My name is Kaci Schmitt (she/her). I am happy and honored to be able to offer counseling and therapy services to children, adolescents, and adults in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, as well as throughout the states of Oregon and Washington for teletherapy. I truly enjoy working with clients who are looking to process various experiences, transitions, and challenges in their lives, as well as gain knowledge, trust, and compassion for themselves and deepen their capacity for mental and emotional wellness.

I received my Master of Science in Counseling from Oregon State University, and I regularly pursue training and education in the field of counseling. I am a National Certified Counselor, a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Washington, and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Oregon. Prior to working full-time in my private practice, I worked as an Oregon Licensed School Counselor in two school districts.

Each therapist’s experience of what brought them to the field is different. I always knew that I wanted to work with people. I found that I loved working with teenagers when I initially became a teacher more than ten years ago. I was especially passionate about reducing barriers to equitable access to education and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, as I was student teaching in a high school in the South (where I grew up and lived for the first 25 years of my life!) and found that many of my students at that time did not feel that they had a safe space at school. In 2014, after some meandering (which I think is usually essential at some point in our lives), I decided to pursue my dream to become a counselor, and I worked as a school counselor for four years in Beaverton and Portland. I opened my private practice in January 2019 in Portland. I have now expanded to both Portland and Vancouver but am able to see clients throughout Oregon and Washington using a secure telehealth platform.

I deeply believe that we all have an innate capacity to heal and that each person is their own best resource and source of wisdom, and that we often need a little help allowing ourselves to access and trust our intuition. We all have many possible selves, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, who others are, and how life works can help or hurt our chances at being the self we want to be. I also believe that there must be space in therapy to process the things about life that are hard, painful, exhausting, and often heartbreaking, all while cultivating a gentler, more compassionate, resilient way of being in this world. Therapy allows us the opportunity to develop self-awareness and explore action steps that we can take to improve our wellbeing. I respect the process it takes to discover new things about ourselves and integrate what we have learned into our lives, and I encourage my clients to do so with great care for themselves. I consider it a privilege to be a collaborative partner in the healing and transformation process.

Please feel free to reach out to me via email at kacischmittcounseling@hushmail.com or phone at 415-966-2361. I am happy to partner with you or refer you to other therapists to ensure you find the right fit for you.