BS

Stephanie Avery (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

M.Ed.

Emotionally Focused Therapy is based on research related to attachment and bonding, focusing on the healing power of meaningful connection, safety in relationship, and vulnerability. Coming from an attachment perspective, I may address what is emotionally happening between the two of us, including tough feelings like disappointment, rejection, or anger. This can help clients practice authenticity and gain insight into relationship dynamics that are occurring outside of the therapy space.

Erin Axelrod, MA (she/her/hers)

Professional Counselor Associate

MA

Honoring emotion is a continuous thread throughout our work together. As recent research demonstrates: we are not thinking beings who sometimes feel, but rather feeling beings who sometimes think. I will invite your emotional self in a gentle way that always leaves space for your boundaries, process, and where you are at in this moment.

Bex Mertulien (They/Them)

Professional Counselor Associate

Registered Associate R7909

I specialize in utilizing emotions focused therapy for individuals and relationships to explore how we construct and engage with our emotions and relate to ourselves and others emotively. I also utilize and draw from attachment based theory to explore how our early life experiences impact our present ways of relationship.

April Slabosheski (she/her)

Professional Counselor Associate

MS, NCC

Sometimes, our relationships get stuck in patterns we don't understand. I draw on Emotionally Focused Therapy to support you in exploring your feelings and needs in relationships, including your relationship with yourself. Together, we’ll slow things down to understand the patterns that make you feel stuck, and gently build ways of connecting that feel safer and more satisfying.

Polly Gravely MS, LPC, MFT (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

Licensed in OR and WA

Emotion-Focused Therapy is my primary modality. It's an approach that guides people underneath words, actions, and reactive secondary emotions, to underlying primary emotions, which are frequently out of awareness. I know how to listen to these underlying feelings and help people tune in so they understand what's really the problem and what they really need.

Caitlin Beckwith-Ferguson (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

MA, LMFT

I use emotionally-focused therapy to help couples connect in a deeper, more vulnerable way. So often, couples are caught in a negative cycle of interaction. We will identify your attachment needs and your emotions and work towards expressing them openly to each other. I have completed these trainings: Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT): Attachment-based Interventions to Treat Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression training Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy – ICEEFT Externship

"Paisley" Jen Burrell (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT, LPC

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) in counseling centers on understanding and addressing emotions as a key to personal growth and relationship improvement. We will explore and validate your feelings, aiming to identify underlying patterns and unmet needs. EFT helps transform negative emotional cycles, fostering healthier ways of expressing and managing emotions. The goal is to create a more secure emotional connection with oneself and others, promoting lasting change and improved relationships.

Daniel Hofmann (He/Him/His)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MS, LPC, LMHC

Corey Griggs (He/Him)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

QMHP, LMFT-A

Ladan Alexandra Radafshar (She/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MA, LPC, NCC

Emotionally Focused Therapy is for couples to explore where they are feeling stuck. Together we will bring awareness to triggers and identify the negative relational cycle unique to every couple. We will understand and resolve negative patterns while deepening the quality of your communication and connection. This will help process emotional responses and create a positive shift in your interpersonal interactions, moving toward a secure bond of trust and intimacy. 

Krista Schimmelbusch

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

MA, LMFT

• Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), London, England. • Member, International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT). • Member, Portland Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy (PCEFT).

Ravnoor Sahni (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT, MBBS

Jenna Washburn (she / her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MA: Mental Health Counseling - Specialization in Addictions

While I also use CBT often, I always pair it with Emotionally Focused Therapy because it allows a more well-rounded approach and links together the cognitive with the emotional spheres of a client's experience.

Carewell Portland Carewell Portland/Julie Berman (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

Emotionally Focused Therapy helps people understand themselves better so they can make big changes.

Emily Smith (she/her)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

MA

As a MFT associate, I have specific training and experience with working from an Emotionally-Focused Therapy perspective with couples. I will work with you to become aware of the emotional patterns and dynamics of your relationship, help you process reactivity, wounds, and emotional triggers, and guide you in practicing new ways of communicating and relating with your partner.

Maria Bonacci (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

I utilize EFT in individual, couples and group work to connect presenting problems with deeper emotional context.

Sonia Holdaway (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MS

My approach to counseling is grounded primarily in Emotion-Focused therapy, which encourages exploring and experiencing your emotions in real time in session, to help you connect with, and better articulate, your deeper needs. Many of us can understand our struggles very well on a cognitive level, but have trouble figuring out how to actually feel better. I love that emotion-focused therapy uses in-the-moment, emotional change experiences in session to actually create lasting change.

Kristen Genzano (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MA, LPC, NCC

I am trained in Emotionally Focused Therapy and use this orientation to inform my work with individuals and couples. Emotions are central to the human experience. By being aware of and expressing our emotions we can more deeply understand ourselves. Deeper self-understanding gives way for more authentic self-expression.

