Borderline Personality (BPD) Therapists in Portland, OR

I'm Ray Nava, a highly driven mental health provider with a background in family medicine. I leverage this background to adopt a comprehensive and holistic approach towards mental health care. My professional journey has led me to work with a culturally diverse population across various states including, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, and New York. Additionally, I am able to serve Spanish speaking clients and offer my services in Spanish.

Jey is an integrative mental health counselor trained in a variety of evidence-based psychotherapy treatments for PTSD, anxiety, and depression. With her 13+ years of clinical experience in the mental health field, she provides a unique blend of holistic and mind-body approach, to support the healing process of a whole person.

Dear Potential Client! Have you lost someone and can't seem to move on? Do you find that unresolved abuse issues still bother you and get in the way of daily functioning? Are you not able to create the intimacy and closeness you desire in relationships and find yourself repeating the same patterns that you know don't work? Is your confidence level not where you want it to be? Do you and your partner struggle with how to best parent? Is anxiety and depression causing you to isolate, worry a lot, lose sleep, feel hopeless? I can help!

I welcome all walks of life in my practice—come as you are. Regardless of the specific issues you face, I'm confident that I can assist you. I integrate the wisdom of history's greatest thinkers with contemporary mental health research, offering a therapeutic partnership that is both mentally enriching and emotionally supportive. My aim is for us to develop a practical philosophy of life for you, tailored to aid you in the navigation of your experiences and challenges.

I offer guidance and support for those who find they want more life and vitality in general. I have particular skill in helping those who find difficulty with multiple problems simultaneously. I help those suffering from anxiety, depression, and mood irregularity find relief. For those addressing life development issues or who feel stuck in their development, I help uncover blocks. For people who feel driven to addictive coping practices when suffering mood irregularity, I have special skill helping with both problems. Finally I have speciality in helping with spirituality if it is an area of concern.

I provide psychological and neuropsychological assessments for children, teens, and adults. I value working collaboratively with individuals and families to help identify specific concerns. I do this by looking at the whole individual including their biological/genetic development and what environmental factors may be contributing to current mental health symptoms. I provide a strength-based and non-judgmental space where we can figure out how the pieces fit together, what the whole picture means, and where to go next. I believe that psychological evaluations can lead to greater self-awareness and be a foundational steppingstone.

The greatest joy comes when clients break free of painful patterns and move to feeling comfortable with life. I've been a counselor for 25 years, with extensive experience helping those struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, and addictions. Getting at underlying issues of shame, loss of control and grief changes lives. When therapy works there's more than just insight; clients feel it in their heart as well as their head. Those around them see that they have a life worth living with more happiness and better handling of the inevitable potholes.

Are you ready to live a better you? You are taking the first step in attaining peace-of-mind, I respect and applaud you for doing so. I have a Masters degree in Social Work from Portland State University and over 40 years of experience working as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I began my private practice, Pathways to Peace Therapy, over 20 years ago, while also working in community mental health and E.R. crisis intervention for over 15 years. In 2014, I also began working with OCD patients. Working in various mental health settings has been invaluable in providing tools to bring to my clients individual needs and goals.

Therapy can be a powerful and meaningful experience. I work with adults on issues of anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship issues, identity questions, family-of-origin matters and life transitions. I especially enjoy working with young adults and with folx from marginalized communities. I believe that change is achieved through the combination of developing insight into your emotions, thoughts and choices, and the practice of new skills and ways of relating to oneself and others. Our work can help you to feel better, heal emotional pain, increase self-understanding, improve relationships and cope more effectively.

I am excited to join you in your journey and invite you into my practice. By nature, I am a relational therapist. I believe that we work best in relation to others. I understand that connection is very healing and existing at the same time our relationships provide challenges. I work hard to build trust in our therapeutic relationship to ensure you feel seen and heard. I help clients examine all the relationships in their lives—whether with the self, others or even their vices—I embrace a solution-focused, client-centered perspective to help facilitate the process of change. YOU matter in this process.

I specialize in providing emotion focused therapy for couples who are interested in working on issues related to communication, trust, infidelity, connection, and intimacy. I also work with individuals who are looking to heal their relationship with food, body image, stress, anxiety, substance use, depression, and manage responses to complex trauma. I welcome folx of all types, including LGBTQI and poly/ENM identifying individuals and couples. People who work with me enjoy integrating mindfulness and humor into the therapeutic tableau.

Effective therapy depends on a good client-therapist match. We'll work collaboratively to address relationship problems, life changes, losses, self-worth, anxiety, depression, trauma, and overwhelming emotions. My work is built on a foundation of compassion, pragmatism, and humor. We'll explore new perspectives, and experiment with tools for managing emotions, communicating effectively, and changing behaviors. We'll expand your capacity to cope with strong feelings and we'll deepen your sense of self.

We are an innovative community of unconventional, yet comprehensively trained, psychotherapists providing practical, non-reductive, and in-depth support to help you overcome adversities, resolve outdated patterns, craft more fulfilling relationships, achieve your mental health goals—and address the traumas, stressors, burdens, and conflicts that hold you back from enjoying what your life and relationships have to offer. In general, we foster a holistic and integrative approach to mental health care that focuses on what works and is not limited to what has traditionally been practiced.

From the very beginning, I work to build trust and a foundation for my clients that allows them to feel safe to share and explore their personal narrative. I empower individuals to recognize that they have the ability to change negative ways of thinking, create new patterns of relationships with themselves and others, and set boundaries that allow them to move through the world feeling supported. My main focus is treating eating disorders using the HAES foundation. I am a certified clinical trauma professional currently working on my EMDR certification. Other modalities I utilize are CBT, DBT, IFS, Solution Focused, MI, and more.

Whether the focus is self esteem, depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, addiction, or other sorts of pain, you will feel understood within a safe, caring and growth enhancing private therapy. A deeper understanding and comfort with yourself will empower you to live a richer, more productive and satisfying life. Discover important mind-body connections, better identify your desires and goals, be more organized, hopeful and able to enjoy relationships. Design and direct your life in creative, powerful and satisfying ways. Embrace this opportunity for insight, greater happiness and positive change. I can help you to become your most hoped for self.

The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. -Nelson Mandela. Sometimes we really want growth, change and/or to just feel better, but the fear of change is real. Men, in particular men of color, find seeking help as a sign of weakness. One of the bravest things you could ever do and the rewards are limitless when you face this challenge. If you are up for the challenge, I am ready to assist!

Sorry, not taking new clients at this time. If you are reading this you have found the courage to consider trusting someone you have never met with your fears, frustrations and hopes. I honor this trust and the individual needs that each person brings to counseling. My practice is focused on assisting those who have met a challenge in life such as the loss of a loved one, chronic or acute illness, relationship conflict, job stress or traumatic events. Although these may be common experiences that many of us share they can also cause symptoms of depression, anxiety, anger or PTSD if lived in isolation.

I am passionate about helping individuals discover what leads to difficulties in functioning whether at home, school, work, or other settings. Does school or work cause unwanted feelings of anxiety or depression. Perhaps an experience in your past is leaving you with unresolved trauma. My experiences include supporting First Responders who struggle working through trauma they've seen in the field, as well as adults facing concerns of anxiety and depression.

Our past experiences can impact how we navigate the present. Understanding our experiences can lead to healing and transformation. My priority is creating an open and safe space to explore these experiences through genuine connection, empathy and acceptance. I use a person-centered and trauma-informed approach to therapy that draws on techniques from attachment theory, somatic therapy, EMDR, CBT and others that align with your unique needs, values and goals.