Let’s begin
You’re in the right place
Manola Kerr Therapy provides virtual and in-person mental health therapy for adults and teens, aged 14 and over. I provide individual therapy only.
My specialties include relationship issues, abuse and trauma recovery, anxiety, depression, PTSD, guilt/ shame, teen and young adult issues, twin issues, self-esteem, cultural/ systemic oppression, and intergenerational trauma.
After our initial consultation and treatment plan formulation, we’ll meet for individual therapy sessions at a pace that feels right for you. I’ll send you a summary of the work we did together in our therapy session, highlighting progress made, and discuss the next steps.
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”
Therapy for Relationship Issues
Almost everyone talks about relationships in their individual therapy.
Our romantic relationships are great entry points into:
Personal growth
Healing old wounds
Overcoming our defenses
Understanding issues from our family of origin
Exploring the archetypes we enact with others
Better understanding our roles in conflict
Improving communication
Creating more spark in our relationships
Whether you’re currently single, dating, in a relationship, or navigating a tough breakup, therapy is helpful. I offer more than support and a third party perspective. You will discover helpful tools and develop a framework for better communication, getting your needs met, and for overcoming challenges. Some common issues individuals seek support with are:
Coping with tough breakups
Processing a past relationship(s) and integrating the experience into your current self
Exploring how communication impacts long-term desire and spark
Understanding your relationship patterns such as codependency, enmeshment, boundaries, and trauma-bonding
Attachment styles, such as avoidant and anxious attachments
Commitment and intimacy issues
Defensive coping patterns that inhibit healthy vulnerability and intimacy
Navigating dating, intuition, and societal pressures
Self-esteem and building self-compassion
Trusting after sexual and emotional betrayal
Exploring shadow self
Family of origin
No matter where you are in your pursuing your relationship goals, therapy can provide individual support when you are ready. Schedule a free consultation with me to learn if therapy can help.
Therapy for Abuse and Trauma Recovery
I am passionate about supporting people as they find safety and calm after the storm. I know what it is like, personally, to feel caught in the midst of trauma, and how important it is to have someone to talk to about what you are experiencing.
Healing and recovery after abuse, trauma, and sexual assault is a journey that requires time, patience, and support. Therapy provides a safe and supportive environment to explore your experiences, emotions, and reactions.
Through therapy, you receive more than validation, empathy, and support as you work to process trauma, develop healthy coping skills, and build resilience. You will gain a deeper understanding of yourself that will feel empowering. In therapy, you will discover a framework and learn tools to steer your life to a sense of calm and safety. Schedule a free consultation with me to learn if therapy can help.
Therapy for Anxiety, Depression & PTSD
Bad things happen in life that are unexpected, unwanted, or overwhelmingly challenging to cope with. It is common to feel hopeless or like life is out of your control, especially when moving through major life changes. Losing a loved one, a job loss, health changes, and other life transitions can cause overwhelming anxiety and feelings of defeat.
Do you ever find yourself unable to fall asleep because your mind keeps replaying something that happened five years ago? Your mind keeps thinking about what could happen in the future if you do this or don’t do that. Feeling worried or scared, even if there isn't anything dangerous happening, is exhausting. As someone who has struggled with anxiety my entire life, I know how challenging it can be to find relief.
Feeling sad or hopeless for a long time can feel like a never-ending cycle of sadness and hopelessness. It is as if you are stuck in a deep pit without any way out. You don't enjoy doing things that you used to like. You might feel tired all the time, have trouble sleeping, or feel like you don't have any energy. You might also have a hard time concentrating or feel like you're not good at anything. You are not alone. I know how scary it can feel to be in this depressive place. There is help available! Asking for help is the first step.
After a traumatic event, it is normal to have nightmares or flashbacks, where you feel like you are reliving the event all over again. It is normal to feel anxious or on edge all the time and have a hard time sleeping or concentrating. I know how disruptive these feelings can be when you are trying to get through your day at work, school, and enjoy your relationships. Life should not feel this hard.
