Aaron Garner

My Approach to Helping

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and clinical candidate at the Oregon Psychoanalytic Institute, where I am training in psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. My approach is warm, thoughtful, and collaborative, with an emphasis on understanding your inner world and the patterns that have developed throughout your life. Rather than focusing primarily on advice or quick solutions, I believe meaningful change comes through developing a deeper understanding of yourself. Together, we pay attention to your thoughts, feelings, relationships, and the ways these experiences unfold within our work together. Over time, this can help bring greater clarity to patterns that may have previously felt difficult to understand or change. For some people, meeting more than once a week can provide the continuity and depth needed for this kind of work.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

I believe that people have a meaningful capacity to change, even when they have felt stuck in the same patterns for years. At the same time, I believe our past continues to influence how we experience ourselves, our relationships, and the world around us. Understanding these influences can create new possibilities for how we live in the present. I am interested in the complexity of human experience—what we consciously know about ourselves as well as what may be harder to recognize or put into words. I believe that lasting change often comes through developing a deeper relationship with ourselves and greater curiosity about our emotional lives. I value creating a therapeutic relationship that feels safe, genuine, and collaborative, where difficult experiences can be explored without judgment. For me, therapy is not about becoming someone different, but about developing greater freedom to understand ourselves and choose how we want to live.