Brenda Reed, LPC
Clinical Supervisor
States: She/Her
States: Oregon
Supervises: Professional Counselor Associates, Marriage and Family Therapist Associates
Finances:
Private Pay
In network: PacificSource, First Choice Health Network, Samaritan, OHP PacificSource, Providence, Kaiser NW, Moda
Modalities: Talk Therapy
“Worthy now. Not if. Not when. We’re worthy of love and belonging now. Right this minute. As is.” —Brené Brown
Supervises: Brenda provides clinical supervision for Master’s Level Registered Associates working towards their Oregon License in Professional Counseling (LPC) and Marriage and Family Counseling (LMFT).
Experience: Brenda has worked for over 30 years with highly diverse populations, emotional and behavioral issues, and diagnoses at all levels of care (out-patient, school-based, inpatient, and residential) and has advanced education in the assessment and treatment of complex trauma.
Populations Served: Brenda works with youth age 14+ and adults and has extensive experience working with PTSD, Anxiety, Depression and other mood disorders, ADHD, and with individuals who are questioning their sexuality, gender and/or identity. She has had the honor of walking the journey of social and medical transitioning with transgender individuals and meets all criteria outlined in Section VII of the WPATH SOC.
Therapeutic Approach: Brenda’s therapeutic approach is considered “eclectic” which is a fancy word that essentially means that she doesn’t follow a specific theoretical approach, but rather selects and utilizes elements of a variety of approaches to meet the unique needs of her clients. She believes that all people possess the power to change and the capacity to reach their goals in life; and that it is her role to help people become empowered to their own agents of, not to decide the direction, be the “expert,” or push them into it. Being authentic to ourselves is critical for our emotional and physical wellbeing; this authenticity includes being able to accept all parts of self, including who and how we love.
Additionally, she believes:
When we’ve had traumatic experiences, parts of us can get stuck and lost in the pain. Though therapy won’t necessarily erase the memories, it can reduce or eliminate the distress that comes with the memories. We are not responsible for what has been done to us, but we do have the power to change our lives going forward.
People don’t make a choice to be depressed, angry, anxious, etc., and that there is never a place in the therapeutic process for judgement, criticism, or lecturing. We are who we are for a variety of reasons, many of them outside our control, and change happens best in a genuine, caring, and objective environment.
How and what we think radically changes our emotions and behaviors and part of shifting towards health will include exploring and challenging those patterns.
What we focus on grows stronger … if we get lost in thinking about our perceived flaws, we deny or delay the discovery, creation, and growth of our strengths.
Life circumstances can deplete people of their energy and ability to move forward, so a critical part of the work is to make sure people have activities and skills that fill them up and help them to become more resilient.
Many of the emotional and behavioral issues that get in our way are a result of a lagging skill (assertiveness, communication, stress management, etc.) … not because we have character flaws or because we are intentionally behaving in ways that negatively impact ourselves and those around us. To this end, she works with people on discovering what skills are missing and on helping them to learn and strengthen those skills to facilitate a happier and healthier future.
Her canine partner, Tucker, provides comfort, calm, and occasionally comic relief.