It can be hard to find reliable information on the internet, especially when it comes to mental health. I want to make sure that you have a sense of who is writing the things on this blog so that you can a) understand my perspective and biases and b) (hopefully) feel confident in the things I’m sharing with you! This does not mean that I am perfect or always right, but that you know where my knowledge comes from.

Before any discussion of my experience or credentials, allow me to tell you a little bit about myself.

I am a Chicana, first-generation college student in my mid-twenties who is deeply passionate about sharing about the things my family and ancestors did not have access to, but which I was able to learn about thanks to them. At the same time, whiteness has benefited me in many different ways. As I grow as a mental health professional and healer, I am working to decolonize my work and consistently commit to antiracism and abolitionism. These are values that I am committed to working on, but I am not an expert, therefore I will not position myself as an expert or attempt to provide knowledge in these areas. Please listen to Black and Indigenous leaders in these areas (blog post on this to come! - it will be linked in the future).

I would also like to acknowledge that as a mental health professional, I work within a highly oppressive system and within fields of practice which have and continue to uphold white supremacy, classism, sexism, and colonialism, as well as harms the LGBTQIAS+ community. I cannot separate myself from this harm as I continue to work in these fields, but I am committed to challenging my own practice in order to better serve every individual I work with.

I am also the oldest of four children. I have a dog who stole my heart the day I adopted him. I love my family, friends, community, and my partner. I am learning to process and live with my own experiences with trauma and how they impact me and my circles of loved ones around me. I love to feel things deeply, and yet I am still learning not to deny myself the space to do so. I feel at peace in nature. I love to get lost in books.

This is just a peek into how I hope to approach my own work and this blog! I hope to share more with you through blog posts and other content.

So now: what do I even know?

Well, I’m still learning. My Bachelor’s degrees are in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Denver, where I graduated in 2018. From there, I pursued my Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and graduated in 2020 into the global pandemic. While in my social work program, I specialized in Advanced Clinical Practice with Children, Youth & Families, with the goal of supporting youth & families in navigating impacts and aftershocks of trauma.

Since completing my MSW, I have worked as the Executive Director for Clio, an organization focused on supporting older adults who were isolated during the pandemic in connecting with other community members through phone calls. I then spent 2 years at a community mental health center where I provided Trauma Systems Therapy to families in their homes. Since then, I’ve been working in private practice focused on providing accessible trauma therapy to the community. I am now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who provides individual, couple’s and family therapy to people of all ages while also supervising interns who are pursuing their graduate degrees in mental health.

In an effort to continue bettering myself as a therapist, I have completed an a Certified Clinicial Trauma Professional (CCTP), Certified in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (C-DBT), and am trained in Eye Movement and Desensitization Therapy (EMDR). I am also in the second year of my training to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), which takes a body-focused approach to working with trauma symptoms. As I seek to expand my training, I also love the approaches offered by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Narrative Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT).

I am also wrapping up my second master’s degree in Research Methods & Statistics. It might sound weird to be focused on mental health and then like research and statistics. One of my passions in research is to use research to empower communities and study issues that are relevant to the everyday challenges we face within those communities. I look forward to sharing more on this once I finalize my program!

While I am excited to add depth to my knowledge as a therapist, I also want to name that therapy cannot substitute the systemic change we need and deserve. At the same time, I recognize that accessing mental health services and information is costly, clinicians are spread too thin, and many of us may not know where to start. So, I’ve decided to share the books I’m reading, the insights I’m learning, and point you in the right direction you further your knowledge on mental health.

You can learn more about me on my LinkedIn page and I’m always happy to answer questions or hear about what you’re thinking. My hope is to bring a critical lens to books and materials related to trauma and mental health, in order to share what might be helpful and what might not be. (Plus, I love reading and sometimes I need a little help with accountability :) ). While I am not your therapist (full disclaimer here), I do hope to make information about mental health more accessible.

Thanks for taking the time to learn a little bit about me! I truly truly hope that this blog will be useful to you. If at any time you have questions or if you have concerns, please don’t hesitate to connect with me.

Thank you for being here!

With much love & gratitude,

Marie