It's important to remember it's okay to feel anxious, depressed, or traumatized. There is support available. In therapy, you will begin to make sense out of the chaos and create meaning from the loss. You will gain a new perspective and framework that will support you moving forward. Schedule a free consultation with me to learn if therapy can help.
Therapy for Twins
As a twin, I have first-hand experience navigating the unique issues and challenges of being a twin. I know how difficult it can be to find a therapist who understands what it is like to be a twin.
Twins are a unique population that have specific needs when it comes to mental health therapy. Issues related to identity, relationships, separation and loss, and competition and comparison are common challenges that twins seek in therapy.
As a therapist, it's important to recognize these unique issues and provide a safe and supportive space for twins to explore their individual identities, establish healthy boundaries with their twin, and develop healthy relationships with others. Schedule a free consultation with me to find out if therapy can help.
Biracial & Bicultural Issues
I grew up in a small, rural town, in Oregon. My father is white, American-born. My mother is a first-generation immigrant from Laos. As a child, I had mixed feelings about my family. I had no concept of what “race” or “culture” was. All I knew was my family was different. After coming to know others like me, who identify as “mixed,” “biracial,” or “bicultural,” I have learned there are a few common issues we sometimes share. Here are common issues I see in clients:
· Code-switching
· Imposter syndrome
· Being exoticized/tokenized
· Internalized racism/shame
· Feeling lonely
Code-switching
If you’re not familiar with the term code-switching, it was first used to refer when people who speak more than one language or dialect alternate those languages or dialects within a conversation. Today, it has another meaning. Code-switching involves adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression in order to potentially fit in or gain acceptance from the dominant environment. For bicultural clients, this can look like adjusting the types of foods they bring to lunch at work or school, or changing their behavior when visiting extended family. Code-switching is adaptive on the one hand, but it can take a toll on a person’s mental health. The cognitive resources it takes to adjust one’s behavior, reduces authentic self-expression, and can contribute to exhaustion and burnout.
Imposter Syndrome
Growing up in a family made of two distinct cultures comes with gifts and challenges. You may feel you belong to both cultures and you also don’t quite belong to either. This can lead to some bicultural clients to develop feelings of being an imposter, what some refer to as imposter syndrome. These individuals describe a fear of not being an authentic member of a community or identity group.
Sometimes called cultural imposter syndrome, this phenomenon can take many forms but is common among members of marginalized communities who feel that they do not have the correct experiences or feelings to be counted as a member of those groups. Cultural imposter syndrome is not unusual among people who have mixed ethnic, racial, or cultural backgrounds and who are often made to feel that they do not belong in any of the communities to which they are connected. Some sufferers have claimed that imposter syndrome encourages them to work harder and improve, even at high levels of achievement. Most experts, however, believe that the stress, fear, and self-recrimination associated with imposter syndrome make it undesirable (Eldridge, Stephen. "imposter syndrome". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Jan. 2024, ).
Being Exoticized or Tokenized
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines exoticize as a verb, meaning to portray (someone or something unfamiliar) as exotic or unusual; romanticize or glamorize. On the surface, this may not sound so bad. After all, what is so wrong with being romanticized or glamorized, right? Appearing “unfamiliar” or what some might describe as “ethnically ambiguous” lends to experiences of being exoticized by the dominant environment. In clients, this presents as experiences of frustration in dating, trying to make friends, and even when encountering complete strangers.
In dating, this can look like a bicultural woman becoming frustrated when yet another man confesses to being interested in her because she is “exotic.” For the woman, it can make her feel objectified and tokenized. Being culturally tokenized means being singled out because of being perceived as distinctly different or novel from the majority. It can make bicultural individuals feel further separated from those non-tokenized groups, leading to thoughts that they are going to be liked less or a little too much solely because they appear exotic.
