Kai Carli
(they/them)
Registered Counselor Associate
Provisional Registered Art Therapist
It's time to reconnect with yourself through creative therapies that integrate body, mind, emotion, and environment - all within a safe and nonjudgemental space! Working with evidence-supported psychotherapy methods, somatics-based approaches, AND expressing therapeutics continuum - there is no better place than here with Kai Carli to start healing what needs tending to reclaim your power!
Specializing in:
Art Therapy
Identity Exploration
LGBTQA+ Issues
ADHD & ASD
Complex Trauma
Grief & Loss
ENM & Poly Lifestyles
Spirituality
Nervous System Regulation
About Me.
Hi, I’m Kai, a queer, non-binary, kinky, poly person. As an academic, I made a point to study up so I could serve the communities I hold near and dear; the kinky, the queer, and my neurodivergent comrades.
I completed my MA in art therapy from Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Counseling Psychology in Portland, Oregon. My academic research addressed trauma's physiological and cognitive impacts and how to regulate the nervous system using expressive interventions. I received my BA from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where I majored in psychology and fine arts.
Outside academics, I have professionally trained as a yoga facilitator and completed 350 hours of training in yogic practices and trauma-informed facilitation. Currently, I am completing a psilocybin facilitator training in the state of Oregon and plan on incorporating psilocybin therapy into my offerings.
I have the capacity and expertise to implement various expressive, somatic, and psychotherapeutic interventions to help you explore your therapeutic goals.
In my downtime, I can be found practicing what I preach.
I have a consistent yoga practice, which includes asana, pranayama, and explorations of the eight limbs of yoga. I am in the ecstatic dance community here in Portland and teach at local yoga studios. I practice many forms of art; ceramic sculpture and pottery, crochet and fiber arts, painting, and mixed media — it fills up a lot of time… and space in my life. As a queer-kinky person, I can sometimes be found at lifestyle spaces for events and classes and enjoying the PNW with my partners and friends. I am a cat parent to four spoiled kitties and am joyfully outnumbered: it is an overwhelming sense of chaotic good.
I believe life is meant to be lived, and I try to be present in my body and relationships each day.
About my approach to sessions:
I work from an existential-humanistic framework. This framework acknowledges that, as humans, we each find meaning in different ways, and through that sense of meaning, we find purpose and fulfillment within our lives. I integrate the tenets of harm-reduction models into my work – meaning that I recognize the role that substances, kink, and BDSM have within our culture and our identities, and work to help you achieve balance and stability in a way that suits your life. I utilize the expressive therapies continuum when facilitating art therapy to learn about your strengths and preferences. This helps me implement expressive interventions to help guide and inform our work together.
The foundation for my work comes from current research in neuroscience on polyvagal theory and the impacts of trauma on the nervous systems. Research shows that our bodies hold traumatic memories, whether from our lifetime or that of our ancestors, and that somatic and expressive modalities are key to helping us process the internalized feelings that are left over. Traumatic memories are encoded in the body via sensory input that happened during the event– our bodies remember, but our brains can lack the language needed to process and integrate the experience.
Clinically, I work from a top-down and bottom-up approach; this means I implement expressive, somatic, and psychotherapeutic approaches into our work together. Traditional psychotherapy relies heavily on top-down approaches– this method is cognitive, whereas expressive interventions work from the body and its sensory landscape. Art therapy can help you explore your inner world from multiple perspectives, allowing for greater integration and understanding.
As a practitioner, I firmly believe that each person is their own change agent and should be actively engaged in the therapeutic process for therapy to be successful. I will do everything I can to meet you where you are to support your goals and needs.
Maybe you hesitate to engage in talk-based therapies (whether from past traumas, uncertainty of how to share verbally, or are hesitant to begin therapy) and want to try a new way of engaging with personal healing, development, and growth in playful and curious ways. We might be a good fit!
Do you feel disconnected from your true self?
Do you want to step out of ways of being that no longer serves you?
Are you ready to get in touch with your authentic self?
Are you wanting to strengthen your communication and self-regulation skills?
Whether you are questioning your identity, healing from trauma, or want to develop your communications skills to empower yourself in your relationships— the only time is now.
At all stages of life we face challenges that exceed our capacity to respond, but we don’t have to endure the suffering alone. Many of us weren’t taught how to be functional humans, and were molded and formed by people and systems that didn’t have our best interest in mind.
We will work well if you are ready to make moves and step into your authentic self.
Registered Counselor Associate (#R8604) in the State of Oregon
Provisional Registered Art Therapist, Art Therapy Credentials Board
MA in Art Therapy (2023) Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Counseling
Supervised by Tamara Werner, LPC, OR #C4497