Hello, my therapy practice is currently full and I am not taking new clients for therapy… However, I am accepting clients for Autism/ADHD diagnosis (see link above for more info).
About
Hello, my name is James Reling (he/him/his). I help people in Oregon explore their strengths, become more “mindful,” improve their relationships, make important transitions, adjust to life changes, and heal from trauma, difficult, and invalidating experiences. I collaborate with clients to help them realize their goals and find meaning.
I believe every person’s life is a unique journey. I would like to understand who you are, what has happened to lead to where you are now, and to help you explore where you’d like to go next. As everyone feels “stuck” from time-to-time, mindfulness is a powerful tool for studying present experience.
I invite my clients to be curious about themselves as I guide with a mindfulness-based, body-centered approach. Mindfulness is a practice of noticing what’s happening inside yourself as it’s happening in the present moment. There are different ways to practice mindfulness such as meditation, movement, and with the help of a professional during therapy. Our bodies hold on to hurts from the past in ways that can be difficult to notice or explain, or we might feel numb or an overload of sensations such as chronic pain. Mindfulness helps us notice our bodily experiences in ways that may be hard to talk about.
The counseling profession is a shift from my twenty-year career in the music industry and as a performer, musician, and writer. I paid my bills by working in the offices of independent business owners while spending my free time singing for bands and curating experimental music events. In my spare time now, I enjoy doing yoga, meditating, reading voraciously, singing, hiking, and connecting with friends in creative physically-distant ways.
I am under the ongoing supervision of Stephen Keeley, LPC, CHT, and Anne-Marie Benjamin, LPC.
Who I Work With
I welcome and affirm all identities and am passionate about disability rights, neurodiversity, the rights of LGBTQAI+, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and sex workers.
I work with clients of all genders, sexual orientations, races & ethnicities, abilities/disabilities, sizes, lifestyles, and backgrounds. Because of my background as a musician, I particularly enjoy working with all types of creative people, as well as those who identify as autistic and/or neurodivergent. I have experience helping people in non-monogamous relationships, nonbinary and trans folks, sex workers, and those looking to integrate their personal journeys with psychedelics, and other mystical experiences.
I am particularly passionate about neurodiversity and specialize in working with neurodivergent adults (autistic and ADHD). I offer autism and ADHD assessments. I own a company that trains other therapists and medical providers on neurodiversity-affirming practices.
I am trained to work with people with disabilities and their family members, including adjusting to chronic illness, physical injury or limitations, accidents, onset of disease, etc.
I am unable to prescribe or manage medication.
I do not work with people under the age of 18.
Black Lives Matter.
Training & Education
I completed a Masters Degree in Counseling at Portland State University. The focus of my studies was a dual degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling (disability-focus) and mental health counseling through a social justice lens. My program included specific course work in vocational (career/work) counseling, families and couples counseling, group counseling, substance abuse, adjustment to disabilities, as well as general courses on how to be a counselor. I spent a year in the PSU Counseling Clinic, first as a counselor, then as a supervisor to a first-time counselor. Meanwhile, I trained in mindfulness-based body-centered psychotherapy, which I then practiced for my yearlong internship as a mental health counselor at the Mindful Experiential Therapy Approaches (M.E.T.A.) Counseling Clinic. I met with my clients in-person and over video weekly to work on issues such as depression, anxiety, trauma, adjusting to disability, eating disorders, career transitions, relationship issues, gender identity development, emotion regulation, self-esteem, search for meaning, and much more.
I completed a Bachelors degree in Psychology where I focused on cognitive neuroscience, wrote a thesis on the stigma associated with psychiatric diagnosis, assisted with social psychology experimental research using mindfulness interventions to thwart implicit biases, and volunteered as a peer advisor in the psychology department of PSU.
I am currently training to become certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practioner, which is a body-centered approach to working with trauma.
Additionally, I have taken trainings in somatic therapies (Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), trauma, CBT for Insomnia, mindfulness, and Vipassana meditation.
I am an adjunct professor in Portland State University’s counseling department and so I am unable to work with current or future counseling grad students of PSU.
I am a neuroscience nerd and love reading, learning, and talking about the brain.
Services & Fees
Individuals [I am not currently accepting new therapy clients.]
Individual sessions are 50-minutes long and begin on a weekly basis over online video. Our first meeting is a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your goals and our working together. My holistic approach treats each person as complex. Therefore, it is important to spend the first couple of sessions talking about your life in the terms of the personal, relational/social, psychological, emotional, physiological, vocational, spiritual, sexual, and behavioral patterns that you are looking to address in therapy. We will explore your goals for counseling and then check in periodically to reflect on your progress. There is no set amount of time for therapy, and people see results at different rates. Generally, making a commitment to 10 sessions is recommended for deciding how you feel about the process.
Insurance
I am not able to accept insurance at this time. However, some health insurance companies may reimburse for part or all fees you pay to a Professional Counselor Associate. Upon your request, I can provide you with a “superbill” that you can submit to your insurance provider. See the FAQ for questions to ask your insurance company to determine whether you are eligible for reimbursement.
Contact
Please contact me by phone/text or email:
971.204.6428