This can also lead to association of stereotypes with a group a tokenized individual belongs to. For example, an east Asian woman stereotyped as submissive. The higher attention from others can lead to increase sense of pressure to defy any associated stereotypes or to prove one’s own merit. With those effects in mind, tokenism has a serious impact on an individual's mental health. For example, authors of a 2020 article mentioned the idea that tokenism has the potential to lead to depression, burnout, attrition (wearing away, feeling sapped, feeling harassed), and minority tax (basic concept that when you are one of the few racial/ethnic minorities you’ll be called upon more than others simply because someone who looks like you needs to have a seat at the table). (Ellis J, Otugo O, Landry A, Landry A. Interviewed while Black. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(25):2401-2404. doi:10.1056/NEJMp2023999).
Internalized Racism
As you can probably begin to see, these repetitive experiences in which bicultural individuals are singled out from the dominant environment can lead them to feel increasingly marginalized and oppressed. Internalized racism is a form of internalized oppression. In bicultural clients, this can look like a deep sense of shame and loneliness. They feel ashamed of their marginalized identity or even ashamed for being white. They may feel a deep loneliness when they feel they cannot share this with others. When clients suppress the shame, the unresolved, internal conflict can lead to depression.
Feeling Lonely
If a client’s parent was an immigrant it can bring up additional challenges. It is not uncommon for clients to report a lack of emotional support from their parent or family due to a cultural belief that mental health problems are shameful or the client should be grateful for the opportunities their parent has worked so hard to give them. Bicultural clients and clients who are second-generation immigrants (have at least one parent who is foreign born), may face pressure to achieve “the American Dream,” resulting in the felt inability to show any perceived weakness or vulnerability, in the fear it may upset their parent. This can contribute to a sense of isolation in the client.
It’s important for bicultural individuals to seek connections with friends or groups that value diversity and who can relate to their unique world views. This can feel incredibly affirming. Appearing ethnically ambiguous to others does not equal being less-than or too much. It has nothing to do with one’s value or worth as a person. Being bicultural provides individuals with the ability to see both sides, the shades of grey. They often have a unique ability to value and appreciate cultural differences and build community.
How Therapy Can Help
As someone who grew up in Oregon, it was hard finding a therapist who looked like me and could understand what it is like being bicultural. It comes with unique challenges that have a significant impact on your mental health and well-being. Navigating work, school, friendships, family, systems, and messages from society and media is a lot to process and deal with. As a therapist, I understand how important it is to recognize these challenges and provide culturally responsive care.
Therapy is empowering. It supports social justice because it provides a safe and supportive environment for you to explore your experiences, emotions, and reactions. By validating your experiences, you regain your sense of agency and control. Therapy also helps you identify and challenge oppressive systems and develop strategies to advocate for yourself and your communities. This contributes to greater social justice and equity by promoting the well-being and empowerment of marginalized individuals and communities. Contact me to schedule a free consultation to learn if therapy can help you.
Therapy for Teens & Young Adults
I have a passion and years of experience working with teens, families, and young adults. Teens and young adults are discovering who they are as individuals, apart from their family. This creates tension and conflict within families when they lack the support and skills to communicate, problem solve, and cope effectively. Teens and young adults benefit from therapy for these common issues:
Coping with school stress
Navigating friendships and dating
Life changes and transitions
Coping with family dynamics, parental divorce, and family conflict
Self-esteem, depression, anxiety
Body image issues
Disordered eating
Identity
Feelings of isolation
As a therapist, I understand how important it is to recognize these challenges and provide compassionate guidance and helpful tools. In therapy, teens and young adults will learn:
How to cope with difficult emotions
Assertive communication skills
How to set and maintain healthy boundaries
How to take accountability for mistakes
Problem solving skills
Positive self-talk and self-compassion
How to understand and integrate values
Conflict resolution skills
Establishing mutual respect and trust with the teens and young adults I work with is important. Contact me to learn whether therapy can help.
