Sara Shihdanian (She/They)

Emotion Focused Therapy allows us to examine what motivations might be under the surface that contribute to our choices. Many of us know what decisions we wish we would make more often but struggle to put that into practice. So by using an Emotion Focused lens, we're able to uncover hidden themes that might be keeping you stuck in frustrating situations.

Rogerian therapy is the approach that clients can be trusted to lead the way in therapy when given the right environment. When a treated with unconditional positive regard, non-judgement, genuineness, and transparency, clients find themselves naturally moving towards healing and trusting themselves in new and unexpected ways.

Rogerian therapy is the approach that clients can be trusted to lead the way in therapy when given the right environment. When treated with unconditional positive regard, non-judgement, genuineness, and transparency, clients find themselves naturally moving towards healing. Being trusted in these ways

Emotion Focused Therapy allows us to uncover what emotions might be playing out behind our decisions and behaviors. Often we can identify what we'd like to be experiencing more or less of but we struggle to put that into practice. By giving those emotions space to be expressed, we allow them to no longer interrupt our process and find ourselves naturally letting go of unhelpful patterns.

I trained under a gender identity specialist for 3 years, who also has life experience, aside from her clinical expertise. My husband is also transgender, and I have worked with the gender diverse population throughout my time as a therapist.

I got the exceptionally rare opportunity to be hired at the HIV Alliance in Eugene Oregon as the Gender Specialist, LPC Intern shortly out of graduate school. Not only did this mean highly specialized, full-time training for 3 years but also mentorship by a supervisor with lived experience. This comprehensive expertise now lets me provide medical referrals, collaborate with care teams, write WPATH-8 letters, and offer therapy and support no matter where you are on your gender journey.

As a queer and non-binary person, I was deliberate in tailoring my education and career to the diverse experiences in the LGBTQ+ community since 2012. From being hired by my undergraduate university as a student advocate, to research publications, to my residency at the HIV Alliance, or the 8 years of clinical work, my dedication to the LGBTQ+ community is only paralleled by its impact on me personally and professionally. I only hope to return the favor.

Working with victims of human trafficking during graduate school at a 6-month substance-use treatment center helped me see how the body really drives our anxiety by carrying and holding onto all the tension and trauma that we go through. This means that the thoughts are often a secondary symptom and that we can't get to the root of the ongoing anxiety without addressing the relationship with the body.

CBT has decades of research to support it but we now know that trauma lives in the body which means that CBT is a limited treatment when not paired with a somatic or mindfulness based technique. Helping clients notice the cues that their body is giving them empowers them to intervene before the activating thoughts or emotions even arise.