- Client-centered approach
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Gottman-informed work
About Elisa
Elisa Doebler-Irvine is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Oregon with 28 years of clinical work. She sees individuals and couples and draws on long experience helping people with depression, anxiety, relationship and family concerns, parenting struggles, grief, trauma, and issues such as eating, anger, self-esteem, and addiction.
She earned a master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Lewis & Clark College and a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy from Kansas State University. She also completed a two-year post-graduate program in Clinical Human Sexuality at the Menninger Clinic. Those studies shaped how she thinks about individual problems and relationship patterns.
Her background includes outpatient mental health, residential treatment, private practice, forensic assessment and consulting, and university teaching. Over the years she has worked with a wide range of life challenges, including divorce and separation, adoption and foster care concerns, attachment and blended family issues, caregiver stress, and body image problems.
In sessions she combines a client-centered stance with psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral strategies. She looks at how family, social, and cultural systems affect a person's distress and the solutions they adopt. A common focus is helping people let go of well-intended but unhelpful fixes that no longer work.
She also draws on Positive Psychology ideas to help people build everyday habits that support greater wellbeing and resilience. That can mean practical steps for daily life alongside deeper work about relationships, guilt and shame, or long-standing patterns.
How Elisa’s approaches translate to online work
Elisa commonly uses Client-Centered Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her work. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes listening and supporting a person's own goals, helping people talk through what matters and decide next steps. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at thought patterns and behaviors, offering practical exercises to test and shift unhelpful thinking that can drive guilt, anxiety, or low mood.She also brings in ideas from the Gottman Method when relationship issues are part of the concern, focusing on communication skills, managing conflict, and rebuilding trust between partners. These approaches can be combined to address individual symptoms and relationship patterns together in a collaborative way.
Choosing an approach is part of the work. She will help figure out which methods fit a client's needs, goals, and preferences and will adjust the focus as therapy progresses. That discussion is ongoing and happens together with the client.
If you plan to meet online, confirm the session formats offered before booking since the biography does not list specific options. Online sessions can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and reduce travel time so therapy can be integrated into regular routines.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
28+ years
Listed in
Oregon
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does she address?
She works with stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and family problems, grief, trauma, eating and body image concerns, addiction, anger, self-esteem, and related issues such as guilt and shame.
How does she approach guilt or shame in sessions?
She uses a client-centered stance and draws on psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral strategies to look at how feelings of guilt or shame developed and to test unhelpful self-beliefs.
What is her professional background?
She has 28 years of clinical experience, a master’s in Counseling Psychology, a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy, and postgraduate training in Clinical Human Sexuality.
Where is she licensed and based?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Oregon and has practiced in a variety of settings including outpatient and residential care.
Does she provide sessions in other languages or to international clients?
Sessions are offered in English and she is not currently accepting international clients.
What session formats are offered?
Please confirm current session format options before booking, as the biography does not list specific formats.
How much do sessions cost?
Cost varies with location; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Start by selecting the See online therapy options button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule your first session.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger or thinking about harming yourself, use the crisis numbers.