Pamela Ganem

Founding Crybaby // Licensed Professional Counselor

M.S., LPC, N.C.C.

she / her

About Me.

My name is Pamela, and I am a therapist who seeks to bring my whole self into the counseling room. As a person with both privileged and marginalized identities, I am committed to honoring the nuances of race and ethnicity, the boundless expressions of gender and sexuality, and all abilities.

As someone who has historically struggled to find the right therapist, I feel passionate about co-creating an open and supportive space for those who previously felt therapy was not accessible or healing for them. My personal and academic foundation is grounded in social change through deconstructing systems of oppression for all.

I have received focused training in systems theories, identity development, child development, and relationship and family therapy. I am interested in working with children, adolescents, and adults on a variety of life issues, as well as supporting relationships in all forms.

I earned my master's in counseling from Portland State University with a focus on relationships and families. Before I identified as a therapist, I worked as a social worker for over a decade, an experience that continues to influence my practice and the way I see the world.

Together, let’s explore your present awareness, uncover more choice in your life, and experiment with the changes you seek.

My favorite places to cry…

Costco on a Saturday

✌︎ while hiking

☹ in a lukewarm bath listening to the critically influential 1985 hit single "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" by the English singer and songwriter Kate Bush off her widely lauded album Hounds of Love

Insurance Accepted

OHP/CareOregon/HealthShare
Pacific Source
Kaiser
Moda

How I Work

I work from the perspective that therapy is about accepting, discovering, and becoming more of who you are rather than trying to remove or deny aspects of yourself.

I am trained in a model known as Contemporary Gestalt Therapy. Gestalt Therapy seeks to build awareness in the present moment exploring how you make meaning of your world and looking at what gets in the way of you obtaining your needs and wants. From this therapeutic perspective, symptoms are seen as a result of your best creative attempts to cope with both inner and environmental stress.

We all experience the world uniquely and I’m interested in understanding and exploring the original function of all your coping strategies and taking the time to pay my respect to how they once, and maybe still, help you survive.

As a direct, active, and engaged therapist I want to support, listen fully, and challenge you to understand and experience yourself as a whole person.

I look forward to partnering with you to explore your present awareness, uncover more choice in your life, and experiment with the changes you seek.

Awareness

=

Choice

=

Change

My Specialty Areas

⪧ Couples

⪧ ENM configurations

⪧ Star-crossed lovers who need help in compassionate endings

⪧ Families, 1st generation adult children w/ immigrant parents

⪧ BIPOC care

⪧ Queer/Trans exploration

⪧ Existential dread

⪧ Gen Z (cuz they’re their own thing)

Populations of Interest

⪧ Relationships, families, polycubicles

⪧ Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), particularly biracial or multiracial individuals

⪧ LGBTQIA+ community members

Insurance Accepted

⪧ OHP/CareOregon/Health Share
⪧ Pacific Source
⪧ Kaiser
⪧ Moda