Professional Counselor Associate
Supervisor: Emily Berry, LPC
Collaborating to find meaningful ways to strengthen the mind/body connection and move through grief.
Client Status
Portland, 97217
Rate: $140-$200
Provides free initial consultation
Practicing Since: 2021
Languages: English
My clients are interested in navigating uncomfortable emotions and connecting with their bodies in the process. Their concerns fall into three (often overlapping) categories: 1) a lack of mind/body connection due to trauma or depersonalization/derealization 2) grieving a death, a romantic or platonic breakup, or a loss of self 3) sex and pleasure (or lack thereof) and looking for new ways to connect with themselves and others
Specialties
Experiential therapy involves bringing creative elements or activities into session that take us beyond just staring at each other and talking. Sometimes this means writing, making art, using music, or creating a tangible coping tool to process things in a different way. Creativity can be helpful in moving through grief, trauma, and dissociation, especially when verbal processing feels difficult.
Our bodies hold so much information that we aren't always (or can't be) attuned to. In session somatic work might look like doing body scans, grounding exercises, small physical movement, guided visualizations, or just pausing and noticing what your body is doing and how it’s feeling. Sometimes with neurodivergence, chronic pain, or trauma our bodies aren’t always a comfortable or accessible place to be and if that is a concern, we can collaborate to find a component that works for you.
The word feminist can be loaded depending on your identities. To me, feminist therapy is intersectional and includes looking at layers of privilege and oppression. Feminist theory as a therapeutic lens involves collaboration, balancing power dynamics in the traditional client/therapist relationship, and talking about identities and systems and how they impact your well-being.
Specialties
My personal experience with grief and loss led me to volunteer at the Dougy Center where I spent time with teens whose parents or siblings died. After two years of helping facilitate grief groups there, I began seeing clients one-on-one who came in with various concerns but each of them had experience with grief or loss that impacted them deeply.
Please note that I specifically work with depersonalization and/or derealization and that I do NOT have experience working with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly, Multiple Personality Disorder). My knowledge of dissociative disorders includes personal experience, direct client work with people experiencing dissociation, and trainings such as "Treating Trauma" with Bessel van der Kolk and Pat Ogden
Burnout and compassion fatigue go hand-in-hand and I love collaborating with clients who are experiencing burnout from caregiving or being in a helping profession. We can work toward restoring (or creating from scratch) a more balanced approach to being present in all aspects of your life.
Gabriella Losada has not posted any group sessions.
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