Oriana Korol, LCSW

Relationship Centered Therapy for Youth, Families and Adults

I believe we heal by connecting with others, nature, and our selves.

Background

I received my undergraduate degree in Earth and Environmental Science and worked as a Wilderness Therapy field guide and as a mentor at various nature connection and wilderness schools. In 2019, I completed my Masters in Social Work with a concentration in Children, Youth and Families at Portland State University. I continue to blend nature connection with therapy. In my free time, I track animals, listen to bird language and make baskets. 

I have training and experience in working with foster, adopted, LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent youth. I specialize in helping individuals and families recover from the impacts of trauma, generational trauma and systemic trauma (including mental health systems).

Land Acknowledgment

I live and work on land that is the rightful homeland of the Clackamas, Cowlitz, Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Native People who have always lived here and continue to do so. This land was forcefully taken by the U.S. government and continues to be occupied: it is held and sold as private property inhabited by and profiting settlers. I recognize my role in this settler colonial oppression and work toward unsettling this land.  

I also recognize that the field of mental health is inseparably intertwined with white supremacy: justification of racism, genocide, cultural suppression, and cultural erasure. While I make significant efforts to challenge my beliefs, attitudes, and actions, the legacy of these injustices impacts my efforts and continues to harm Native and Indigenous peoples and people of color. Working within a system built on racist ideology means that I use language and diagnoses that are harmful to cultures that do not align with the medical model.  There has not been necessary reconciliation for the harm and wrongdoing that has occurred and continues to occur. I continue to work toward improving my ability to provide anti-racist therapy and make ecotherapy accessible to people of color.

I recognize that this acknowledgement is a necessary and imperfect step toward healing relationships ruptured by continued settler colonialism and white supremacist practice and ideology. This statement will continue to change and evolve as I grow in my knowledge and awareness around how to unsettle this land and my relationships.