Contact

➤ LOCATIONS

2250 NW Flanders St.
Suite 300
Portland, OR 97210

Boulder, Colorado

☎ CONTACT

k.pom.lcsw@gmail.com
(503) 781-0924

Biography

Kar Pomerantz LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker currently in private practice in both Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado. Kar graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology and Fine Arts from The University of Colorado at Boulder and later earned a Master's Degree in Clinical Social Work at New York University. She has also received advanced training in individual psychotherapy at the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center.

Kar has engaged in a wide range of clinical experiences, including treating adolescents in wilderness therapy, counseling children on an inpatient psychiatric unit, counseling returning combat veterans at the Portland VA Medical Center, and providing therapy at Reed College’s Health and Counseling Center. Kar also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa in 2002 to provide and improve systemic Public Health education efforts. Kar is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the Oregon Psychoanalytic Center, and the American Psychoanalytic Association.

In her clinical practice, Kar specializes in providing individual psychotherapy to adolescents and adults. As a therapist, her main focus is to work collaboratively with clients to develop a strong therapeutic alliance, enhance and redefine personal narratives, and cultivate compassion and mindfulness in everyday life. Accordingly, she approaches her work through a developmental, multicultural, and attachment-based lens.

WHY THERAPY?

The purpose of therapy is to increase an individual’s sense of his or her own well-being. In addition, therapy can help people make healthy changes and make progress in their lives. The development of self-awareness and insight is a big step in achieving these changes.

I believe that people try their utmost to make the best choices they can in life. However, people are sometimes limited by negative assumptions they have concluded about themselves, which can be both detrimental and self-destructive. Therapy gives people the opportunity to examine these assumptions, understand their origins, modify them if necessary, and make better choices in their lives.

WHEN TO SEEK THERAPY

The choice to seek therapy is different for everyone, but ultimately, a time to begin therapy is when you are feeling stuck in life and are curious about exploring and understanding yourself in a deeper way. You might be struggling with one or more of the following symptoms: anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessions and compulsions. In addition, you may be experiencing repetitive patterns of disappointment in relationships, seeming lethargic and unmotivated, struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, experiencing physical complaints that might be manifestations of underlying emotional conflict, suffering from symptoms related to a history of physical or sexual abuse, or coping with personal losses and transitions. These are all examples of times when consultation with a therapist can be extremely helpful.