This group of local mental health providers is changing the way the industry does business

Working with a mental health provider who understands you can be life changing, and clients at Willamette Wellness Center have the experiences to prove it.  

“I never thought I would be able to fall asleep in two minutes, but I can now — and it’s incredible!”  

  “I haven’t obsessed about food or my pant size for the past three days, and I can’t remember that ever happening in my life,” 

“I was convinced that if I told someone my secret I would be hated and alone. But now I realize that telling my story is the key to unlocking my freedom.”

These are just some of Castine Friberg’s memories of past clients’ breakthrough moments that speak to the groundbreaking holistic approach at Willamette Wellness Center (WWC). Serving Oregon and Washington, Willamette Wellness Center is a group of online local mental health professionals redefining the industry — and helping their clients heal — from the inside out. As Clinical Director, and Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Friberg brings her empathy, knowledge and years of experience to help support Willamette Wellness Center’s growing team of clinicians, who are changing the lives of their clients every day.  

Willamette Wellness Center is different from other mental health providers because they are centered on trauma-informed care.  

“Trauma-informed care means approaching each individual with both curiosity and compassion, leaving assumptions and judgments at the door,” explained Friberg.  

Whether clients struggle with an anxiety, depression, eating disorders, PTSD, Bi-Polar, neurodivergency, LGBTQ+ needs or life transitions, treating each client as a whole person with a unique history has been essential to the trauma-informed philosophy of Willamette Wellness Center. The Center provides online therapy and medication management for teens age 14 and older, couples and individuals seeking care. 

Founder Arin Wallington reflected, “we want to take care of our patients on the humanistic level.” 

After 24 years of experience in the mental health industry, including nonprofit and community mental health clinical work, owning her own private practice, founding Willamette Wellness Center, and now working as a consultant for other clinicians and mental health businesses, Wallington’s unique vision for Wilamette Wellness Center has drawn clinicians with a wide variety of specialties. The team employs a “no stone left unturned” approach to care, meaning their clinicians are trained in highly sought after advanced trauma therapies such as EMDR, Internal Family Systems, DBT and many others. 

Wallington stated “if there is a therapeutic technique showing evidence-based efficacy in peer reviewed research in the treatment of trauma, we want to know about it and we want to be trained in it.” 

In an industry where clinician burn-out has reached unprecedented levels, Willamette Wellness Center also prioritizes supporting their staff as both people and professionals in order to cultivate the highest level of care possible for their clients, including four-day work weeks, low caseload numbers (24 patients a week is full time), higher than industry standard pay and robust benefits for staff.  

Wallington said of her success in growing her business: “we all know that corporate pizza parties don’t create higher levels of morale or increase self-care; actually increasing therapists’ standards for living increases their overall satisfaction. The evidence of this is better outcomes for patients as well as staff. We have staff who are well rested, highly trained and excited to do the work, and clients are the direct beneficiary of these policies.” 

Willamette Wellness Center is both cash pay and insurance-based, and uses HIPAA-compliant Electronic Health Record System and telehealth platforms to provide services. Being online allows clients in any region of Oregon and Washington to access care, a benefit that patients say gives them greater access to WWC therapists and med providers. 

The Center’s care model allows clinicians to continue to take ongoing advanced trauma trainings, and receive support from internal supervisors and peer support groups, as Friberg explained, “the number one goal for me as the clinical director is to provide structure and support that empowers our clinicians to be who they are and to do the incredible work that they do.”

Scott Pieper recently joined Willamette Wellness Center’s team as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, where he works with clients to help manage medication. Traditionally, patients must wade through the oftentimes mindboggling process of liaising between mental health and primary care physicians to help fine tune medications, on top of dealing with the symptoms and side effects. Pieper’s unique role at Willamette Wellness Center allows him to work effortlessly alongside therapists and collaborate with clients to find what works for them, relieving clients of this burden and the feeling like they are being pressured to follow a regiment that isn’t right for them.  

“A lot of medicine these days can feel very impersonal and traumatizing in of itself,” said Pieper.  

For him, trauma-informed care means helping clients feel like themselves again and define their own goals for treatment. 

“The backbone of our practice is to create a safe space where people feel comfortable reaching out and talking about these sensitive and deep issues,” he explained. “And more importantly, they have a positive enough experience that they want to keep coming back. That’s how healing happens.” 

Willamette Wellness Center has current openings and supports people of all backgrounds, including those from BIPOC, marginalized communities, veterans, and those who identify as LGBTQIA+. Hope for a better tomorrow begins at Willamette Wellness Center, where a network of clinicians is ready to offer support to anyone. 

About Willamette Wellness Center  

Willamette Wellness Center is a group of knowledgeable mental health clinicians living and working in Oregon and Washington.  Together, they believe all people deserve to be treated with kindness, respect and value, especially as they navigate the healing process.  Patients looking to begin care can complete a new client form on the WWC website at: https://wwcpdx.com/new-clients/ and a member of the WWC admin team will reach out for scheduling options. Clinicians and prescribers looking to join the WWC team can apply on the Center’s website career page.