Life can bring challenges. Relationships, parenting, aging, work, the daily grind, communications, loss, and other typical aspects of being a person can test us. You might sometimes feel afraid, anxious, depressed or sad; confused, insecure or angry; ashamed, disempowered, or misunderstood. Your abilities, strengths and truths may sometimes feel deeply buried or not recognized by others. You may feel tired or overwhelmed.
The M.E.T.A. Counseling Clinic is a clinical training site with a focus on Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches. We offer counseling for individuals, couples, families, adolescents, children, and elders, as well as groups focused on topics such as: "Mindful Eating" and "Loving Self - Loving Other." M.E.T.A. counseling uses mindfulness of the present moment to help you turn toward yourself with curiosity and attention. This offers fuller self-awareness and choice around self-limiting thoughts and behaviors, and supports being your best and truest self.
We'd like to tell you a bit about M.E.T.A., our orientation and what you may experience from receiving counseling services with us.
What is unique about the M.E.T.A. Counseling Clinic?
M.E.T.A. stands for Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches. This name indicates certain important characteristics of how we work. We use applied mindfulness as a support to your increased self-awareness and any changes you intend to make. We recognize that all any of us really have is our experience, so we place your experience of yourself and the world central to the work we do together. We know there are many styles of therapy and ways of helping and, at the same time, realize you are the most important factor in your own healing and change process. So, our therapy approaches will be responsive and honor your actual needs and preferences. Our work is grounded in ways of helping that honor the body, heart, mind, and spirit. These include the Hakomi Method of body-centered, mindfulness-based psychotherapy; the Re-Creation of the Self (R-CS) model of human systems; the growing science of interpersonal neurobiology; human development and attachment research; and new understanding about how trauma is best processed. This results in our counselors taking a holistic and customized approach to their work with you, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. This may be different from or very similar to what you have experienced in counseling or how you imagine counseling happens. We welcome your feedback along the way.
Besides our holistic clinical orientation, we also have a philosophy of helping that sees the value of creating a training clinic that can sustainably offer affordable counseling to a wide range of people. This requires implementing a fee structure that works for both you and us. We believe our $35 and $45 fees fit this intention.
What to Expect in a Session & Over Time
Mindfulness, Awareness & Change M.E.T.A. counselors may invite you to work with a special kind of consciousness called "mindfulness." This is a way of paying attention to yourself without self-judgment; like being your own inner accepting witness. It often means closing your eyes to focus your attention on your actual experiences in the moment. Since it is done with a counselor, it may feel a bit like assisted meditation, even though it involves no religious beliefs. Mindfulness is simply the ability to have an experience and notice it at the same time, without judging it or yourself. In a supportive counseling relationship, mindfulness provides an opportunity to slow down and take notice of automatic reactions, feelings, thoughts, and body-sensations. This can help you uncover deeply held beliefs and patterns operating under the surface of awareness. It can also indicate the healing experiences you need and want. Mindfulness is a tool and a process that helps you learn about what is and is not working in your life and how to make choices that lead to a more fulfilling life. Non-Violence, Unity, Organicity & Change M.E.T.A. counselors abide by the principles of non-violence, unity and organicity in their support of natural and healthy change. Non-violence is about not forcing things, about trusting the unique evolution of people's processes. Unity assumes we are all in it together; that we are interconnected and have impact on each other. Organicity recognizes all living systems have a flow and a natural impulse toward wholeness and health and that the counselor's job is to help remove barriers to this natural growth.
Respect for You
M.E.T.A. counselors have respect for you. Although M.E.T.A. counselors have valuable training and experience in psychology and counseling methods, they know you are the expert on yourself. You are the authority regarding what you choose to work on, and how far or how fast you go. Your counselor will act respectfully by inviting you to study yourself, by offering suggestions for experiments to try, and by providing a safe space in which to learn about yourself and try new things out. As senior M.E.T.A. trainer, Jon Eisman, says: "The therapist is in charge of the process and the client is in charge of the therapist."
Assisted Self-study
Research shows that true change means replacing habitual patterns with new, more satisfying ones. For this reason, M.E.T.A. counselors are interested in helping you study how you do things and what you are made of, as well as ways your habits support and hinder you. This self-study can lead to a new relationship with yourself and the way you approach your life, which in turn can powerfully impact the quality of your experiences. This orientation may feel different than a problem solving approach to therapy, but M.E.T.A. counselors have learned to trust the unfolding of the client's process as a powerful pathway to change.
