Staff
Clinical Consultant
Liisa P. Heard, MSW, LCSW Oregon State Board of Licensed Social Workers License #L6702
Everyone has a story to tell and I am passionate about helping it unfold by providing guidance and support during the journey of finding its meaning. As a former volunteer and group facilitator with The Dougy Center, I have worked with children and their families as they navigate through the stages of grief and loss and was honored and humbled as I witnessed their journey. Additionally, I have over 25 years experience working with adolescents and adults suffering from substance abuse and mental health concerns. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of working the 12-Steps, I have endeavored to carry this message to alcoholics/addicts and to practice these principles by helping other addicts release themselves from their addictions. I work with individuals, couples, and families in a safe, supportive setting.
Some of the treatment modalities that I utilize are listed, and are not limited to the following:
• Client-Centered Therapy – based on the empowering idea that the client holds the answers to their problems. My job is to carefully listen and strive to understand the client, so that they can tap into their natural ability to grow and improve.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – stresses how our thoughts influence how we feel and what we do. It is based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our negative feelings.
• Family Systems – identifying problems within the family not as the result of particular members’ behaviors, but of the family’s group dynamic. The family is seen as a complex system having its
own language, roles, rules, beliefs, needs and patterns. The goal is to help the individual understand how their childhood family operated, their role within that system, and how that experience has shaped their role in their current family.
• Interpersonal Therapy – focuses on the behaviors and interactions a patient has with family and friends. The primary goal of this therapy is to improve communication skills and increase self-esteem during a short period of time. It usually lasts three to four months and works well for depression caused by mourning, relationship conflicts, major life events, and social isolation.
• Walk and Talk Therapy (WTT) – utilizing nature’s healing power (rain or shine). Most everyone can participate in WTT, as long as there are no medical reasons to prevent someone from walking. WTT is literally moving ahead step-by-step, helping clients get “unstuck” when confronting difficult issues, allowing physical and mental movement toward the issue at hand and being able to take back control which may have seemed out of reach.
Specialties: Groups addressing: work, life, balance, transition; Bereavement: grief & loss; Women’s Issues; Life transitions (college, retirement, empty-nester, end of life); Mindfulness for college athletes to help with improving performance in their chosen sport.