About Me
Hi! I’m Danae and I have been working as a therapist since 2018. I am deeply passionate about mental wellness and am committed to the people I get to work with. My approach to therapy will be dependent on each person in front of me, their goals for therapy, their unique story and background, and many other factors. However, you will find that my overall style as a therapist is informed by my training and experience as an attachment and trauma therapist. Providing an attachment and trauma informed approach is at the basis of all the work I do. Additionally, I have found strengthening our emotional insight and learning to connect with ourselves somatically to be one of the strongest tools at our disposal. When we’re able to identify, name, and communicate what we’re feeling, it fosters a sense of control, connection, compassion, and can help us live a more aligned and authentic life. Working on building this emotional and somatic insight is embedded in my therapeutic approach.
In therapy I draw from modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), existential therapy, psychodynamic therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Lifespan Integration (LI). As mentioned above, I also draw from the concept of emotional granularity, which is strengthening our ability to feel, recognize, and name the specific emotions we are experiencing. Building this skill gives us the opportunity to better understand where the source of our discomfort is coming from, feel less out of control, and more effectively problem solve.
I am also a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Counselor (PMHC) and specialize in all things related to pregnancy, infertility, and postpartum. I work with people who are pregnant, new parents, and people struggling with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Although a particular passion of mine is working with people who suffer from pregnancy traumas, losses, and infertility. After living through years of my own infertility, pregnancy loss, and IVF treatment, I am now on the other side of this journey and am extremely fortunate to be a parent myself. However this experience introduced me to the reality that these are common hardships to live through, yet they’re seldomly recognized or discussed. I intimately understand the unique impacts infertility challenges have on mental health so providing an informed therapy approach and a space where my client’s do not have to explain or justify the physical, mental, and medical hardships unique to fertility is a personal passion of mine.
In addition to my perinatal specialty, my other specialty is in treating complex trauma (childhood or other long term traumas). I have worked with people to treat chronic symptoms of trauma since I began therapy and love getting to help people learn about their style of attachment, address attachment wounds, and learn to foster more intimate relationships with people in their life. I have experience working with those who live with CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), have experienced emotional abuse, emotional neglect, were raised by caretakers with their own mental illness or personality disorder, and those who are new to learning what CPTSD is.
It is a privilege to me to get to do this work and I find great joy in supporting clients on their journey towards healing, connection, and growth. Outside of my office, I find my own healing through spending time with my family and friends, listening to music, reading, doing photography, and watching stand-up comedy.
Education and Licensure
I completed my Master’s Degree in Clinical Rehabilitation counseling from Portland State University and have been licensed to practice through the State of Oregon’s Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists (License #C6350). Additionally, I’ve completed trainings in: EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, Lifespan Integration therapy, and am a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Counselor (PMHC) through Postpartum Support International.
Certifications
I am currently certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). The NBCC is a private certifying agency that identifies counselors who have met the Board’s standards for education, knowledge, and experience.
What is EMDR?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched approach which has been proven to help people heal and recover from symptoms stemming from traumas and other distressing events. EMDR therapy has been recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the World Health Organization, among other professional organizations, as an effective trauma treatment. During EMDR therapy, traumatic memories will be reprocessed to gain adaptive perspective, reduce physiological reactivity to trauma triggers, and alter negative beliefs associated with the trauma.
What is Lifespan Integration Therapy?
Lifespan Integration Therapy is an approach to trauma treatment which promotes healing from distressing symptoms of trauma through reviewing one’s life story with the support of a therapist. Clients will work with a therapist to recall memories from each year of their life in order to build a timeline. This timeline will then be reviewed to allow the body-mind to recognize that one has moved past and survived trauma. Through this process, Lifespan Integration relies on the innate ability of the body-mind to heal itself and integrate parts of the self that have been impacted by trauma.