Cera Oakes

Making the choice to share our deepest vulnerabilities with others can be terrifying (and empowering!) and I am honored to be given the opportunity to hold those vulnerabilities with you and help you write your most authentic story.

My style: warm, curious, genuine.

I believe that the journey of healing and growth in therapy requires genuine human connection and collaboration. You are the expert and my role is to use tools and experience to help you better understand and trust yourself to move towards the changes you’d like to see. I lead with curiosity and humor while we unpack old patterns and systemic influences to make space for what is most meaningful to you.

If we meet virtually, you might meet my kitty co-therapists from time to time (they are HIPAA compliant, after all!). When I’m not working, I love listening to podcasts, watching horror movies, and doing escape rooms.

CREDENTIALS & APPROACH
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon (License #C6029) and completed my MA in Professional Mental Health Counseling at Lewis & Clark here in Portland. 

Primary Modalities: 

Person-centered therapy is a non-directive approach that trusts that with empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard, a client will be able to achieve positive change. 

Psychodynamic therapy helps to uncover unconscious patterns and past experiences that shape current beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. 

ACT or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps identify core values and move towards accepting emotions rather than resisting or controlling them.

Narrative Therapy helps people externalize their problems and develop more positive and healthy stories about their strengths and identities.

I also work through a feminist and anti-racist lens which means that I often explore how systems of oppression and societal/cultural influences impact us as individuals.