Licensed Marriage Family Therapist
LMFT, LPC
Relationships can be deeply meaningful and deeply challenging. I work with couples who want support finding their way back to one another.
Client Status
503-743-6404
73327 SW BArnes Road #618
Portland, 97225
Telehealth
Currently Providing Online Sessions
Portland, Oregon 97225
Rate: $200-$225
Provides free initial consultation
Provides telehealth services
Practicing Since: 2015
Languages: English
I work with couples who care deeply about their relationship but feel stuck in patterns of conflict or distance. You may love each other and still feel unsure how to talk about what matters without things escalating or shutting down. My clients are couples who want to understand their patterns, take responsibility for their own responses, and learn how to support one another more effectively so they can move forward together with greater connection and trust.
Specialties
I specialize in couples counseling and relationship therapy, grounded in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), attachment theory, and Internal Family Systems (IFS). I help couples slow down reactive patterns, understand what’s happening beneath conflict or withdrawal, and rebuild emotional safety. Rather than focusing only on communication skills, we work to change the cycle that keeps you stuck so connection can grow again.
I am trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS), a therapeutic approach that explores the dynamics within your mind. In our sessions, we'll work together to understand and navigate the various parts of yourself, addressing concerns such as anxiety, protection mechanisms, and inner conflicts. IFS provides a supportive journey to help you achieve balance, self-awareness, and healing. If you're seeking a personalized and empowering therapeutic experience, I am here to assist you on your journey.
I use Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help couples make sense of patterns of conflict or distance that often began as ways of coping or staying safe earlier in life. By slowing things down and exploring underlying emotions and needs, we work toward creating a felt sense of emotional security, helping partners respond to one another with greater openness, trust, and connection.
Experiential therapy focuses on what’s happening in the moment rather than only talking about the past. I help clients slow down and tune into their immediate emotional and relational experience, offering guidance as new insights emerge. Together, we try out new ways of relating in session, allowing couples to learn through experience what feels more connecting and supportive.
I apply attachment theory by helping couples notice how needs for connection, reassurance, and emotional safety show up in their interactions. In session, we gently explore how protective patterns developed over time as ways of coping or staying safe, and how they affect closeness today. Together, we practice more responsive ways of reaching for one another so partners can experience greater trust, connection, and a felt sense of emotional security.
Specialties
When relationships feel strained, it’s often not a lack of love but a loss of emotional safety. I work with couples using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to slow things down, understand patterns of conflict or distance, and restore connection. Together, we focus on de-escalating reactive cycles, strengthening communication, and helping partners feel more understood, supported, and secure with one another.
Premarital counseling offers couples a chance to build a strong emotional foundation before marriage. I help partners explore communication styles, conflict patterns, values, family backgrounds, and expectations around intimacy and commitment. The goal is not perfection, but developing the ability to stay connected, repair ruptures, and face future challenges together with clarity and care.
Polyamorous and open relationships can bring both richness and complexity. I work with partners to explore communication, boundaries, jealousy, and trust in a thoughtful and nonjudgmental way. Therapy offers a space to slow down, clarify agreements, and understand emotional needs so relationships can feel more secure, honest, and supportive for everyone involved.
Codependent patterns often develop as ways of staying connected or safe, but over time they can leave partners feeling resentful, overwhelmed, or disconnected from themselves. In therapy, we explore how these patterns formed and support each partner in building clearer boundaries, stronger self-awareness, and more balanced, mutual connection.
Paisley Jen Burrell has not posted any group sessions.
Paisley Jen Burrell has not published any articles.