Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

Counselor profiles

Cascade

Emily Somervell, LCSW

Emily SomervelleAs a PCC Counselor, my goal ​​is to help individuals achieve personal growth and wellness through the use of a collaborative counseling relationship. Together we identify your values, explore thinking patterns, highlight your strengths, and examine barriers that may prevent you from reaching your goals. In counseling, we work toward building and strengthening your skills so that you feel confident and prepared to take necessary action to solve problems, face your challenges, and do things that make life better.

Part of my approach involves sharing skills to handle difficult thoughts and feelings more effectively so they have less impact and influence over you. I believe that trust and safety are important factors in the therapeutic process. My goal is to work together as a team to identify what is important to you and to create change in order to build the life you want to live.

My practice areas and specialties include assisting individuals with depression and anxiety, affirming LGBTQIA2S+ experiences, exploring race and social justice, crisis counseling, grief counseling, and working with people with chronic illness.  I have worked with individuals struggling with the impacts of trauma, grief and loss, identity development, and life stage transitions.

My style is collaborative and I value an intersectional framework in counseling sessions. I utilize Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, and Solution Focused Therapy.

When I’m not at PCC, I enjoy being in water (oceans, lakes, rivers, pools, you name it I’m there), spending time with my family, and enjoying the beautiful landscape of the Pacific NW.

Sean Wallage, MSW

As a PCC Counselor, my goal is to create a supportive space that allows students to be their own experts, where we can collaborate and explore avenues of meaningful change. I believe that trust and empathy, combined with honest dialogue, should be the foundation of meaningful relationships. Counseling is no different, and it is with these concepts in mind that I approach the counseling process. I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-focused Therapy and Narrative Therapy in my work with PCC students. Areas of professional interest include Technology/Social Media, Depression and Anxiety, Identity Development, Academic Stress and Trauma.

Sofia Khan, LCSW

Sofia KhanAs a PCC Counselor, my goal is to help students create meaningful change in their lives. I believe ​​therapy can be one way of exploring a deeper connection with yourself and finding your power in embodying that deeper connection.

My practice areas and specialties include anxiety, depression, life transitions, relationship concerns, academic stress, and identity based concerns for people of color and LGBTQIA+ folk.

My support has been informed through a relational-cultural, and anti-oppressive lens to prioritize the potential of a safe space for folks. I practice using trauma-informed CBT, ACT and other modalities while incorporating warmth, honest feedback, and respect in navigating your goals.

​​When I’m not at PCC you can find me on a hiking trail or trying out a new food cart!

Rock Creek

Craig Wickenberg MA, LPC

Craig WickenbergAs a PCC Counselor my goal is to help students manage the challenges that can arise from the academic, emotional, and relational stressors of being a college student that get in the way of feeling good and doing well in school. I believe counseling can provide opportunities for students to share personal experiences, engage in self-reflection, and develop trusting connections.

My practice areas and specialties include helping students foster personal awareness, address suppressed mood, manage social anxiety, maintain effective relationships, and improve confidence and self-esteem. Additionally, I continue to study the Enneagram personality model and for students with an interest, offer guidance on how to apply it’s teachings to enhance personal growth.

I draw from a variety of modalities including the application of cognitive, behavioral, and narrative strategies, which address making desired changes in thinking and behavioral patterns. I also incorporate experiential activities that include the use of movement and props which can provide healing and connecting experiences to augment traditional talk therapy.

When I’m not at PCC, I enjoy swimming, chess, taekwondo, being the best dad I can be, and camping with my family.

Hannah Martin

As a PCC Counselor,  my goal is to create a space together that makes you feel supported, heard and seen as we work towards resolving specific concerns, building skills or unlearning patterns. I believe that counseling involves collaboration between the client and counselor, along with a willingness to explore different ways of feeling, thinking, and behaving. I recognize that systems in our society are impacting overall mental health, and welcome you to discuss that. I use Person Centered, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Gestalt Therapy. My whole person approach includes a Humanistic and Multicultural framework.

My education is in multicultural community-based mental health through the scope of a social justice and a non-pathologizing lens. Specialty areas include anxiety, depression, life transitions, and identity development.

Talieh Alavi, LPC, CADCIII

Talieh AlaviAs a PCC Counselor, my goal is to create a supportive space where students feel safe to explore their strengths, discover their abilities to overcome life challenges, and achieve their goals. I use Cognitive Behavior Therapy, DBT, and other modalities to treat a number of concerns including  Chemical Dependency and Relapse Prevention, ADHD, Trauma Recovery, Academic stress, Anxiety; Depression, Life transitions and identity based concerns for minorities, immigrants, and people of color.