Unique Experiences
Being mindful is a sensitive state and experiences are unique to each person. There is no "right" way to experience or explore your inner world. Sometimes physical sensations or impulses show up, or strong emotions arise, or stunning insights unfold. Other times, poignant memories may emerge or powerful images flash in your mind's eye. Sometimes you might feel younger than your actual years. Or things might simply get very quiet and still, or even boring or frustrating. Any of these experiences are normal and natural; in mindfulness, whatever occurs is welcomed and honored.
Shifting From Fragmentation to Wholeness
M.E.T.A. counselors have compassion and respect for people's struggles, pain, grief, and woundings, and they recognize the powerful capacities and gifts each person embodies. M.E.T.A. counselors may help you explore ways to learn to intentionally shift from disempowered, painful, limiting states of being into empowered, alive, preferred states of being.
Touch
The Hakomi Method is a body-centered approach and as such employs the use of touch in some of its techniques. If touch is used in a M.E.T.A. counseling session, its purpose is to support self-study and usually not to provide relief of physical tension or distress (although M.E.T.A. counselors may shake hands or offer comfort for grief or respond to hugs as is comfortable for clients). Touch used experimentally is always explained, done in mindfulness and with your permission, and in service of therapeutic exploration. Of course, you remain in charge and are always free to decline anything that feels uncomfortable for you for any reason.
Integration
Integration of new beliefs, attitudes and skills occurs over time and with practice and support. Even after a session is over, you will continue to work on change internally, and, hopefully, externally. You may find yourself in various moods, pleasant or not; you might have more or less energy; you might have particularly vivid dreams; you might feel peaceful, agitated, numb, excited, or tired. All kinds of experiences may present themselves as your inner self makes adjustments and integrates the new options you are creating and discovering. The more you also consciously align with this inner unfolding process, the more the growth you want can happen. Since change and growth take time, it can help to be patient with the process and remember that you deserve compassion and gentleness as you explore and re-create yourself.
Staff: Qualified interns, supervised by M.E.T.A. co-owner, Donna Roy, LPC (licensed professional counselor), CHT (certified Hakomi therapist and teacher). Each intern has completed a minimum of two years of Master’s-level training in counseling, as well as advanced training in mindful experiential therapy approaches.
Appointments: Following an initial FREE 30-minute consultation, we offer 50-minute sessions for individuals, 75-minute sessions for couples and families, and group sessions at the rates listed below.
Fees: Range from $35 to $45 per session (with significant discounts for group sessions). Your counselor will work with you to determine the best schedule and rate to suit your needs.
Intake Form: Click here to download an intake form for individual counseling.
Donna Roy, LPC, CHT, is a licensed professional counselor and certified Hakomi therapist and teacher. She has a private counseling practice, teaches in M.E.T.A.'s professional trainings, is an adjunct instructor in the Portland State University Department of Counselor Education, and provides supervision for registered interns who are seeking licensure from the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists.
Donna also directly supervises the M.E.T.A. Counseling Clinic interns. This means she meets weekly with them individually, and as a group. These meetings involve exploration of THEIR processes as they develop professionally. This can include discussion of client needs, concerns, appropriate interventions, and other topics related to providing the best counseling services possible. All things discussed in these meetings are strictly confidential and will be not shared outside of the meetings (unless there is a clear harm related need). As the Clinic supervisor, Donna supports each intern's development and strives to ensure all clients experience care, empowerment and help.
In addition to direct clinical supervision, Clinic interns periodically receive consultation and training from Jon Eisman, senior M.E.T.A. trainer. Jon is an internationally known counselor educator who has taught mindfulness-based psychotherapeutic skills to counselors and psychotherapists for 30 years. Jon has a deep understanding of what it means to be a human being, as well as clarity and wisdom regarding the process of becoming a skilled counselor. His expertise powerfully supports each intern's evolution, which in turn supports quality service for clients.
Catherine Griffith, M.S., graduated from Portland State University's Clinical Mental Health Counseling program and has completed M.E.T.A.'s two-year Comprehensive Training. She also holds a Master's degree in Conflict Resolution from Portland State University, a program that includes courses on mediation and negotiation. Catherine's focus during her graduate program was on social justice.
In support of her work with individuals, Catherine co-facilitated a mindfulness-based group for adults, called "Mindful Eating." She is committed to meeting clients where they are, understanding their present experience, and helping them discover how their past influences the present. She specializes in working with individuals and facilitating the expansion of self-awareness, while honoring each person's uniqueness and integrating a celebration of this into the counseling process.
