Portland, OR · and online across Oregon
You do not have to know what to say, or what is wrong, or whether it is bad enough. Start with a message and we will work it out from there.
Send a first messageNorthlight is three therapists sharing an office above a bakery on SE Division. We practise relationally, which mostly means we are interested in what happens between people — including what happens between you and us in the room.
Between us we are trained in EMDR, emotionally focused therapy for couples, and internal family systems. Those are tools, not identities. Which one gets used depends entirely on what you bring.
The first job is not insight. It is that your nervous system decides this room is safe enough to be honest in.
A first exchange, shared with permission and with the details changed.
I do not really know how to write this. Nothing terrible has happened, I am just tired all the time and snapping at my partner. Is that even a therapy thing?
It is, and honestly that is how most people describe it when they first write. Nothing dramatic, just running on empty and taking it out on the person closest to you.
Two ways in from here — no wrong answer:
The call, I think. Do I have to talk about my childhood?
Only if and when it seems useful to you. Plenty of good therapy stays firmly in the present tense.
Thursday 6pm or Friday 12:30 — which suits?
We hold four reduced-fee places at any time. Ask — there is no means test and nobody checks your bank statements.
Individual
$15050 minutes
Couples
$21075 minutes
Reduced fee
$7050 minutes
Both are extremely normal and neither is a problem. Some first sessions are mostly silence. That is still work.
No. What you say stays in the room, with the legal exceptions we go through in session one — risk to your life, risk to a child or vulnerable adult, or a court order.
We are out-of-network. You pay us directly and we issue a superbill each month; most PPO plans reimburse 50–80%. We will help you check before you commit.
Say so, at any point, including after session one. We keep a referral list of therapists we would send our own families to.
Two or three sentences is plenty. Replies come from a real person, usually within one working day.
What you say in session stays between you and your therapist. The exceptions, which we go through verbally in your first session, are: a serious and imminent risk to your own life; suspected abuse or neglect of a child, elder or dependent adult; and a valid court order. Notes are kept encrypted and retained for seven years, as Oregon law requires.