Services
Self-love is to become more deeply Self-acquainted.
You are likely wondering what it may be like to come to therapy. Our first session can be a consultation in which you get the opportunity to feel what it is like to be together, and I can start to get to know you. Your experience is so important; research shows that the most significant factor in a positive outcome in therapy is the relationship with the therapist.
Individual Therapy
I consider myself an honored and compassionate traveling companion along your journey toward deeper Self discovery and inner harmony.
Our sessions together can be spacious--precious opportunities to unfold your many complexities. During our time together, I will rely on a variety of methods to accompany you in your self-exploration. As you share what feels important, we may pay special attention to what is happening in the here-and-now through your words, emotions, body sensations, visualizations, memories, beliefs, images and/or dreams. You’ll likely want to explore familiar and less conscious parts of yourself-you may even discover parts which surprise you. We may also explore breathwork as a powerful portal to deeper connection to what might be calling for attention and loving care. Should you encounter inner conflicts or painful emotions in our work together, I can help you digest the waves of experience, and move through and harvest the wisdom within your emotional life. We may also have experiences together in which you safely and compassionately revisit an impactful or painful memory in order to reconsolidate the meaning you made from that experieince in ways that are deeply reparative.
As you discover more about yourself and become more intimate with all your parts, you will feel greater calm, relief, clarity and a deeper sense of resilience in managing life's challenges.
Couples Therapy
The quality of our relationships, particularly our intimate ones, is vital to our sense of life satisfaction. We need to feel connected, seen, loved and chosen. But relationships can also be challenging. Sometimes we rely on strategies that sabotage comforting connection. Creating a safe space to be vulnerable and unpack our protective and sensitive parts can allow for deeper intimacy.
I like to invite the notion of working with our inner parts as we move thorugh relational processing. Becoming more intimate with our varied parts is relieving and empowering; having complex and often contradictory longings is Human! When we can learn to welcome and share our dualtiies, we can invite more nuance and flexibility into our lives. Sharing how we feel (or building capacity to tolerate how our partner feels!) becomes less scary when we learn to speak for our many parts.
Learning to welcome the idea of "We-Cousciousness" into our intimate relationships forges a sturdy sense of alliance which can be very stabilizing and trust- building. One of the more potent skills of a deeply connected partnership is becoming the "expert" on how to soothe one another. We can curate this practice together.
Repairing old wounds or ruptures can also be a necessary component of couples work in order to regain trust and security, and digest resentments or unreleased, unprocessed anger. We can do this important work safety and with pacing, while also inviting accountability and humility.
Working on your relationships is one of the most important and impactful investments you can make. I look forward to helping you explore, tend and deepen your relational life.
I employ an anti-racist, anti-sexist, sex-positive, pro-disability justice, kink positive, poly-am friendly, queer-friendly, body positive, strengths-based perspective.
Illumination Counseling with Gayle Waitches offers couple's therapy in SW Portland to facilitate greater intimacy, connection, growth and repair in your marriage, relationships, and love life.
Individual and Relational IFS and Breath-work Therapy Intensives
A deeper, more spacious way to do meaningful work
Sometimes, one hour simply isn’t enough.
It can take time for your system to arrive, your body to settle, for your protective parts—your anxious parts, your people-pleasing parts, your perfectionist or thinking parts—to feel safe enough to soften.
And just as something meaningful begins to open…
…the session ends.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with weekly therapy. It can be incredibly supportive.
And also…
Some parts need more time.
Why an Intensive?
In Internal Family Systems (IFS), we understand that your inner world is made up of different parts—many of whom are working very hard to protect you.
These protective parts don’t always rush to open on demand.
They soften and become available when they feel safe, seen, and unpressured.
A longer session creates the conditions for this vulnerable unfolding.
With 2–3 hours together, your system has time to:
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settle and arrive
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build trust
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allow protectors to gently step back
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access deeper emotional layers
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stay with what emerges long enough for depthful healing to begin
Depth happens in safety and slowness.
What an Intensive Session Might Feel Like
We can curate a spacious, attuned container where we can follow your system at its natural pace.
We can:
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access deeper parts of your experience
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work with them in real time
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support unburdening and emotional release
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begin integration before you leave
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relieve any pressure to “wrap it up” just as something important is unfolding.
Integrating Breath-work
As part of this work, I may incorporate guided breathwork to support your nervous system and deepen access to your inner world.
Breathwork can help:
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regulate and calm the body
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gently bypass overactive thinking parts
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access deeper emotional layers
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support release and integration
This is always offered in a trauma-informed, consent-based way, and we move at a pace that feels safe for your system.
Optional: Psychedelic Integration
For clients who feel called, we can discuss psychedelic integration as a way to support deeper access and emotional openness.
A Different Kind of Therapeutic Rhythm
Instead of weekly sessions, some clients choose:
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one intensive per month
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or periodic intensives spaced over time
This creates a rhythm of:
deep work → integration → return when ready
You have space to actually live with what emerges, rather than moving quickly into the next session.
Integration Is Part of the Work
Going deep is only part of the process.
At the end of our time together, we will:
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gently ground and close the session
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identify what feels most important to integrate
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create a plan for the days and weeks ahead
- forge an inner map of the most important parts of your "inner family" as a path to greater inner intimacy, diplomacy and harmony.
Therapy intensives offered:
Relational health and attachment style from an IFS perspective- lovingly looking under the hood.
The intersectionality of anxiety and Internal Family Systems- mapping out your inner world. What if your anxious part becomes a wise ally?
Finding trauma-informed support and relief from PTSD through inner and outer attachment with IFS and breathwork.
Meet the Family! Let's get better acquainted with your inner parts and your compassionate, calm, creative, capable, confident, clear, courageous and curious Wise One within.
Couples Intensive; Infidelity and IFS- witnessing, understanding and repairing the damage. An intensive for couples in the midst of the crisis of an affair.