The Happiness lab
In 2012, I was asked to create a treatment team at Marin County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services for people who had been through many years of traditional mental health and substance use treatment without lasting success. Using trauma-informed, client-centered, evidenced-based practices, I engaged people in a way that left them feeling like they mattered, listened to and like they’d had a meaningful exchange with someone who considered their individual needs. I helped them to build skills to regulate emotions, manage distressing thoughts and reduce other symptoms. I became the Happiness Lab. Participants were able to reduce or extinguish harmful behaviors and dependence on substances that made their lives chaotic. They were able to maintain housing, sustain better family relationships, and get health care more consistently. The alchemy of feeling better seemed to include one or more of the following elements: creativity, movement, gratitude, play, mindfulness and connection to peers. Since 2017, I have called my Somatic Psychotherapy practice “The Happiness Lab.”
individuals, families & groups
Group Sessions: Happiness Lab sessions are an hour-long experience of coming together in a group, to slow down, and take a break from life’s usual demands. More than a process group, it’s about the shared experience of skill building, and as the facilitator, I create the conditions for participants to connect to themselves and others while practicing mindfulness, fun, and gratitude. My goal for each lab session is that spirits are lifted and people leave feeling better.
Solo Sessions: For individuals living in California or Oregon, psychotherapy sessions are online. If you’re in Portland, we can meet in my office in Sellwood or for outdoor hike-o-therapy sessions, weather permitting. A 50-minute session (online or in person) is valued at at $200. I am open to discussing a lower rate depending on your circumstances and availability in my schedule. I am not connected with any insurance panels, but do accept Health Savings Account card payments.
Phone or email is the best way to set up a 15-minute consultation to see how we can best work together. I look forward to hearing from you.
Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
Research has shown that the ingestion of psilocin, the psychedelic compound found in psilocybin mushrooms, often result in feelings such as transcendence, unity and interconnectedness, mind-body-spirit integration, mystical and spiritual experiences, and improvements in physical ailments. When used in a clinical setting, people have experienced decreased anxiety and depression and have been able to change their relationship with alcohol and tobacco. In Oregon, psilocybin-assisted therapy, aka PAT, will be offered in a licensed Service Center, under the Oregon Health Authority Rules. If you are interested in learning more about PAT and non-ordinary states of consciousness, and are 21 or older, please contact me by email. A new website will be up by November 1, 2023 to provide more information about my services as a licensed PAT facilitator.