Debra Flittner, Psychotherapist in Portland, 97223

Debbi Flittner, JD, MA, LPC

Profession(s):
Psychotherapy, Mental Health Counseling
License Status:
I'm a licensed professional.
Primary License:
Licensed Professional Counselor

My Approach to Helping

I believe we all have a deeply whole, wise and playful self that we can live from more fully. We will work together within a compassionate, supportive environment where you can learn to trust yourself once more, and begin to explore concerns or fears that are holding you back. I will help you with this process, and through it you will rediscover the wisdom you have always held, and which will guide you in decisions and choices facing you now. A decade and a half of deep study and practice in yogic and eastern meditative traditions helps guide and inform our work together as well. I look forward to supporting you in unfolding and healing into the fullness of your now and future self.

More Info About My Practice

I am in network for Aetna and Cigna insurance, I am an out-of-network provider for many other insurance plans, including Regence Blue Cross and ODS. Working out of network with me can happen easily as I offer billing services. My website's Schedule an Appointment page contains very helpful pointers for working with your insurance company.

Why Going to Therapy Does Not Mean You are Weak or Flawed

It is true that there has historically been some resistance to psychotherapy, or perhaps people were seen as "crazy" or "flawed" or "weak". This is terribly sad, but probably comes from many sources, including the idea that we should be able to solve our own problems, or solve them within the family or the relationship. Old ideas of insanity based on historic treatment of schizophrenia, for example, can feed into this image. Today, more and more people are realizing that it can prove incredibly helpful to have an objective, trained and licensed practitioner with which to share difficulties. Once our issues move from being stuck in the mind only, so being said out loud to a skilled other, more becomes possible. In time, options open up, as do other ways of approaching the problem that were not seen. Our families also teach us our 'ways of being', which may be repetitive thinking such as, "nothing can change", "I don't deserve more", or "everyone is unhappy". In therapy, we challenge these old messages, and find incredible freedom with the script one is now able to write for one's life. Spaciousness can be found. Therapy becomes a means of support and change, rather than the old idea of being weak or flawed. We all are merely humans reacting to similar events found in cultures everywhere. This can be incredibly freeing!

Services I Provide

Individual Therapy & Counseling
Marriage, Couples, or Relationship Counseling
Online Counseling / Phone Therapy

Ages I Work With

Adults

Languages I Speak

English

Groups I Work With

I help women and men who are questioning their lives and wondering if they can change, or if their situation can change. The willingness to sit with these simple questions requires a longing for something more. The willingness to explore them in therapy requires a trust in finding a better way. I am amazed at the power of the healing potential we each contain, and can hold that for you when you find you cannot sustain it for yourself. I help people who are questioning their relationships, professions, who may be overachievers, who may feel anxious or overwhelmed by family situations, chronic health issues, divorce, or other sudden events. I work well with symptoms of trauma, whether from a current experience, or part of family history. We focus on how it affects you in the here and now, working to resolve it using a variety of researched, body-centered techniques. Growing up around Native American tribes in the southwest shaped the value I have for all beliefs and cultures. Life experience grounds my work with you and deepens my appreciation for the common road we share.