Portland Counseling & Care of the Soul

Portland Counseling

Are you looking for a counselor in Portland who will create a respectful, confidential space in which you and your counselor can work together to find a way through emotional and life difficulties? While no one type of counseling is right for every person or every issue, research has shown that the quality of the relationship between client and counselor is a key factor in the outcome of therapy.

Some of my Portland counseling clients also choose to practice a creative psychotherapy technique, such as sandplay therapy, process painting, or writing in a journal. Others stay with therapeutic conversation alone. Whatever you choose to share with me, my goal is to tune in closely to your experience. As I get a real sense of what it is like to be in your shoes, together we can discover what troubles you deeply, the places you feel stuck, and the possible ways forward.

Counseling & Transformation

To transform means to cross from one shape over into another shape. The verb to transform comes from the Latin word, transformare. The two parts of this word point us to the meaning. “Trans” indicates a movement of crossing over. “Forma” is form, as in the shape of a thing or person–in other words, the soul. The cycles of developmental change that individuals pass through during the life span can be seen as a series of transformative experiences–crossing over into new capacities for experiencing your life and its deep roots in the psyche. The process takes a life-time, according to psychologist C.G. Jung, who spoke of each person’s “individuation.” This is a psychology and a psychotherapy with depth, and one that respects the integrity of the human soul and its individual development.

In the natural world, we find a powerful symbol of transformation in the emergence of a butterfly from its chrysalis. In its protected enclosure, the old form slowly dissolves, and a new form comes into being. Counseling can become a protected space in and through which you can experience your living self in deeper, more satisfying ways. The process takes time, mutual effort, and careful tending–the care of the soul.

Scheduling Counseling in Portland

Please call me at (503) 957-3391 or email at
portland-therapy@markgundry.com to set up a free half-hour counseling consultation.