Amanda Best (she/her/hers)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

LMFT-A

If you feel stuck in a negative conflict cycle and as if you cannot break this pattern with your partner, EFT could be for you. We will focus on attachment, emotional safety, and greater emotional intimacy while working from an EFT lens. We will aim to deepen the emotional bond while also catering to your specific relationship structure. I use a socio-culturally attuned approach with using EFT which allows me to translate the theory to queer couples.

Henry Cameron (He/Him)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

I have taken courses taught by Sue Johnson, founder of EFT

Gayle Waitches

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, NCC

Emotion Focused Therapy suggests that our emotional inner life can be our most valuable guide rather than felt as mere states of being. As we allow ourselves to more deeply experience our emotional climate, we can become more intentional, aware and discerning with our life choices.

Sharon Hale (she/her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

MA

I am certified in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy

Grace Carter (She/Her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

Emotionally focused therapy is an intervention based on scientific study of adult love and bonding processes and is designed to address distress in the intimate relationships of adults. Strategies from emotionally focused therapy can be used to help people connect with friends, family and romantic partners and improve emotional attachment.

Michelle Anderson (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

Darin Bergen (he/him)

Clinical Psychologist

PsyD

My Emotion-Focused Therapy (for individuals) training has roots in the beginning of graduate school and it helps with the processing of emotional problems and healing old wounds. EFT has a strong basis in the science of emotion and therapeutic change. I have completed the Level 1 and Level 2 Emotion-Focused Therapy training with Les Greenberg.

JESSICA VAN DER MERWE (She/Her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, LMHC

EFT focuses on individual emotional states (or lack thereof) as the “barometer” for the one's most important and unresolved issues. According to this form of therapy, emotions are adaptive but can become problematic. EFT works to identify core emotions and beliefs, and transform them to resolve conflict.

WellPath Counseling & Associates

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

Miranda Bayard-Clark, LPC (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

Attachment is one of the key drives all humans need. We learn attachment from our primary caregivers, which is translated to our intimate partners. When we feel emotionally secure and attached, we feel good and safe. When our emotional connections are not validated, we feel threatened. I work with couples understand each other on a primary level, and create strong, secure attachments.

Cat Bice (she/her)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW, LICSW

I am certified as an EFT therapist for couples and inidividuals. EFT (emotionally focused therapy), an evidence based practice that works to help individuals and couples understand the patterns of internal reactions and reactions to one another that interfere with the closeness and contentment that they are seeking.

Richard Marshall

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

M.A., LMFT

Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is an evidence-based treatment, and together with Relational Life Therapy (RLT), is the therapeutic model I most commonly use with couples. Its power comes from its ability to tap into people's primal need for a close attachment bond to others. It helps people express their softer, more vulnerable emotions with the aim of increasing connection and closeness to others.

Madilyn Long (she/they)

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

LCSW

I believe that emotions are the unsung heroes of unlocking the mind and body connection. They provide a roadmap for how to effectively and efficiently address and process any number of issues that may arise in every day life. By helping my clients to first identify and then work with their emotions rather than resist them, I help them to access healing and growth that may have previously been unknown or unaccessible to them.

Julia Perretta (She/Her)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

I have completed training in EFT and utilize this modality often with couples in my practice. Using information about attachment/interpersonal neurobiology, we will explore patterns in your relationship and track the "relational dance", identifying emotions that are occurring for each person, and exploring safety in vulnerability to increase connection.

Catherine Palmer (She/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

MS, LPC, MFT

Tate Sprite (they/them)

Professional Counselor Associate

Naropa University, MA Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling

Overall, I describe my approach as attachment-based, trauma-informed, mindful, somatic, compassion-focused, experiential and existential. While I draw on my study of the modalities listed below (and some that weren't on the list), my main model is Emotionally Focused Therapy. It centers relationship and emotional experience. I'm pursuing certification in Emotionally Focused Therapy for individuals (EFIT) and receive regular supervision and training by certified EFT supervisors.

Nicole Kammerlocher (she/her/hers)

Professional Counselor Associate

Emotionally Focused Therapy is based in attachment theory and focuses on recognizing how we experience our emotions, what we do with them, and how we can connect more effectively and fully with our partners.

Sarah Hardin

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

What feelings underlie your behaviors and your ways of relating to others? This approach helps you identify your core emotional needs and learn ways to express those to others. EFT works wonderfully with individuals, couples, and families alike to deepen connection and fine-tune communication skills. I excel at helping folks uncover the feelings that are often difficult to name.

Cayla Panitz (she/her)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

I utilize Emotion Focused Family Therapy to support caregivers who are facilitating mental health recovery of their loved ones.

