About A Better Way Counseling Center

A Better Way Counseling Center is a state certified mental health center and was established in 1997. The Center was founded by David Leventer, LPC, LMFT, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor. He has been counseling families, couples and individuals for over fifteen years and has worked in a variety of settings including hospitals, family agencies, and counseling centers such as the Women's Counseling Center and the Men's Resource Center. He designed the eating disorder treatment and the family counseling program at the Center specifically to meet the needs of the Portland community.

Other providers at the Center include Valeria Lewandoski, LCSW, clinical supervisor, Julie Berman, MA, MFA and Toni Bellinger, LPC, LMFT.

Julie Berman is a Professional Counselor who specializes in eating disorders. She completed her Masters Degree in counseling at the Counseling Psychology Program at Lewis and Clark College. She has worked with individuals in both hospital and college counseling centers. She also has an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College, taught writing at New York University and is a published author.  She works with a wide range of people with a special focus in women from adolescence through adulthood.  Incorporating writing, art, and various forms of creativity into a therapeutic setting is integral to her approach.

Toni Bellinger is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has worked for over 10 years in the mental health field. She has worked with eating disorders for over five years. She has worked in a church home for women in crisis, an addictions program, a school setting as a school counselor and in locked facilities for chronic mental illness such as Telecare Recovery Center in Gresham and also California.

Valeria Lewandoski is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been the Center's clinical supervisor since 1997. She presently is also the director of the Grotto Counseling Center, and has worked with adults, children and families for over 25 years.

They bring expertise to A Better Way Counseling Center in providing individual psychotherapy, couples therapy, family therapy, group counseling and counseling about career concerns.

Our staff is also available to provide training and inservices to other professionals in the areas of eating disorders, family therapy, recovery from chemical dependency, anger management and violence intervention counseling.

Contact us for further information about our programs. We would also be happy to send you a free pamphlet that describes our steps to recovery from eating disorders.

A Better Way Counseling Center
818 NW 17th Avenue, Suite 8
Portland, Oregon 97209
(503) 226-9061