Southeast

Angelina Davis MS, CRC, LPC

Angelina DavisAs a PCC Counselor, my goal is to provide a safe space for students to contemplate and/or make changes in their lives. I believe with the right tools and support, we can all grow and move through difficult times and come out stronger and more skilled. I hold a strong belief in the dignity and worth of all people, which translates into a client-centered approach. Values of this approach that I hold include: individuality, independence, privacy, partnership, choice, dignity, respect, rights, equality and diversity.

My practice ​​areas and specialties include students who experience a disability (physical, learning, math anxiety, ADD), transition and adjustment, identity development/journey, anxiety and depression, grief and loss, career (especially those looking to retrain and identity around this), relationships, parenting (infertility or loss of a child), transition & adjustment, and International/ESL students.

I use a client-centered approach in helping students through the application of cognitive, behavioral and systematic counseling strategies using a trauma-informed lens.

When I am not at PCC, I enjoy spending time with my family (usually at a baseball field), hiking, skiing, running, reading and eating good food.

Carly Clark, MS, LPC

Carly ClarkAs a PCC Counselor, my goal is to support all students in achieving personal, academic and professional success. I believe that the difficulties we experience make sense in the context of our lives. I believe that each individual holds the innate wisdom essential for healing and for creating a meaningful life. I believe that counseling can be a safe space to explore what is creating distress in your life as well as exploring paths to healing and meaning.

My practice areas and specialties include supporting first generation students, students experiencing general, social and/or test anxiety, helping students cultivate mindfulness practice and self-compassion, helping students to create and sustain healthy relationships and communication strategies as well as organization and behavioral strategies for academic and professional success.

I use trauma informed and strengths-based practices. I employ a range of tools to support growth and cultivate self-compassion including cognitive behavioral, narrative and behavioral activation therapies strategies rooted in a person-centered approach.

When I’m not at PCC I enjoy spending time with my family of humans and animals (dog, cat, goats!). I also enjoy cultivating meaningful friendships, finding new ways to make art and organizing closets and clutter!

Mike Barber M.Ed., M.A., LPC

Mike BarberAs a PCC counselor, my goal is to provide an opportunity for students to find safety and support as they explore and strengthen their sense of self and experience at PCC. I believe that every one of us holds unlimited potential. For me, counseling can be a way to discover possibilities for growth, peace of mind, healing, and realization of goals.

My practice areas and specialties include transition to college, study skills, alternative learning styles, creative process, LGBTQI+ experience, race and social justice, and grief support.

I honor your individuality and work to create an experience in which you feel safe to explore and to develop understanding of your inner world, without judgment. I find great benefit in using Internal Family Systems, cognitive behavioral methods, mindfulness practices, and an openness to, and curiosity about, the unknown parts of ourselves.

When I’m not at PCC, I find great joy in time with friends, my garden, and my home. I also love the performing arts and am an avid traveler.

Sylvania

Jackie Elliott, MS, LPC

Jackie ElliottAs a PCC counselor, my goal is to assist students in successfully meeting their educational goals. I believe that students can improve the quality of their lives and be successful in college by understanding and changing their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

My practice areas and specialties include working with ABE/GED/ESOL students; international students; nursing students; older students returning to college for a career change; students who are brand new to PCC- regardless of age- who need support adjusting to and navigating the college system; students experiencing grief/loss. I enjoy providing telehealth counseling to students who prefer to access counseling remotely or who need the flexibility this option provides.

I use an eclectic approach when working with students, with an emphasis on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy strategies. I enjoy establishing a meaningful relationship with each student, helping to support them in resolving their issues.

When I’m not at PCC, I enjoy gardening, reading fiction, watching movies, walking my dog, Norman, and spending time with my partner, family, and friends.

Remote

Anne O’Reilly, MA, LPC

Anne O ReillyAs a PCC Counselor, my goal is to support each student in exploring their lived experiences, aspects of identity, inner and outer resources, and the systems impacting them in order to recognize and learn new ways to move forward in pursuing their personal, academic, and/or career goals. I believe that people are experts on their own lived experiences and that counseling can offer an opportunity to process emotions/experiences, gain new insights/perspectives, find meaning and strength, and feel heard and seen within the counseling relationship in a way that supports them in doing the next best thing for themselves.

My practice areas and specialties include providing counseling/psychoeducation to students who have experienced trauma, students impacted by economic, racial, sexual, and gender oppression, queer, trans, and gender-diverse students, non-traditional students, first-generation students, and those navigating anxiety, depression, interpersonal violence, or academic struggles.

I apply an equity and social justice lens to counseling and utilize a strength-based,  trauma-informed approach, incorporating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness practices, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and collaborative/relational problem-solving.

When I’m not at PCC, I enjoy hanging out with family and friends, going on nature walks with my dog, digging in the dirt, and reading.

Magdalena Avila Echinique