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503-370-8050 x216

marissa@salempastoralcounseling.org

I believe healing happens most powerfully in connection, not isolation. This is the heart of how I understand and seek to approach the therapeutic relationship. I offer myself as a companion to every part of you, welcoming even the bits that feel messy, contradictory, or difficult to endure.

I graduated in 2025 with a Masters in Mental Health Counseling and I practice therapy through the dual lenses of Internal Family Systems and Emotionally Focused Therapy. This means my goal is to help you understand all parts of yourself in light of all that you have experienced in your life. I pay close attention to your emotions as well as the attachment needs underneath your patterns and I examine how your relationships inform your story. Together, we will work to understand not just what you're feeling, but why those feelings make sense, and how to build new patterns of connection and safety. My commitment as your therapist is to stay curious about how the larger systems around you shape your experiences while, together, we help you build a compassionate relationship with all parts of yourself.

While I work with a diversity of clients, my strengths best serve folks who experience anxiety, depression, shame, people-pleasing, relationship struggles, or simply that feeling of being stuck between self-awareness and disconnection. My work centers on supporting you through transition and trauma, helping you build a healthy sense of identity, release shame, and move toward a more grounded, authentic way of being. I have therapeutic experience with anxiety, depression, relationship conflict, family of origin exploration, identity struggles, religious abuse and spirituality, trauma, OCD, and LGBTQIA+ issues.

I see therapy as a collaborative journey toward wholeness; less about creating change than about creating space and safety for your full self to appear and for you to access all of yourself in new ways. I am convinced that you already have all that you need within you to experience a deep and meaningful life of connection. You do not have to carry shame, anxiety, or disconnection alone, and you certainly do not have to have it figured out before you reach out. I care deeply about living in a world that is less violent toward one another and ourselves, which is why I value companioning people of all backgrounds, beliefs, and identities.

Just bring yourself, and we'll navigate all of it together.