Who am I?

My name is Devon Halleman, and I am the owner of Thrive Counseling Northwest.

I spent the first 16 years of my career as a police and fire dispatcher and a 9-1-1 call taker. I worked for both small individualized and large consolidated agencies during that time. During the time, I dedicated 11 years to peer support, offering personalized assistance and facilitating critical incident stress debriefings. 

Somewhere between my passion and desire to help the helpers and the recognition of how few culturally competent clinicians our first responder community had available, I found my calling to go back to school to pursue a degree in counseling. 

Outside of the counseling room, I enjoy reading, watching my kids play sports, camping (okay, "glamping"), and spending time with my friends and family. I'm a wife and a mom to two kiddos and two golden retrievers. 

In addition to my private practice, I work with 1st Watch Wellness, providing wellness visits, individual therapy, and post-critical incident support for several Oregon agencies. I serve on the leadership team of Responder Life, a non-profit organization that advises and provides clinical support to multiple peer support teams across Oregon and SW Washington. Additionally, I teach as an adjunct professor in Bushnell University's Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.

In my counseling practice, the core objective is the holistic healing of every individual. Recognizing the uniqueness of personal experiences, I adhere to the biopsychosocial model, acknowledging the complex interweaving of physical, social, emotional, intellectual, vocational and spiritual dimensions within each person. When life circumstances surpass our ability to cope, it can adversely affect one or more of these facets. This can impact our ability to withstand the effects of stress and diminish our ability to find joy and fulfillment in daily life.

My counseling approach is integrative, meaning I combine ideas and techniques from different therapeutic theories depending on the individualized need of the client. Some theorietical orientations and therapeutic interventions that have influenced my counseling approach are: 

• Trauma-informed care
• Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) 
• Attachment-based
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy
• Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Mindful Self-Compassion
• Polyvagal theory