Elizabeth Dissin, MA
Elizabeth Dissin, M.A., graduated from the Counseling program at Southwestern College (Santa Fe, NM), with a concentration in grief, loss and trauma.
She has completed training in Levels I (Treatment of Trauma) and II (Attachment, Development, and Trauma) with The Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. She is in her first year of M.E.T.A.'s Comprehensive Training. Elizabeth has co-facilitated numerous groups for adults, teens and children, including grief support, anger management, and trance meditation.
Trusting in each individual’s internal wisdom and inherent wholeness, Elizabeth views her role as leading clients to their own discoveries by holding space for and accompanying clients on their unfolding journey. She utilizes mindfulness to assist clients in learning about their habitual, automatic responses through direct experience in the present moment, and in challenging and transforming maladaptive patterns for a more fluid and expanded sense of self.
Pearl Waldorf, MS Ed
Pearl Waldorf, MS Ed is completing her Master's degree in The Integral Counseling Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She is a certified special education teacher, has an M.S in Education and has supported students with special needs to build academic, social emotional and adult living skills for 10 years. Additionally, she has facilitated the professional development of adult learners in a wide range of education, self-awareness and diversity related topics. She is in her first year of META’s comprehensive training.
For Pearl, living our unique spark in the world is a human imperative. And therapy is the process of clearing internal barriers to the expansive, choiceful living of that spark. Through deep listening and observation, curiosity, and a process of co-creation, therapy becomes a safe container where new ways of knowing and being are possible. Pearl is inspired widely by Buddhist Psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, and presence and attachment-based psychotherapies. Your work together will be creative, enlivening and grounded in an intuitive process, which honors who you are today while gently pressing towards greater expression of your highest potential.
Jon Fox, QMHA
Jon Fox, QMHA, is a third-year Master's student in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Portland State University and a first-year student in M.E.T.A.'s Comprehensive Training. He also has experience working with adults with chronic and severe mental illness and individuals in crisis.
Jon has a collaborative approach to counseling where he joins clients in discovering their unique strengths and inner resources to lead a courageous, healthy, and fulfilling life. He strives to help clients find meaning and purpose by using mindfulness approaches to deepen their awareness of the specific ways they experience themselves, others, and the world around them. He is committed to guiding and supporting clients in cultivating compassion and acceptance towards themselves and others, so that they may feel empowered to make positive changes in their lives.
Amy E. Hulan, MS, M.Ed., NCC, holds a Master of Science in Counseling from Oregon State University, a Master of Education in Special Education from Kent State University in Ohio, and is a National Certified Counselor. She has completed the M.E.T.A. two-year comprehensive training in the Hakomi Method and R-CS Model. Amy worked in the Greater Albany Public School District for nine years, both as a school counselor and as a special education resource teacher, where she effectively used mindfulness with children and teenagers. She has worked with children as young as 5 years old through high school-age, as well as with students' families.
Amy believes in an interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit, and in an innate human tendency to grow towards health. Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches (M.E.T.A.), the science of neural patterning and human development, and mindfulness as a tool for change all influence her work. She encourages exploration of the past through studying the present, as well as identifying thought patterns, beliefs and behaviors that no longer serve. She assists clients in recognizing and accessing their own internal resourcefulness, and supports them in opening up more possibilities and choice about how they are in the world.
Jennifer Samsom, M.A., graduated from Portland State University, with a Master's degree in Couples, Marriage, Family Counseling in June of 2011 and has completed M.E.T.A.'s two-year Comprehensive Training. She is also certified in Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy through EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association), which incorporates horses experientially for emotional growth and learning. Jennifer is a mother of three young children and has a passion for working with families and couples. She was creator and facilitator of "Loving Self - Loving Other" at the M.E.T.A. Counseling Clinic which was, a 7-week psycho-educational group to help guide women toward greater personal insight towards defining our own personal barriers we have built against true and meaningful soul connection with a life partner. Jennifer approaches her role in the therapeutic process as a helper and guide rather than an expert. She strives to understand her clients' challenges and facilitates their awareness of how personal history may influence the present experience. She joins clients on their exploration to discover their internal resources for overcoming life's challenges as they strive to uncover and empower their best selves.
Jennifer helped pioneer the creation and opening of the M.E.T.A. Counseling Clinic and served as a Counseling Intern at the Clinic from the fall of 2010 to the Summer of 2011. She currently is in the process of opening her own private practice at the 16th Street, M.E.T.A. location in Portland, Oregon and can be reached at: 503-341-6393 or
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