Arah Erickson (she/her/hers)

Professional Counselor Associate

MS, NCC, LPC-A

I often work from an Emotion Focused Therapy perspective. Through this approach, we work together to deepen awareness of emotions, feelings and experiences that might be getting in your way, or making you feel stuck. Exploring these emotions in a safe space with deep compassion, can often be very meaningful and freeing, allowing for new insights and renewed sense of grounding, and peace in how you want to be in the world.

Alex Bistroi

Licensed Professional Counselor

I completed training in Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) for individuals. I also completed training in EFT for couples.

Karin Pfeiffer-Robinson (she/her)

Professional Counselor Associate

M.A.

In my work with clients, and in my own life, I have observed that it is very common to feel overwhelmed and confused by our emotions and to judge them negatively. Developing the ability to recognize, accept, and address our emotions can be the basis of a more grounded and meaningful life.

Sasha Swerdloff (she/her)

Student Counselor

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is an evidence-based approach grounded in attachment theory that supports the (re)creation of secure connections with self and others. Based on the belief that humans are wired for belonging and growth, EFT helps identify patterns of disconnection, core emotions, and unmet attachment needs—guiding people toward new ways of relating that foster emotional safety and lasting connection.

Kimberly Noall (she/her/hers)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC, MFT

Emily Radcliffe (She/Her)

Marriage and Family Therapist

MA, MCFT Associate

I believe that emotions make up a powerful part of our inner world and landscapes and I think it's important to value, honor and respect each person's emotional experience. By exploring, getting in touch with, and processing emotions I can help you learn more about yourself, find authenticity in relationships, set boundaries, and develop more self-compassion and resilience.

Portland Counseling & Anxiety Specialists

Licensed Professional Counselor

Esther Berg (She/her)

Marriage and Family Therapist

LMFT

Trained in emotionally focused therapy, I guide individuals on a journey of self-discovery, healing deep emotional wounds, & boosting self-esteem by looking at how past attachments have shaped your emotional world. We'll explore how your emotions can be harnessed as potent tools for personal growth. With couples & relationships, I assist partners in unraveling how their attachment styles impact their interaction, promoting emotional closeness & healing the scars of attachment-related experiences

Sakura Counseling (She/He/They)

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

We have seen the benefits of deep work to heal trauma and various other human concerns. It helps individuals accept, regulate, express, & bring awareness of the complexity of human emotions. Understanding emotions help guides us to our needs or wants.

Taylor Kravitz (She/Her/Hers)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

MA, LMFT

Do you find you and your partner(s) are getting stuck in the same argument over and over? You know you both care for each other but neither of you feel heard and seen. Using Emotionally Focused Therapy, I can help you get in touch with your deeper emotions, address your relational conflict cycle, and build safe & emotionally connected relationships.

Jon Fox

Licensed Professional Counselor

LPC

I use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with couples to help clients understand their deeper emotions and needs and communicate them in an effective way to their partners. EFT focuses on our attachment styles, wishes and longings, along with needs important to our personal identity. EFT is one of the most evidence-based, effective modalities to help couples find increased connection, reduce conflict and improve communication.

Ayala Parker (she/they)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

LMFT

Chris Gorski (He/him)

Professional Counselor Associate

B.S.,M.A., PCA, Y.T., M.T.

I have worked for years helping couples establish more harmony in their relationship or marriage.

Margot Standeven (she/her/hers)

Licensed Marriage Family Therapist

Masters in Marriage, Couple, & Family Counseling

EFT helps couples recognize and understand the negative cycle that interferes with their communication. With this awareness, less time and energy is spent on regulating negative emotions and protecting individual vulnerabilities. Instead, the partners can turn to each other for comfort and support so as to be resilient and meet life’s challenges

Heather Simpson (she/her)

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

MA MFT Associate

Heather Lokteff

Licensed Professional Counselor

Emotion Focused Therapy is an attachment-based therapy that can be used for couples as well as individuals. EFT focuses on becoming more aware of emotions and learning to label, allow, experience, transform, and regulate emotions. For couples, EFT helps to create a more secure bond between partners and shifts interactions and dynamics in a more positive, affirming direction.

Leslie Jones

Licensed Professional Counselor

I have formal training in Emotionally-Focused Therapy. This modality has enhanced my ability to help clients see the foundational causes of the emotion that comes to the surface; the root cause is able to be addressed and remedied. I have been able to apply this theory to all of the clinical work I do.

Eric Nielson

Marriage and Family Therapist Associate

I integrate Emotionally Focused Therapy (or, 'EFT') in my work with couples and with families. I have done training with Sue Johnson, one of the progenitors of EFT, and am engaged in on-going supervision and training in this therapeutic model.