Portland Therapy Center
Kenny Benjamin, MA

Kenny Benjamin, MA

Marriage and Family Therapist

MA, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY

Everything starts with the courage to be curious, about ourselves, about others, & about our basic need to learn, grow, & find meaning.

Client Status

accepting clients

Contact

503.858.2345

ONLINE OR I CAN COME TO YOU.

97214

Email Website

At a Glance

Me

Rate: $95-$225

Provides free initial consultation

Provides telehealth services

Practicing Since: 2007

Languages: English

Faith: Agnosticism, Atheism, Judaism, Interfaith

Services

  • Individual
  • Family
  • Group
  • Relationship

Insurances Accepted

  • Out of Pocket

My Ideal Client

Are you struggling to find meaning and purpose in your life? Do you feel like life is not working out the way you dreamed it would? Do you find yourself battling against the forces of self-worth, meaningful identity, and expectations? I know what that’s like. I have been there myself. It took me years to figure out who I truly wanted to be and how to make that happen. I wish someone had been there to help guide me through my own pain and struggles. I would like to be that person for you.

How I Can Help You

I am a Narrative Coach. Narrative coaching looks at your unique lived experience not through the lens of what’s wrong with you, but by asking what you want and what is standing in your way of getting it. Everybody struggles with something and that doesn't make you broken or wrong, it just makes you human! I work mostly with people who are feeling distant or disconnected from the person they want to be. People who are struggling with feeling meaningful. I help you find and take up new "pieces of identity" that support who you truly want to be and not who you may have been or thought you had to be. This is your life and you get to decide who you are and how you want to show up in the world. But, just like every other human being, you need support, encouragement, and to know that you are not in this alone.

My Values as a Therapist

I believe that everybody has a unique lived experience that needs to be seen, valued, and heard. I may have had similar experiences to you but you are the only true expert in your life. What I am good at is helping you ask the questions that will guide you toward answers and solutions to the problems with which you struggle. This is not a cookie-cutter approach. I value a curiosity-based, non-judgmental approach, to figuring the stuff out that helps you move forward while also learning new healthier ways to carry your past with you into your future. Some things that have worked for others may not work for you, but together we will find your unique and specific answers and create a plan that works for you, that understands your specific desires, hopes, and needs. And we will do so in a way that supports what you value!

Techniques I Use

Specialties

  • Couples Counseling External link

    This is about shifting away from seeing each other as the problem and seeing the problem as the problem. What does that mean? It means learning a new way to turn toward each other instead of turning away from each other. It means working with each other against whatever problems are impacting the relationship.

  • Narrative  External link

    Narrative therapy is about finding meaning without judgment. It is about looking at how the culture in which you were raised and currently live shapes how you think and feel and act. It is about understanding that problems are the problem, not the people who struggle with them, as we all do. And it is about seeing identity through the lens of relationships and community and hopefulness.

  • Coaching External link

    Coaching is about figuring out what you need and what is stopping you from getting it.

Issues I Treat

Specialties

  • Parenting External link

    As a former stay-at-home dad, teacher, and children's art center and gym owner, I have spent 2 decades working with kids and their parents.

  • Divorce External link

    Divorce is about making peace with the past and deciding what kind of future you want. It is about pain and loss , and yet, it is also about hope and possibility.

  • Relationship / Marriage Issues External link

    My work with couples is very different from traditional couple's work. Instead of seeing each other as the problem and turning away from each other, I am helping you shift into seeing each other as a team and reconnecting with what brought you together in the first place.

  • Men's Issues External link

    I have both led and been a member of men's groups in the past. I help men who are struggling to make connections and build meaningful relationships. As men, we have not been taught that it is both ok and vital to share, to be vulnerable, and to be curious. To do these things we need to ask new questions and be open to new answers that often contradict the basic teaching we were given as kids.

  • Self-Esteem External link

    How do you build a relationship with yourself? It's not something that we were taught as kids and yet it may be the most important thing we can learn in order to have a happy, healthy, and meaningful life. Self-esteem is often held out as a burden that you can't live up to, it can be exhausting to "always" have to "love" yourself, even when life sucks, and sometimes it does. You need a new definition of self-esteem that is both reasonable and accessible for you.

Contact Kenny

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