Individual Therapy in North Portland
I'm Kristina Houck, LCSW, a therapist in North Portland offering individual psychotherapy for adults.
People come to therapy for many different reasons. You may be struggling with anxiety or depression, moving through a major life transition, grieving a loss, feeling unfulfilled or stuck in relationships, or questioning what comes next. Sometimes there's no single problem—just a sense that something needs to change.
Whatever brings you here, therapy can offer a place to become curious about what's happening within you, experience acceptance and compassion, and discover new possibilities for how you want to live.
Therapy for the whole person
I don't believe people can be reduced to a diagnosis or a problem to be solved.
Your thoughts, emotions, relationships, history, body, values, and sense of meaning all shape your experience. My work is grounded in the belief that understanding yourself more deeply can create room for meaningful change.
People I work with often come to therapy around:
Anxiety or depression
Life transitions and major changes
Grief and loss
Feeling unfulfilled in relationships and longing for greater intimacy
Questions of identity, self-worth, or direction
Spiritual or existential questions
These aren't separate categories in my mind. They're different ways that life can become difficult, confusing, or disconnected.
About kristina
I've been working with people in therapeutic, educational, and advocacy settings for nearly two decades, and I bring that experience into a collaborative, compassionate approach to therapy.
my approach
My work is informed by a background in psychology, social work, advocacy, and spiritual practice. My approach draws from mindfulness, self-compassion, Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. I integrate these approaches flexibly, depending on what is useful for you.
Explore my approach to therapy
A place to be yourself
I enjoy working with and getting to know people with all kinds of backgrounds, cultural and gender identities. You are welcome exactly as you are.
I hope you will come to trust me and share with me your struggles, uncertainty, conflicting feelings, questions, hopes, and whatever else you are carrying.
Together, I hope that we can create a place where you feel safe enough to be curious about yourself and supported enough to find your own way forward.
Why Riverlight?
Have you ever watched the way light shimmers and dances along the surface of a river as it moves through its sometimes rocky course?
I chose the name Riverlight because it captures something I believe about being human: even in difficult places, there can be moments of clarity, compassion, and wisdom that help illuminate the way forward.
riverlight
Light shimmers and dances along the water's surface as the river flows effortlessly along its sometimes rocky course. In much the same way, the light of wisdom and compassion shines amidst the rocky places of our lives, guiding the course of a life lived with awareness and intention.