About Us

Portland Therapy Project is founded and run by Sawyer Salameh, LPC and Roza Skenderova, LPC. We share in our passion for giving back to our communities by providing OHP clients access to quality, queer knowledgeable care and supporting student interns in building sustainable practices.

For more information on us, check out our individual practices:portlandsomaticcounseling.com
ruggedheartcounseling.com

Amanda Mercer

(They/Them)Mental Health Intern

I am a graduate student in the relationship and family therapy program at Portland State University. My work is built on the foundation of a real and strong relationship between counselor and client. I believe connection, both to ourselves and other people, is key to reimagining our lives and new approaches to old patterns that are no longer serving us. My therapeutic style is shaped by parts work, multicultural counseling, and somatics. I am genuinely curious about you and will seek to understand you. My goal is to be with you and support you in moving towards liberation.Before starting graduate school in relationship and family therapy, I worked as a qualitative researcher in bioethics and palliative care, in schools, in adult eating disorder recovery, and facilitating support groups for trans youth. I am actively involved in grassroots peer support projects and consider this an important part of my own healing work and as informing my work as a therapist. I am white, mixed-heritage Jewish, queer, non-binary, femme, and come from a queer, polyamorous family. In my free time, I cook, run around with friends, play with my dog, and try not to hurt myself skateboarding.

Megha Angros

(She/Her)Mental Health Intern

I am a graduate student in the Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling program at Portland State University. My approach to therapy is integrative, drawing from humanistic, trauma-informed, somatic, and mindfulness-based therapies. My style is collaborative and strength-based, grounded in the principles of inclusivity, social justice, and holistic wellness. I am committed to providing culturally responsive care that recognizes and respects your lived experiences, varied backgrounds, and intersecting identities.I believe every individual is inherently whole. However, internal and external stressors can cause us to exist in fragmented ways. Therapeutic support and strengthening the mind-body connection can help us rediscover our wholeness. The healing space of therapy, combined with inner wisdom, can help individuals move from merely surviving to truly thriving.I am excited to work with individuals, couples, and groups in areas such as attachment wounds, anxiety, depression, cultural identity and diaspora, life transitions, grief, loss, and trauma. I am particularly interested in helping clients navigate relational issues and patterns, develop self-efficacy, boost self-esteem, establish boundaries, and address their inner critic with self-compassion. If any of these resonate with you, I would be honored to be part of your journey towards unlearning, learning, achieving your therapeutic goals, and empowerment.I am a ciswoman of color with South Asian Indian roots. I have an eclectic taste in music and visual arts. I enjoy chakra balancing, energy healing, crystals, and meditation. I am currently learning tarot reading and gardening.I look forward to supporting you in your growth and expansion.

Brittany Walsh

(She/Her)Mental Health Intern

I am a graduate student in the Dance/Movement therapy program at Lesley University. While the term “dance” can sometimes feel intimidating, dance/movement therapy simply recognizes that the mind, body, and soul are inseparable and interconnected. I come from an unconventional background, having spent more than 20 years working in the circus as both a performer and coach. Through my experiences as a coach, working with diverse groups, I was inspired to become a therapist. This unique background has given me a deep appreciation for the wisdom held within the body, and how we can learn and grow from it.I take on a holistic approach to healing, and view individuals within the larger context of their lives, including relationships, family history, culture, and society. My therapeutic philosophy is grounded in the belief that there is nothing inherently wrong with you. The ways in which you have adapted, survived, and coped with challenging circumstances are valid and important. I am passionate about helping others discover their own strengths and resilience, and I strive to create therapeutic partnerships that are strengthened through openness, collaboration, and respect. I look forward to walking alongside you in this journey of healing, well-being, and empowerment.I have been living in the Pacific Northwest for almost my entire life and am grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and play on this land. Dancing, spending time outdoors, creating art, and snuggling with my three cats are my happy places.

