Portland Therapy Center
Dean Sanchez

Dean Sanchez

Professional Counselor Associate

MS, PCA

Supervisor: Kelsey McVeigh, LPC, QS

I help adults navigate trauma, PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, relationships, and life transitions through supportive, practical telehealth therapy.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

503-250-0799

Email Website Schedule Now

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $120

Provides free initial consultation

Practicing Since: 2018

Languages: English

Services

  • Individual
  • Family
  • Group
  • Child
  • Relationship
  • Teen

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket
  • Aetna
  • Cigna
  • Kaiser
  • MODA
  • OHP Trillium
Show More

My Ideal Client

I work with adults experiencing trauma, PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, emotional overwhelm, relationship difficulties, and major life transitions. You may feel stuck in cycles of worry, rumination, avoidance, burnout, or difficulty regulating emotions. Therapy is collaborative and judgment-free, with practical strategies tailored to your needs, strengths, and goals. Together, we work toward greater stability, healthier relationships, improved coping, and meaningful change.

My Background and Approach

My path to counseling began after a 15-year career in the trades, when I returned to school and began working in behavioral health. My early experience included working as a Registered Behavior Technician with neurodivergent children, followed by earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Today, my clinical work focuses on adults experiencing trauma and PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, emotional dysregulation, relationship concerns, and major life transitions. My approach is collaborative, practical, and individualized. I integrate evidence-based approaches including CBT, DBT, ACT, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care, and strengths-based interventions. I believe effective therapy combines feeling genuinely heard with developing practical tools for change. Sessions may include identifying patterns and triggers, reducing rumination and avoidance, strengthening emotional regulation and communication, building health

Why I am a Good Fit for You

Finding the right therapist is about more than credentials; it is about finding someone you feel comfortable talking with and who understands what you want to change. I strive to create a relaxed, respectful, and judgment-free environment where you can speak openly while also receiving practical feedback and strategies you can use outside of therapy. My style is collaborative, straightforward, and goal-oriented. I work especially well with adults navigating trauma and PTSD, anxiety, ADHD, emotional overwhelm, relationship concerns, and major life transitions. We can explore the experiences and patterns contributing to current difficulties while also developing practical skills to improve coping, communication, emotional regulation, and daily functioning. I believe therapy works best when treatment is individualized rather than one-size-fits-all. Whether you are looking to process difficult experiences, better understand yourself, strengthen relationships, or simply feel more in contr

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Cognitive Behavioral (CBT) External link

    I use CBT to help clients recognize connections between thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and symptoms. Together, we identify unhelpful patterns, challenge distorted or rigid thinking, and develop practical strategies that can be applied outside of sessions. CBT may be integrated when addressing anxiety, depression, trauma-related symptoms, ADHD, rumination, avoidance, and everyday stressors.

  • Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) External link

    I integrate DBT skills to help clients strengthen emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. Practical strategies such as STOP, TIPP, grounding, paced breathing, and communication skills can provide tools for managing intense emotions, anxiety, impulsivity, conflict, and overwhelming situations while building healthier responses over time.

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) External link

    I use ACT to help clients develop greater psychological flexibility rather than becoming consumed by difficult thoughts or emotions. Treatment may include acceptance, mindfulness, cognitive defusion, values clarification, and committed action. ACT can be especially useful when working with anxiety, trauma, avoidance, rumination, life transitions, and patterns that interfere with meaningful goals.

  • Mindfulness-based External link

    Mindfulness-based strategies help clients increase awareness of thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and environmental triggers without immediately reacting to them. I integrate grounding, breathing, present-moment awareness, and sensory-based strategies to support emotional regulation and reduce anxiety, rumination, overwhelm, and trauma-related reactivity while strengthening everyday coping skills.

  • Motivational Interviewing External link

    I use Motivational Interviewing as a collaborative approach for clients who feel stuck, uncertain, overwhelmed, or conflicted about making changes. By exploring personal values, goals, strengths, barriers, and readiness for change without judgment, clients can identify their own reasons for moving forward and develop realistic, achievable steps toward behavioral change and improved well-being.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • PTSD External link

    I work with adults experiencing PTSD and complex trauma, including childhood trauma, relationship trauma, abuse, loss, and other distressing life experiences. Treatment is trauma-informed and paced to the individual, with emphasis on emotional regulation, identifying triggers and patterns, reducing avoidance and rumination, strengthening coping skills, and restoring a greater sense of safety, stability, and control.

  • Anxiety External link

    I help adults experiencing persistent worry, rumination, panic, overwhelm, avoidance, and difficulty relaxing or feeling present. Treatment may integrate CBT, DBT, ACT, mindfulness, grounding, and practical coping strategies to better understand anxiety triggers, regulate physical and emotional responses, challenge unhelpful patterns, and develop skills that can be used between sessions and in everyday life.

  • ADHD External link

    I work with adults experiencing ADHD-related difficulties with attention, organization, task initiation, motivation, emotional regulation, routines, and overwhelm. Treatment focuses on understanding individual patterns and developing realistic strategies for planning, prioritizing, managing distractions, reducing frustration, and creating sustainable routines. I use a strengths-based and neurodiversity-affirming approach tailored to each client.

  • Autism External link

    My behavioral health background includes experience as a Registered Behavior Technician working with autistic and neurodivergent individuals and families. In counseling, I use a neurodiversity-affirming approach that respects individual strengths, communication styles, sensory needs, and lived experiences. Therapy may address anxiety, emotional regulation, relationships, executive functioning, burnout, self-advocacy, and navigating everyday demands.

  • Depression External link

    I work with adults experiencing low mood, reduced motivation, isolation, hopelessness, loss of interest, difficulty maintaining routines, and feeling stuck or disconnected. Treatment focuses on identifying patterns that maintain depressive symptoms while gradually rebuilding meaningful activity, healthy routines, coping skills, social connection, and achievable goals. CBT, behavioral activation, mindfulness, and strengths-based strategies may be integrated.

Contact Dean

Optional note (300 character limit). Please do not include sensitive medical information.