I'm a multi-cultural and multi-racial, immigrant woman living in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 18 years. I've dedicated most of my life to my healing journey. This is why it is an honor for me to continue the walk alongside many women who are ready to embark on a journey of growth and healing for themselves and their families.
Are you that woman?
Mariana's Expertise
Becoming a licensed psychotherapist required many years of practicing psychotherapy under extensive and rigorous supervision. I'm coming close to 15 years of professional experience all in capacities pertaining to mental health and with a wide range of populations diverse in a multitude of ways. Prior to developing an independent practice to work with women and families with young children, I worked for the nationally renowned Early Intervention
Services at the UCSF Benioff Children Hospital Oakland, and for many community-based non-profit agencies in California and Peru.
Education
I completed a formal and practical study in psychology in Peru for 6 years prior to completing three years of full-time,
intensive study in Somatic Psychology at the John F. Kennedy University Holistic
Psychology Department in California. The studies at JFK were solid around attachment theory, trauma treatment, and an embodied understanding of human development which sparked my specializing in early childhood mental health and
child-parent psychotherapy as I had a profound interest in understanding our core human
needs from the ground up and in experiential, creative and embodied ways of learning and doing therapy. In working closely with young children and their mothers and parents for close to 15 years now, I learned
so much about the intricacies of relationships, and how our very human need to strive for
connections is the most basic and powerful force in our lives. I continue to train and study and practice from perspectives centered in interpersonal neurobiology, creative art therapy, Circle of Security parenting training, and CPP aka Child-Parent Psychotherapy, as the core to my approach to all of my client's needs whether you are adult women or a family seeking to address parenting concerns.
My Story,
A Personal Journey
Investing the time and effort to become a licensed therapist was the best decision I ever made. Like many of you, my story hasn’t followed a straight, or easy path. But I am proud to say that my use of therapy as I seek my WELLBEING has allowed me to face the joys, challenges, highs, and lows of being not just a woman, but an immigrant, a professional, and most recently, a businesswoman.
I relate to all women I describe in the therapy for women and specialties sections of this site. I know what it feels like to listen to that unrelenting inner critic, and I have long been familiar with the imposter syndrome, where we doubt our skills, talents and achievements, our self-worth. I am a woman who has given to the point of exhaustion. A woman who struggles to manage stress and burn-out.
But like YOU, I am far more than the sum of my flaws and struggles. I am a woman of depth.
I am a seeker, a wise woman happy to live by the beat of her own drum. I am a woman
committed to living a full and wholesome life. I am a woman of integrity, a woman of values.​.
Proud Of My Roots
My accent hints that I was born, and grew up in Peru. My family is large, multi-racial, multi-cultural, and close-knit. Many of us are first-generation college and grad-school-educated, and first-generation immigrants to the United States and share
an entrepreneurial spirit and are second-generation business owners.
Growing up, dinner
time saw at least 10 or 11 of us around the table, and our everyday lives were full of
conversations about clients, business letters, and contracts. We enjoyed family meals prepared with love and attention to quality. Staying abreast with the political climate, community involvement was a central part of our family life..
Outside Of The Therapy Room
Last but not least, dance is my favorite thing for healing and for fun. Since I was young, I've loved to dance, inventing moves and letting myself be carried away by the music. As an adult, weekly classes. and seasonal Biodanza retreats became an embodied practice to develop relational and somatic resources. I love the creative energy channeled in envisioning my outfits, and in the decorating and styling of my living and workspaces. I delight in my time spent in nature, spiritual devotion through meditation, and simple pleasures like a hearty daily breakfast, eclectic music, and beats. My loved ones, identify me for my hearty and full belly laughs, strong opinions, big chid nature, and of course loyalty.