Elisa Doebler-Irvine

Elisa Doebler-Irvine brings more than 28 years of counseling experience working with individuals, couples, and families from across the lifespan. She holds a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Lewis & Clark College and a PhD with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy from Kansas State University. In addition, she completed a two-year post-graduate program in Clinical Human Sexuality at the Menninger Clinic. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon, holding the state’s LPC credential.

Her combined training in counseling psychology, marriage and family therapy, and clinical human sexuality supports an approach that attends to both individual concerns and relationship dynamics - whether a partner participates in treatment or not. Elisa frequently sees the ways individual struggles and relationship patterns overlap, and she draws on that perspective when planning therapy.

Her professional background includes work in traditional outpatient mental health settings, residential treatment programs, private practice, forensic assessment and consulting, and teaching at several universities. Over the years she has helped people facing a wide range of challenges, including depression and anxiety, coping with life changes, relationship difficulties, parenting concerns, eating and body image issues, trauma and sexual abuse, substance use and addictions, anger management, divorce and separation, and related concerns.

Elisa’s counseling style is collaborative and respectful. She maintains a client-centered stance while integrating psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral strategies. She pays attention to the systems that shape a person’s life - family, social, and cultural contexts - and helps clients identify when the solutions they adopted earlier have become unhelpful. With a strong interest in Positive Psychology, she incorporates interventions designed to increase daily wellbeing and resilience, recognizing that reducing pain does not always create deep, lasting happiness on its own. If this way of working seems like a good match, Elisa welcomes inquiries to begin the process of therapy.