Amanda Mercer
MS, Professional Counselor Associate, NCC
they/them
About me
Hi, I’m Amanda :-)
I identify as white, mixed-heritage, Jewish, queer, and non-binary femme. My identities straddle cultures and worlds, and I’m passionate about working with others who navigate mixed identities and heritages. I come from a queer, polyamorous family, a background that has profoundly shaped me and how I view and move through the world.
My path to becoming a therapist has been anything but linear. Before earning my Master’s in Counseling from Portland State University (with a focus on relationships and families), I lived many lives - from working in schools to palliative care, eating disorder recovery to qualitative bioethics research, and facilitating support groups for trans youth. These experiences deeply inform my world view and how I show up in the therapy room.
My own growth happens through ongoing self-reflection and group training - because I believe healing thrives in connection, not isolation, community is my anchor: I’m actively involved in grassroots peer support projects and Portland/Seattle Gestalt training groups, where I’m constantly challenged to look inward and sharpen my skills alongside others. This work reminds me daily that therapy isn’t a role I play, but a practice I live. Like you, I’m always learning, always engaged in my own healing work.
I am enthusiastic about working with people who are interested in getting to know the embodied experience of their emotions on a deeper level, and who want to explore their connection to themselves and others, and are open to learning from their here-and-now experience, and who want to turn inward with the support of another person. No previous experience is required, only a willingness to try!
Keep scrolling! Read more below to learn about how I work, the populations i’m drawn to, the insurance I accept, and my specialty areas.
My Favorite Places to Cry…
☹ In bed after pressing play on Enya’s 1988 masterpiece Watermark
✌︎ On the hard concrete at the skatepark
☹ In my bestie’s arms
IRL:
You can find me line dancing, running around with my dog, spending cutie time with my partner and/or friends, stress watching Love Island, cooking, and swimming outside any chance I get.
Insurance Accepted
⪧ OHP/CareOregon/Health Share
⪧ Kaiser
⪧ Out-of-Pocket
⪧ Out-of-Network Reimbursement
How I Work
My role is to help you cultivate clarity and carry it beyond the therapy room.
My therapeutic approach integrates three frameworks: Gestalt therapy, somatic techniques, and parts work, all grounded in a liberation perspective. Don’t worry, I’ll bring some humor along too! :)
Gestalt therapy helps uncover rigid patterns that probably helped you survive throughout your history, and in the “here and now” might be keeping you stuck. When we bring awareness to these patterns, we create more choices for you—and choice is the most important ingredient to create meaningful change.
Somatic (body-centered) techniques help you reconnect with your body’s innate wisdom. Many of us learned to disconnect from these subtle signals early in life, but tuning back in can cultivate that healthy intuition that guides and protects you.
Parts work honors your inner complexity, helping all aspects of yourself, especially those in competition with one another, coexist with greater harmony.
In our work together, we’ll turn toward the here and now - even what arises between us - to foster greater self-understanding. You’ll reconnect with your body’s knowing, listen more deeply to your intuition, and uncover what truly matters to you. This isn’t about fixing yourself, but building an inner compass, one that steadies you in a world that often feels uncertain or unjust. My role is to help you cultivate that clarity and carry it beyond the therapy room.
If any of this resonates with you, please reach out to set up a free consultation with me.
My Specialty Areas
⪧ Anxiety
⪧ Attachment wounds/trauma
⪧ Relationship counseling
⪧ Sexual identity exploration
⪧ Mixed-heritage/Identity work
Populations of Interest
⪧ Queer and trans bb’s of all ages
⪧ Jews
Insurance Accepted
⪧ Kaiser
⪧ OHP/CareOregon/Health Share
⪧ Out-of-Pocket
⪧ Out-of-Network Reimbursement