Therapy by PK

PK Foss, LMFT
Portland, OR

My Services

I have special experience with a variety of populations:

  • LGBTQIA+ folks

  • People in polyamorous and open relationships

  • Couples in monogamous relationships

  • Therapists

  • ADHD brains (from a strengths based perspective)

  • Survivors of trauma and abuse

  • Parents at all stages

  • Prenatal and postpartum care (including birth trauma prevention and/or recovery)

  • Medical workers and first responders

  • Premarital relationships

My Methods

Brainspotting

This technique helps us bypass your logical brain to work with your experiential and reflex brain for deeper change.

Most people get stuck at some point in talk therapy because it focuses on  gaining insight and making a plan to change.

That works up to a point, but insight and a plan exist in the logical brain, which can’t override reflex emotions and behaviors that come up under high levels of stress.

Brainspotting allows us to reprocess connections in the brain related to those reactions allowing for more flexibility and new responses.

ADHD Coaching and Support

I love to help take the shame out of ADHD support. Our brains aren’t wrong, they’re just a different tool than a neurotypical brain.

So few of us got the support and coaching we needed to be able to realize and use the tools we have effectively.

If you have a pair of scissors and you think it should be working like a lawn mower, you’ll never realize the strengths of a pair of scissors.

When our society is mostly built for lawn mowers it can feel like there’s something wrong with your scissors.

Helping people reframe their strengths and challenges and move forward honing the tools they’re working with, is a passion of mine.

Relationship Therapy

I offer both traditional and wrap around relationship therapy. Both are informed by Attachment theory and Gottman Method couples therapy.

Gottman method is evidence based and focuses on what people in happy, stable relationships are doing to help clients build new communication and relationship habits.

Wrap around relationship therapy is the addition of individual Brainspotting sessions for one or all partners alongside traditional relationship therapy.

Before having Brainspotting as a tool in my repertoire, I often struggled with relationship sessions because the issues we were running into were so deep in the brain’s reflex reactions that talk therapy really just wasn’t getting to them like I wanted.

When I started using Brainspotting as a tool in individual therapy, I realized that I could use it to help relationships move forward more deeply and efficiently.

In this process, I work with each person individually on the pieces keeping the relationship work stuck or slow. I’ve been working this way with some of my couples for years and the most deep and lasting progress I’ve ever seen with relationships has come from out of it.

About Me

As a Therapist

I love what I do. Yes, we will work on hard things. And, I believe we can do it with a sense of humor and discovery.

We can take the shame out of whatever you’re working on and figure out how to move forward without that weight holding you back.

If you’re looking for a therapist who will be a passive sounding board, I’m not it. I am engaged. I lead with empathy for self and others, while challenging my clients to grow and heal.

I have a talent as a therapist for finding connections in your experiences and making complex problems clear and solvable. If we’re not laughing at some point in sessions, I think we’re doing it wrong.

As a Person

I’m queer, neurodivergent / spicy, anti racist, polyamory affirming, and a parent. All of these come into my work with clients.

I got into this because I needed to do my own work and wanted to learn more.

I keep doing it because this work energizes me. I get to keep learning and growing and guiding other people in doing the same.

I’m privileged to have been able to build a life where I’m in the exact right place for me. I want to help other people do the same.

Client
Quotes

“PK has helped me navigate through some of the hardest times of my life. She is down to earth with a great sense of humor carried alongside insightful wisdom and calming grace. I am very thankful for her.”

“PK might be a wizard, her support in working through some of the darkest parts of my life has been life changing on the deepest level. I don’t know if I would be here without the help she’s given me to work through it all.”

“PK is the first therapist I’ve had that has been able to help me feel really comfortable with a therapist. She is able to make you feel as though you are speaking with a friend rather than someone in a professional capacity. She immediately makes you feel at ease, and is eager to help you tackle your issues.”

“PK has helped me with multiple trauma related issues as well as helping me strengthen my marriage. I can honestly say that our marriage would not have survived without her help and support over the years. She is able to translate a problem into language that all parties understand and work towards a mutually agreed upon goal. My husband and I have both benefited from her counseling over the years.”