Oregon Counseling Association (ORCA), Portland, OR (2026)

10/17/2026

Speaker Spotlight!

ORCA presents:

Carrie Farrell LPC LMT, on "The Life I Lost and the Life I'm Learning to Live: Grief, Identity, and Recovery After Chronic Illness, Pain, Amputation, or Brain Injury"

Carrie brings over 25 years of study and individual practice in embodiment, mindfulness, relationship, and change. Her unique and inspired approach from a somatic and therapeutic/bodywork perspective will undoubtedly enlighten us all on the fascinating connection between body and mind through a grieving process and how we as professional counselors can navigate these experiences in session. We are so thrilled to have you, Carrie! Looking forward to seeing you all there! Registration link in bio for our fall mini conference!

10/16/2026

Speaker Spotlight!!

ORCA proudly presents:

Audrianna Gurra, speaking on a topic that is very close to many of our hearts:

"The Grief We Don't Name: Counseling Menopause-Related Loss, Identity, and Transition"

Menopause is a mystery for many (myself included!) Audrianna Gurr brings expertise and decades of experience to guide us toward the enrichment needed to navigate grief in this capacity, both as professional counselors and in our own lives. We are looking forward to hearing all the speakers who have been selected to discuss grief in all its mysterious and often wild ways at our mini fall conference. We would love to see you there!

Register through the "links" button in our bio, or copy here:

https://or-counseling.org/event-6835041

DM me (Haley Dean, Communications Chair for ORCA) with any questions regarding the conference, or reach out to us at: or-counseling.org

Take care of yourself! ❤️

10/15/2026

Speaker Spotlight!

Kyira Wackett, MA LPC, will be presenting on:

"The Grief We Keep Trying to Fix: Radical Acceptance, Shame, and Making Space for What Cannot Be Changed"

All of us over here at ORCA are deeply moved by Kyira's presentation topic, and we hope to share space alongside you as we learn how to navigate these different forms of grief in session (and in our own lives!). We can't wait to see you there!

Registration link in bio, or copy here:

https://or-counseling.org/event-6835041

Adversity Rising, LLC

10/14/2026

We are so excited to see you all at the fall mini conference! Tickets are selling fast and we'd love to see you there! Registration link:
https://or-counseling.org/event-6835041
COPACT Oregon SAIGE Oregon Mental Health

01/27/2026

Dear ORCA members and conference attendees,

As a Board, we want to take the time to acknowledge the recent news and public actions that the Hilton corporation has taken as they relate to our upcoming spring conference. We have heard concerns voiced by our members and conference attendees regarding our scheduled conference at the Hilton in Downtown Portland.

As a Board tasked to represent our members and counselors in Oregon and across the country, we know that the decisions we make are important ones and we want to be clear that we do not support Hilton’s actions to support ICE and we do not support the violent actions that ICE has taken across the country. We will always do our best to align our investments with our values. Hilton’s recent actions deeply concern us and will have an impact on where we choose to host our annual conference moving forward.

We thank everyone who has reached out and shared their concerns. Our contracts and payments to this site had already been finalized months before this incident and unfortunately we are locked in and would receive a significant penalty if we were to pull out or switch locations. The financial impacts would ultimately stretch past ORCA as we are also responsible for the financial support of COPACT, ORSAIGE, and OACES - our branch divisions that also continue to support Oregon counselors. Under our contract, ORCA, and not Hilton, would assume the costs for the cancelled reservations.

While we are unable to change our venue for this conference, here are the steps we are taking to continue to support our community members:

We will provide relevant and up to date information on how we can protect ourselves and our community during this time at the conference

We will be making a donation to the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition (PIRC) in order to aid the work they have been doing to protect our community

We will continue to never collect or share private and sensitive attendee information

Any attendee registration info that is collected will never be shared with anyone outside of ORCA

If at any point during the conference you have concerns, please let a Board member know so that we can quickly work with you to ensure that our conference is meaningful and positively impactful for you. We will keep our members informed and encourage everyone to share any new or developing information related to this topic with us so that we can continue to do what we can to keep our members safe.

Sincerely,

The Oregon Counseling Association

Eddie (Jose Eduardo) Carrillo, MA LPC
President, Oregon Counseling Association (ORCA)
Pronouns: he/him/his

"Empowering a profession, one counselor at a time."

Address

Portland, OR
97208

Telephone

+15037227119

Website

http://www.or-counseling.org/

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