Professional Counseling in English Lisbon & Mafra · Portugal
Professional Counseling in English Lisbon & Mafra · Portugal
About Us
Two California-licensed Marriage & Family Therapists, now building a counseling practice in Portugal
With over 30 years of combined clinical experience, Steven & Arlette Kassel bring warmth, depth, and practical expertise to their work with individuals, couples, and families adjusting to life in a new country.
Our Story
After decades practicing in California, we made the decision to permanently relocate to Portugal and build something new: a counseling practice for the English-speaking community here, grounded in the same clinical rigor we brought to our US practices.
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Arlette & Steven Kassel, Lda is being developed as a long-term Portuguese professional practice whose activities include counseling, educational programs, workshops, and professional consultation. We are committed to establishing lasting professional relationships within Portugal while contributing to emotional well-being through counseling, education, and continued professional development.
Why Portugal?
A country built for the life we wanted to help others build
We chose Portugal for many of the same reasons our clients do: a genuine welcome for international residents, a pace of life that leaves room to actually live it, and a growing, connected community of expatriates, immigrants, and digital nomads putting down roots here.
Building our practice in Lisbon & Mafra let us do something we couldn't do from a distance — be part of the community we serve, not just available to it. We see clients in person, shop at the same mercados, navigate the same paperwork, and are building a life here for the long term, not passing through.
The Cultural Shift
We understand the shift because we're living it too
What we've learned firsthand
Relocating — even by choice, even later in life, even with resources and preparation — is disorienting. The small daily frictions add up: a new language, new systems, new distances from the people and routines that used to hold you steady. We know that from the inside now, not just from a textbook.
What that means for our clients
It means we don't treat "culture shock" as a footnote. Identity shifts, loneliness, friction in a mixed-nationality relationship, the strange grief of missing a life you chose to leave — these are central to the work we do with individuals, couples, and families building a life in a new country.
Meet Steven
Steven Kassel, MA, LMFT, BCB, BCN
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (California, USA) · Board Certified in Biofeedback (BCB) & Neurofeedback (BCN), Biofeedback Certification International Alliance
Steven has been a California-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 1992, with Board Certifications in Biofeedback (1985) and Neurofeedback (1992). Combining these approaches, he has spent 40+ years working with trauma, ADD, pain and stress-related concerns, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues — helping clients self-regulate, improve relationships, and reduce mind-body difficulties.
Couples looking to improve communication, reconnect, and move past destructive patterns often find quick progress in his work. He has brought state-of-the-art biofeedback and neurofeedback instruments to Portugal, and has published and lectured on two areas of particular interest: integrating biofeedback in the classroom, and pioneering "Interpersonal-Biofeedback" — combining biofeedback with family-systems couples work.
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Meet Arlette
Arlette Kassel, MA, LMFT, ATR
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (California, USA) · Registered Art Therapist
Arlette is a California-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Art Therapist with almost 20 years of experience providing compassionate, integrative mental health care to individuals, couples, and families. She specializes in supporting adults navigating life transitions, anxiety, relationship issues, and creative blocks, drawing on a deep foundation in systems work, mindfulness, and expressive arts.
Arlette holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from Phillips Graduate Institute in California and is licensed by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). She is also credentialed as an Art Therapist through the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB). Her work blends traditional counseling approaches with creative and experiential methods tailored to each client's needs, alongside concrete skills for lasting change.
Ready to get started?
Book a free 15–20 minute consultation call with either Steven or Arlette to see if our approach is a good fit for your needs.