Heather Asaadi, LPC - Relational Counseling, DBT, Trauma-Informed - Portland

my approach

I am passionate about building a meaningful therapeutic relationship - it is within relationships that healing and growth occur. Sharing your story with someone and experiencing acceptance creates genuine connection and drives the therapeutic process. A meaningful therapeutic relationship is when we can feel zest and energy together, we feel that we matter to one another, and have the experience of mutually learning, growing, and empowering each other. 

Within the safety of therapy, you can more fully explore your patterns and come to understand factors that contributed to your development. I believe, with increased awareness, you can better find a balance between accepting yourself and changing patterns that are not serving you anymore.

I welcome diversity, including all races, genders, sexualities, body sizes, abilities, and religions. I work to be attuned to the systems that impact us, such as, the social and cultural effects on our lives, the impact of oppression and privilege, as well as, exploring how our identities intersect and interact with our environment. I strive to take a non-pathologizing approach and continue to work on my blind spots.

My approach is eclectic and trauma-informed. I gravitate towards relational/interpersonal therapies which emphasize exploring patterns of relational disconnection and enhancing connection. My practice is focused on collaborating using a dialectical framework, which is about looking through a both/and lens to appreciate complexity, find more balance, and increase compassion towards ourselves and others.

Treatment philosophies/orientations I draw upon include: Relational-Cultural Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Attachment Theory, Self-Compassion, Existential Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Jungian Psychology, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

common topics of exploration

In other words, both/and counseling could be a good fit for you if:

• You want a counselor who is open-minded, looks at things on a spectrum, and holds complexity

• You are feeling disconnected from others and want to enrich your relationships

• You want to explore your interpersonal patterns and strengthen communication skills

• You feel out of control of your emotions and want to learn to regulate emotions more effectively and feel more balanced

• You're getting stuck in judgmental, black/white thinking and want to work on appreciating complexity and seeing the grey

• You want to learn skills to manage trauma reactions and are interested in processing your trauma history

• You are struggling with feelings of shame and want to work on increasing self-acceptance and self-compassion

• You want to explore your identity, its many parts, and are interested in holding the complexity of how these parts intersect

• You want to explore your gender identity, are experiencing gender dysphoria, and/or are pursuing gender transition

• You need a place to process experiences of cultural and systemic oppression

• You want to explore your values and connect with how you derive meaning in life