About Me
Serving Clients Since 2019
Hey, you. My name is Jey Youngberg, and I admire your grit.
I identify first as a rebel and disrupter. I believe psychological/addiction-recovery norms are outdated and have been for quite some time. I also believe we need to transform our Eurocentric biases into a new framework that puts diversity, equality, and inclusion at the center of all therapeutic realms.
I grew up in the rust belt but have called the PNW home for almost a decade. I'm currently a Professional Counselor Associate R6529 in the state of Oregon, based in the Portland area, under the supervision of K Hixson C2118 PhD LPC & Lesley Burke LPC ATR C2683. I also receive ongoing training for IHRP (Integrative Harm Reduction Therapy) from Dr. Andrew Tatarsky founder and director of the Center for Optimal Living in NYC.
I hold a BFA from SCAD. Having an artistic background, I believe this has helped me cultivate a unique view of psychotherapy. As a designer, I help co-create environments for my clients by incorporating user-friendly design. Today as a therapist, I also help achieve these same principles by helping my clients navigate cultivating their own inner processes to be more user-friendly and truer to their own unique sense of self and identity.
I completed a year-long clinical internship at Sound Community Mental Health in Seattle, WA then spent the remainder of 2020 as a therapeutic housing program clinician in Portland, OR for a non-profit specializing in CSEC (commercially sexually exploited children). My work experiences center on working with adult and teen clients. Special areas of focus include trauma, harm reduction addiction focus that considers how the intersections of trauma, diversity, and attachment theory impact the recovery process, narcissistic abuse, spiritual abuse, and childhood sexual abuse.
When I'm not being therapisty I love to play in nature (particularly water & trees) and spend time with my loved ones and chosen family. Some of my favorite things include Adventure Time (CN), A24, puzzles, architectural tours and Nu metal.
In the Weeds
Homage
I was in the restaurant | bar industry for over 17 years (shout out CBUS & DYT), and in some ways I’ve never left. It’s because of the service industry that I decided to get my Masters in Counseling Psychology. Not to get out, but to give back. Graduating with my Masters in the midst of a pandemic honestly felt fitting. In the weeds also applies to psychotherapy because just like in the service industry there’s no way out but through. The service industry is one of the first places I found true community which became the cornerstone for my own healing journey. I dedicate my private practice to all my previous service industry coworkers, in the words of Anthony Bordain: “You can always tell when a person has worked in a restaurant. There’s a special understanding of the way a bunch of motley misfits can be a family. The work is thankless and fun and messy, and the world would be a kinder place if more people tried it. With all due respect to my former professors, I’ve long believed I gained more knowledge in kitchens, bars, and dining rooms than any college could even hold.”