Tu Tran

(They/Them)Mental Health Intern

I am a graduate student in the professional mental health counseling program at Lewis and Clark College.I believe that change and recovery can happen through compassionate understanding of how we have approached the world and the challenges as strengths and resources that have helped us in the past. I hope to create that space of compassion through establishing trust, connection, and validation. In applying equity to treatment, I strive to treat you with respect by keeping you informed of the process and continuing collaboration to create goals and strategies that meet your needs. Some theories that influence my approach include mindfulness-based therapies like acceptance and commitment therapy, internal family systems, and somatic therapy.My core areas of interest include working with folks of diverse backgrounds such as the queer and BIPOC communities, trauma, leaving religion, neurodivergence, OCD, anxiety and depression. My interests reflect my identity as a genderqueer/non-binary and Asian-American immigrant, and I strive to provide understanding and bridge the gaps in care in underserved communities.Outside of therapeutic training, you can find me exploring new activities and restaurants in the city and consuming Asian media like Kpop and manhwas/manhuas.

Erika Keath

(She/Her)Mental Health Intern

I am a graduate student in the professional mental health counseling program at Lewis & Clark college. I believe that connection is foundational in healing. Whether it is healing somatically, relationally, or internally; I am a firm believer that you have the tools to connect, grow and heal.My practice is informed by my lived experiences, particularly as a bilingual CODA (Child Of Deaf Adult). With this lived experience I tend to include realms of social justice and advocacy in my clinical work. I am excited to work with a variety of concerns and have a special interest in providing support to Deaf/ Hard-of-Hearing and ASL speakers.Outside of therapy you can usually find me hanging out with my partner and dog, spending time outdoors or weight lifting. Some of the identities I hold include identifying as a white, queer, first generation, cis-gender woman.I am honored to have the opportunity to get to know you.

Sawyer Salameh, LPC

(They/Them)Licensed Professional Counselor
Clinical Supervisor

I am so excited to be in a place where I can help clinicians grow and explore. The journey to become a therapist is way bigger than I ever imagined. I feel so lucky to be on this journey myself and learning new things. I had no idea how much personal growth I was in for when I started and now, I get to support other clinicians while they expand into themselves and learn. In understand how big of an undertaking this is for clinicians, I hope to create a space to grow and challenge one’s self without judgement, but rather with curiosity. The more we can learn about ourselves the more we can expand with our clients. I believe learning is about making mistake with openness and growing with new knowledge.
I will ask you to connect with your body to gain a larger understanding of yourself and your relationship with your clients. I will help you focus on your client’s relationship to their body, what comes up for you in yours when in session, inner child work and healing, and holding the complexity of everything we create in this world.

Roza Skenderova, LPC

(She/They)Licensed Professional Counselor
Clinical Supervisor

As counselors, our own selves (bodies, minds, hearts) are the tools of our work. Good support in growing our therapist self and sharpening our skillsets can provide opportunity to create deeply meaningful and sustainable work for oneself and our own clients. My supervision style is relational, emotionally attuned and guided by social justice principles. I am predominantly somatically trained (Neo-Reichian Therapy), draw on attachment theory, gestalt and work with trauma and developmental trauma with queer and trans individuals.My hope is that we can create a trusting, transparent, and collaborative space that can nourish your goals, learning edges, clinical skill set, interests and excitements in the vast field of therapy.

Bree Koenig

(She/Her)Office Administrator

I am honored to connect with you as the first line of contact and compassion at Portland Therapy Project. As the dedicated office administrator, my mission is to ensure that every interaction with our center is infused with warmth and efficiency. Beyond my administrative role, I am equally passionate about my work as a psychotherapist in private practice. With a commitment to fostering emotional well-being, I support clients through various life challenges, providing guidance for self-discovery and growth. My dual roles allow me to seamlessly blend administrative expertise with therapeutic insight, creating a holistic and nurturing environment within Portland Therapy Project. It is my privilege to be a part of your transformative experience.For more information on Bree, please visit her psychotherapy practice website:
aylacounselingandwellness.com

Janay Wright

janay@solid-ground-counseling.com

Sara Jannette Sutter

saravetivertherapy@gmail.com

Kalpana Krishnamurthy

kalpana@knowfeelingstherapy.com

Kapu Dancel

kapudancel@proton.me

Tate Sprite

hello@tatesprite.net

Katya Stark

starkcounseling.com

ISABEL GRUSKA MCCUNE

isabelmccune.com

Anya Ludwig

bowerbirdwellness.com

Rose Novak

rosenovakcounseling.clientsecure.me

Katie Solomon

Coming soon!