Karen Michelle Corona

Karen Corona is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in private practice based in Portland, Oregon. She specializes in providing trauma therapy to women in order to heal and restore emotional well-being. She is specifically dedicated to helping women release ‘emotional burdens’ related to the effects of childhood trauma in the form of emotional abuse or neglect and family of origin dysfunction.

The clients she works with often have developed strategies to distance from emotional pain through self-medicating with alcohol or food. Some of the common issues include: anxiety, perfectionism, control, people-pleasing, an active inner critic, problems regulating emotions, ‘mood swings’, shame, feeling ‘emotionally flooded’ when triggered, and shut down states associated with depression.

Karen integrates Expressive Arts Therapy (EXA) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) as her central approach to treat trauma. With expressive arts therapy, she uses writing/journaling, visual arts, and music for therapeutic purposes. Internal Family Systems is an evidence-based treatment for trauma resolution. In the healing process, emotional burdens may be released along with faulty beliefs about oneself that perpetuate inner turmoil and pain. There is a newfound inner freedom.

Her therapeutic style is one of warmth, compassion, creativity, and deep respect for the individual on a healing journey. She incorporates both insight-based interventions as well as offering practical tools in her work with clients. She values the therapeutic relationship as being an important catalyst for healing and change. Creating a safe space for one to explore and communicate thoughts and feelings is of utmost importance to her.

She offers both in-person sessions at her Portland office location and online sessions to individuals residing in both Oregon (OR) and California (CA) where she is currently licensed as a therapist.