My name is Dr. Lauren Whitelaw, and I’m a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Portland, Oregon. A lively curiosity and a thirst to explore has led me from my pacific northwest roots to NYC for graduate school, practicing in urban NYC hospitals and onwards to working in the NHS and private practice in London, UK.  I greatly enjoy studying and keeping up-to-date with the research literature in clinical psychology as well as employing meditation in my daily life. I'm currently studying for a specialization in sex therapy. I’ve enjoyed deepening my ability to serve the whole of a person’s complex and beautiful self, and include sexuality as a fundamental part of that wholeness.

My therapy approach is an integration I’ve been actively working with and putting together since beginning my graduate school work in 2004. It’s an intentional blend of more modern, third wave therapies with a foundation in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) as well as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and is heavily influenced by psychodynamic traditions. I began my learning in CFT during an intensive weekend in Derby with Dr. Paul Gilbert teaching in 2011. Adding in the strength of heart and compassion to mindfulness practice was a revelation. Since then, my conviction has only grown that CFT is the capstone I'd been searching for to weave together the various evidence-based therapy modalities that I’m practiced in. I've continued to delve further into CFT; studying CFT books, keeping up with the thriving research literature and ongoing theoretical conversations in this community and attending one or two workshops per year (with inspirational teachers like Russell Kolts, Kelly Wilson, Kristin Neff, Chris Germer and multiple workshops with Dennis Tirch, Laura Silberstein and Paul Gilbert). All of these learning experiences as well as two enriching courses (in 2015 and 2017) in intensive group supervision with Dennis Tirch have helped me feel grounded and joyful in using CFT in my psychotherapy practice.