About Whole Heart Counseling
Board-Certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and licensed in OR, WA and PA, MJ works with individuals, couples and families who want to manage their anxiety and stress with more savvy. She specializes in trauma recovery of all kinds, sub-specializing in the trauma recovery from sexual abuse, and she also facilitates therapy groups for both men and women for a variety of issues.
MJ graduated in 2022 with a Ph.D. in Marriage & Family Therapy from Northcentral University, after earning a Master’s degree in counseling in 2005 from The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology, and a Master’s Degree in education from Ashland University in 1994. She taught high school English for six years, and then left the profession to pursue her heart’s true desire: counseling. As she completed coursework for her counseling degree, MJ counseled theft offenders in a cognitive restructuring program at Theft Talk Counseling Service, and in January, 2004, she joined Columbia Counseling Associates. Then in July 2008, MJ moved her office to a location closer to the city of Portland. In April 2014, she moved to the Philly area where she grew up, in order to practice family systems principles within the context of her own family of origin. In 2017, MJ returned to her counseling practice in Portland.
In 2020, MJ founded Family School International, a non-profit organization that brings family systems education to family leaders (parents, grandparents, child care providers, teachers), much like Doctors Without Borders, but for the well-being of whole families.
MJ’s most recent certification is in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, a credential she completed after her own participation with psychedelics allowed her to experience how powerfully healing psychedelic journeys can be when conducted in intentionally therapeutic settings.
MaryJane describes what she does as a therapist not only as her “dream job” but as her “calling.” An abuse survivor herself, MaryJane is constantly amazed and grateful to see her own pain being redeemed in the lives of others.
MaryJane’s counseling approach is integrative, drawing from Internal Family Systems, Bowen family systems, attachment, trauma processing, existential, Adlerian, cognitive-behavioral, relational psychodynamic, and narrative therapies. She is trained in EMDR, and uses this tool as an adjunct to talk therapy. What she enjoys most about counseling is being part of a process by which broken people become whole again, moving from shame to freedom.
In her spare time, MaryJane enjoys her cats, live theater and musicals, running, hiking, reading, and hanging out with friends. She also enjoys good humor and deep philosophical and spiritual discussions.
Her favorite movies include Captain Fantastic, Black Panther, The Lion King, Contact, Ordinary People, Antwone Fisher, The Horse Whisperer, Phantom of the Opera, and Shawshank Redemption; her favorite novels include My Name Is Asher Lev, The Pearl, To Kill A Mockingbird, and A Separate Peace; and her favorite songs include, “What A Beautiful Piece of Heartache” (Over the Rhine), “Think of Me” (Phantom of the Opera), and “Holy Now” (Peter Mayer).