This Is Our Story

Who We Are

Willamette Wellness Center (WWC) is a group of knowledgeable mental health clinicians living and working in Oregon and Washington. Together, we believe all people deserve to be treated with kindness, respect and value, especially as they navigate the healing process.

The Willamette Valley is an ideal location for our work. The land helps us feel connected, grounded and supported as our clients and therapists focus on growth and change.

WELLNESS is holistic, involving many aspects of who you are including: life events, family, culture, ancestral knowledge, race, gender, identities, beliefs + past, present, and future intentions you have for yourself.

At the CENTER of our group’s work is the common idea — you have the ability and desire to heal, (after all, something brought you to us), and you are the expert on you.

Every human being is unique — with an important story to share. Now more than ever, as our society experiences exponential increases in stress, it is important that our clinicians take the time to help people heal with professionalism that goes beyond minimum expectations.

To heal wounds takes time, care, a gifted professional and a gentle touch. We have created steps to try and ensure this experience is what all our clients feel; comfortable, safe, and empowered, including:

First interactions with our friendly administrative staff
Assistance with matching with a WWC therapist who best fits your needs
Two introductory, intake sessions, with highly-trained therapists so you feel truly heard and never rushed in the process

Wellness is not a singular and definitive end-goal, it involves recovering a balance that all of us desire. Much like a compass knows how to find true north, your internal system yearns to heal and stabilize.

We will help point you in the right direction.

Words From Our Founder

Arin Wallington, MA, LPC, LMHC, NCC

Welcome to Willamette Wellness Center, we are glad you are here!

My name is Arin Wallington (she/they) and I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon, a Licensed Mental Health Clinician in Washington, and a Nationally Certified Clinician. I was born and raised here in the Pacific Northwest and being able to support my community for its mental health needs is truly an honor.

I received my BS in Psychology from Oregon State University in 2000 and my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from George Fox University in 2011. I am an EMDR Certified Clinician, Level 1 IFS therapist, and I am trained in MDMA therapy through the MAPS Foundation. For 24 years I have been involved in different aspects of the psychology field including non-profit and community mental health work as a clinician, owning my own private practice, creating Willamette Wellness Center, and consultation services for other clinicians and groups.

I founded Willamette Wellness Center in the hope that I could create a space to work alongside local clinicians who were dedicated to the tenants of trauma-informed care; where clients can feel heard, valued, cared for, safe, respected, seen and empowered. We believe care is crucial not just for our clients but also for our staff, and we employ measures to care for our clinicians including having 4 day work weeks, lowered case loads, plenty of support within WWC, and higher than average industry pay. The old adage “you can’t fill someone else’s cup if yours is dry” is something we teach our patients but also institute at WWC as necessary self care.

Willamette Wellness Center sets itself apart in the mental health field as being known in the community as a group therapy practice that believes that clients deserve to be treated holistically, that they are not just symptoms, but a story and we need to hear the past, present, and future of a person in order to truly help in their journey of healing.

WWC takes every step to acknowledge the power differential between client and therapist, to try and assist our clients in feeling that their therapist is here to assist and support them, without judgement or discrimination. WWC therapists are trained in advanced trauma therapies to be able to better support a wide variety of symptoms and diagnoses. We believe that continual training is key to a successful outcome in therapy, but equally as important is the relationship built between client and therapist.

Our staff is comprised of the communities we serve. Willamette Wellness staff includes members of the LGBTQ+ population, Veterans, multi-lingual individuals, BIPOC, and other marginalized communities. We believe that creating safe places to heal and grow is essential for our clients and staff alike, in order to be able to truly do the work.

Thank you for taking time to learn about the mission of our center: to provide trauma informed care for our patients as well as our staff. I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes that truly speaks to my journey in helping others by American author, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Thank you,

Arin