Mihretu Dessalegne

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help you better understand and improve your thought life, and how your thinking affects your emotions, behaviors, and even beliefs about yourself, loved ones, and the world around you.

EMDR

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) Therapy uses bi-lateral stimulation (BLS) to break down traumatic memories in the mind that are too big for the brain to chew down on its own. EMDR helps break those memories down and lets the brain naturally do the rest, allowing the person to heal.

Anxiety

I've spent 3-4 years working with clients diagnosed with various anxiety disorders. Oftentimes, this is due to a combination of negative thoughts and difficulty understanding and handling emotional responses. I've used both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Person-Centered Therapy to help clients become more aware of what they think and why they think what they do, along with emotion regulation and mindfulness skills to help them feel at ease in their bodies and minds and live healthier lives.

Depression

I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Person-Centered Therapy to help clients who are facing depression. Oftentimes, our negative thoughts can overtime cause fear-based beliefs about ourselves or others to form. The combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Person-Centered Therapy helps to uncover the past and the present, and how our thinking was and is impacted by them. This will help us to replace these fear-based beliefs with healthy beliefs for healthier living with more freedom.

PTSD

I approach PTSD and other forms of trauma with either Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) or EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy). TF-CBT focuses more on child trauma amid the child-parent relationship, and EMDR Therapy uses bi-lateral stimulation (visual or auditory movement) (BLS) to help clients of all ages process traumatic memories that have negatively impacted their lives emotionally and physiologically.

Immigration/Acculturation

I grew up in Portland as a first-generation Ethiopian-American. I understand the tension that can form from miscommunication & feeling misunderstood because of a cultural gap between parent and child. Frustration can arise from both sides, & this can lead to poor coping choices from both sides. This leads to further separation, reinforced negative beliefs about each other, & division in the family. CBT & PCT within the family helps the family understand each other and become more united.

Spirituality

I approach spiritually from the words of Jesus Christ. This is an approach that I offer to anyone who is willing, but will not impose otherwise. I approach clients who follow Jesus in this way, incorporating their identity in Christ to their perception of identity, their relationships, their hopes and vision for the future, and their present circumstances. The Holy Spirit is at the center of treatment as we explore these facets of a client's life.