Nathan Hawkins, Marriage Counselor in Tigard, 97223

Nathan Hawkins, M.A., MFT, LPC

Profession(s):
Marriage & Family Therapy, Social Work, Social Work
License Status:
I'm a licensed professional.
Primary License:
License Professional Counselor

My Approach to Helping

Life Encounter Counseling Services intends to foster a helpful and encouraging environment for personal growth through a measured and safe encounter with the realities of life. You may feel stuck, uncertain or nervous about your life right now. While I take this very serious I find that people enjoy being able to talk to a "real" person. From what I hear I'm "real" largely because of my sense of humor. Truthfully I don't expect that you'll have "fun" if you come to see me. Your issues need to be addressed. I just believe that being a good clinician doesn't mean you have to be "clinical". I don't err on the side of humor. I stay appropriately focused on your health. I work from a holistic perspective in that I am interested in helping people notice how they have chosen to "be." Everyone has some semblance of spirituality, beliefs (about problems, issues, area's of importance) and actions that are integrated in some way. My approach is to help you to know yourself in order to enable more healthy decisions for yourself. Primarily I use research in the areas of psychoneurobiology, attachment theory,cognitive behavioral therapy and biblical theology to inform my work with you. Overall I seek to be respectful of your process.

Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With

I do find myself naturally enjoying interacting with anxiety related problems. I see there is a difference for example in regard to depression. Some people are truly depressed. However, many are over loaded from an anxiety perspective and although it looks like depression it is actually mismanaged anxiety. I also enjoy working with psychological trauma. Common symptoms people have in this regard are "flashbacks, panic attacks, unwanted thoughts, tension in odd situations and avoiding things because of how they feel." I have been told that my relaxed and calm persona is very helpful in dealing with these kinds of issues. People feel that I can handle their anxiety and nerves. I am trained in EMDR which is also a GREAT help in this issue. If you are interested in EMDR there is a plethora of info out on the net. EMDR is quite simply cool!

Services I Provide

Individual Therapy & Counseling
Marriage, Couples, or Relationship Counseling
Family Therapy
Group Therapy
Clinical Supervision
Online Counseling / Phone Therapy

Ages I Work With

Children
Teens
Adults

Languages I Speak

English

Groups I Work With

Couples, Blended family issues, Divorce adjustment, Parent-Teen relationship, Marital separation orchestration, Phase of life issues, Trauma recovery.