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Karah Weliver
About
Hello there! I'm Karah Weliver, LCSW, and my purpose as a therapist is to support and collaborate with clients to achieve their personal goals. As an Autistic/ADHD person and as a therapist, I am passionate about supporting other neurodivergent people develop a positive personal identity, self-advocate, and feel effective, healthy, safer, and at peace within themselves. I graduated from Portland State University with my Master of Social Work in 2017. I’ve been working in the mental health field for 15+ years, and as a clinician for the last 8, which has given me the opportunity to work with people facing a wide range of challenges, from anxiety, trauma/PTSD, Autism/ADHD, personality disorders, those with relational or behavioral issues, as well as many other mental health and relational/environmental challenges. My clinical approach is rooted in polyvagal theory, focused on establishing internal safety, is non-judgmental, goal oriented, and collaborative. As clients work at their own pace, I offer listening, validation, reflection and a variety of other tools to support them in their therapeutic journey from multiple therapeutic modalities, including but not limited to somatic experiencing, DBT, TF-CBT and CBT to help clients first achieve a felt sense of safety and identity, and then work collaboratively to achieve their goals from there. I believe that you are the expert in your own life and experience, and I am here to honor and witness your process. I’d love the opportunity to work with you!
I was inspired to work in this field because as an autistic person and therapist I found that the therapy support available to us is often not designed for work with us and our unique brains, and wanted to be part of the solution to that problem.
I truly believe each of us has the inner wisdom to navigate our internal and external worlds, despite what is sometimes a lifetime of invalidation and plain old unhelpful advice designed for neurotypical people making that wisdom difficult to access. I emphasize bottom up processing supports and collaborative therapy with clients to face this challenge as a team.
