Healing at Home, Leash in Hand

Paws and Reflect is a mental health therapy practice with an uncommon approach: the therapist comes to the client's home. The idea is straightforward — people open up more readily when they are comfortable, and few places feel more comfortable than home. Sessions can include therapy dogs brought by the practitioner herself, giving clients the grounding presence of an animal without having to arrange anything on their own.

For clients who have dogs of their own, Paws and Reflect goes a step further. The practice can weave dog training into a therapy session, and bill insurance for that combined care. The thinking behind it runs deep: our dogs, the founder explains, are a reflection of what is happening inside us. Anxiety, tension, distraction — all of it travels down the leash. Learning to calm the body is not just good for the person; it shapes the dog's behavior, too.

The language the founder uses to describe her work is telling. She talks about holding up a lantern and walking side by side with clients through difficult stretches — not leading, not pushing, but accompanying. That orientation toward presence over prescription seems to be at the center of what Paws and Reflect is trying to offer people in Lane County who are struggling.

When asked what keeps her in Lane County, the answer comes quickly and runs in every direction: beach, mountains, north, south. She describes being within a couple of hours of every seasonal sport there is, and singles out water as something that matters to her deeply — and to her dogs. It is the kind of place, she suggests, that makes it a little easier to do hard work, because restoration is never very far away.