Tessa Singleton

I received my master’s degree in Marriage, Couples, & Family therapy from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. The way I view therapy and my drive to become a therapist is deeply driven by my own life experience. I believe that humans have innate propensity for growth, the proclivity towards healing, and the resilience to move through and overcome life’s challenges. The most important part of therapy is the therapeutic relationship. I view therapy as a collaborative process where my role as therapist is to create space for you to show up as your fully human self, exactly as you are. Being heard, seen, and witnessed non-judgmentally by another person is one of the most powerfully healing experiences we can have. I support my clients in exploring their inner worlds, and facilitate new ways to engage with themselves and others. As a systemically oriented therapist, I believe that it is within relationship and connection to others and the world that we derive meaning, sense of worth and belonging, and identity. Therapy provides us the opportunity to find healing and light even when it feels like you are stuck, hopeless, or overwhelmed by pain. I believe that you are an expert on your own experience, and consider my role to be a companion who walks alongside of you through the pain and your journey. My therapeutic approach is grounded in attachment, emotionally focused and narrative therapy, experiential therapy (expressive arts, play, etc.), family systems theory, and when appropriate—the healing power of humor, to assist you in drawing on the already existing wisdom and resilience you possess to cultivate growth and healing. I have experience working with children and adolescents (3-18), couples, parenting & co-parenting, families, divorce & separation, self-harm, trauma, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, personality disorders, attachment, grief & loss, faith crisis and religious transitions, relational conflict, identity exploration, and life transitions.