Rita Downs
Therapist grounded in practical, strength-based care
- Credentials
- LPC
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed in
- Oregon
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Rita
Rita Downs is a licensed professional counselor in Oregon with 25 years of experience in clinical and behavioral health settings. She focuses on practical help for stress, anxiety, addictions, depression, parenting struggles, and change-related concerns. Rita speaks plainly and offers steady support for people who feel stuck or overwhelmed.
She believes clients know their stories best and builds on their strengths as therapy moves forward. Rita uses clear, goal-oriented methods in sessions.
Background and approach
She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot thoughts and behaviors that keep problems alive. She also uses Motivational Interviewing techniques to help people find their own reasons to change. When trauma or painful history is central, she brings trauma-focused work into the conversation.
Sessions are conversational and focused on what matters now. Rita helps clients set small, doable goals and checks progress each week. She avoids jargon and explains tools before asking someone to try them in daily life.
Her practice also addresses related issues such as grief, anger, self-esteem, ADHD, bipolar challenges, and career transitions. Additional attention is given to aging and geriatric issues, blended family concerns, caregiver stress, and substance use problems. Rita’s approach combines experience with practical steps that people can use between sessions.
Rita holds the LPC credential - Licensed Professional Counselor - and brings a long background in behavioral health work. She works with clients in English and provides multiple online session formats to fit different schedules.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening, respect, and working at the client’s pace. It helps people feel heard while identifying what they want to change. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions interact. It breaks problems into steps and teaches practical strategies to shift unhelpful patterns.Choosing a therapeutic approach happens together. Rita will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and suggest methods that fit. That plan can change over time depending on what is helpful and what the client prefers.
Online sessions use video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. These formats let people fit work around busy schedules, revisit ideas in writing, or use voice when that feels easier. Licensed professionals can adapt exercises and homework for each format so clients can practice tools between sessions.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Motivational Interviewing
A way of working through mixed feelings about change without being pushed. The therapist helps you weigh things up and find your own reasons, which often makes a difficult decision feel less stuck.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Parenting issues
Also works with
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Impulsivity
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- Oregon
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Rita
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point