“I’m Judith (pronounced zhoo-DEET) Faustima, a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with over 10 years of experience working with adolescents and families. My passion for mental health began when I reflected on my own teenage years—struggling with depression and anxiety, unaware of how racial identity development, racism, microaggressions, hypervigilance, and assimilation were impacting my mental health and body. My experiences with generational trauma—both systemic and within my family system—contributed to my depression and a sense of vacant esteem. The privileges I now hold—through class, education, and geography—came with many sacrifices that were complex and difficult to understand in my personal journey. My healing has required a deep process of unlearning and relearning around gender, race, religion, sex, ethnicity, spirituality, class, and ability. This process has created—and continues to create—opportunities for me to return to myself, reconnect with ancestral knowledge, and feel a sense of wholeness. This reconnection has empowered me to move forward as my most authentic self.The journey I’ve been on is what I desire for those I work with: a reconnection to self, presence, and community.

I specialize in working with adolescents, parent/child dynamics, and families involved in adoption—primarily transracial adoption. I also specialize in clinical supervision that centers systemic and cultural awareness, as well as program development focused on the unique needs of BIPOC populations. I believe in using a trauma-informed and systemic lens in therapy because it continues to be what supports liberation and healing. As a systems therapist, I operate from a worldview that acknowledges we are part of systems that center relational dynamics and our connection to nature. Understanding our attachment styles and sense of self is essential to how we heal within relationships.

My therapeutic approach is rooted in Intergenerational Family Therapy, but I also draw from Compassionate Inquiry, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Liberation Psychology, Polyvagal Theory, Internal Family Systems, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I aim to create a warm, supportive environment where clients feel empowered to explore their challenges and develop new coping strategies.I am deeply committed to the decolonizing work needed in the field of mental health to support healing services that meet the needs of communities that have been historically marginalized and impacted by societal trauma.

I hold a Master’s in Marriage & Family Therapy and am currently a doctoral candidate in a Marriage and Family Therapy program specializing in program development, evaluation and monitoring. I received additional training in foster care and adoption from Portland State University. I also bring experience from working in Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare programs as a nature-based therapist and Family Program Manager for parents with adolescents in residential treatment. As an AAMFT Approved Clinical Supervisor, I have had over five years of experience providing clinical supervision to graduate-level mental health students in accredited counseling programs. I also work as a program and operations director at a nonprofit creating wellness programming for BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ youth and families that center healing and environmental justice.

Outside of the office, I pour my energy into nonprofit and community work that aligns with my values. I love the arts—live music, theater, film festivals, and art shows. Acting and singing bring me joy, which is why you might catch me in a local community theater play! I also love spending time with my beautiful kitty king, Okoye, and cherishing moments with my village of loved ones