Nori Valdez Gruber

Noreen (Nori) Valdez Gruber is the Clinic Director of the Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds dual board certification as a National Certified Counselor (NCC) and a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor (CCMHC) through the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). A 2011 alumna of the Graduate School, Nori is delighted to assist trainees in the process of starting their professional careers as counselors and to support the daily operations of the Center.

Nori’s career in community-based mental health has involved multifarious professional opportunities since 2008. She initially worked with adult clients through Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams to support vulnerable individuals living in the community. She also served as a civil commitment investigator and collaborated with legal teams, law enforcement, medical professionals, the Oregon State Hospital and long-term residential sites to facilitate acute stabilization and community reintegration for vulnerable adults. Nori then transitioned to her true passion of working with children and families, serving as a crisis/flight team therapist, elementary school-based therapist and as a K-12 school threat assessment investigator — in which she worked with law enforcement and school administrators to identify and mitigate risks of violence on school campuses. In addition to her community agency work, she has also maintained private practice, been an adjunct instructor and clinical Placement Coordinator at Lewis & Clark, and worked as a behaviorist in an outpatient primary care medical clinic. Nori’s clinical interests include, but are not limited to, violence risk assessment, suicide prevention, critical incident debriefing, disaster psychology, vicarious trauma and burnout, bereavement, and management of anxiety/mood disorders.

Nori received her MA in 2011 from Lewis & Clark College and her BA in 2005 from Western Oregon University.