MARCELA SALAMANCA
Hello! I am Marcela and I am pleased you have decided to learn more about me. Being able to help people lead happier and more fulfilling lives has truly been an honor and I am grateful for the privilege to watch people grown and become who they long to be. I think former clients would tell you that I am a caring, genuine, and collaborative therapist that always aims to understand each person’s story in order to develop treatment plans that are effective.
I have dedicated over 10 years to learning how to listen carefully to life stories in order to identify hidden strengths, capacities and abilities that can be used to create strategies and insight that allow people to live better lives. I am trained in EMDR and have significant experience using solution-focused brief therapy, while incorporating mindfulness, yoga, and cognitive-behavioral strategies in order to find an approach that works for the individual in front of me. Despite my knowledge and experience, my ultimate goal is to develop a solid therapeutic relationship that allows for open discussion of what works and what doesn’t. After all, you are unique and each person comes with different needs!
I have spent about 8 years specializing in working with children, teens and their caregivers. I have over 180 hours of play therapy training and am working towards certification. I think my child and teen clients would say that I’m fun, helpful, kind, accepting and understanding. The caregivers I have supported would say I am gentle, non-judgemental, understanding and always focused on bettering relationships between parents/caregivers and their children. No child, teen or parent/caregiver is perfect and my son helps remind me of this daily!
Who can I work with? Here is a list of what I have helped with:
- Emotion regulation (child, teen and adult)
- Anxiety (child, teen and adult)
- Mood problems/Depression (child, teen and adult)
- Difficult coping with stressors/stress management (child, teen and adult)
- Parenting concerns
- Impacts of separation/divorce (child, teen, and adult)
- Parenting in separation/divorce (adult)
- Self-harming behaviors (child, teen and adult)
- Trauma (child, teen and adult)
- Impacts of bullying (child, teen and adult)
- Self-esteem (child, teen and adult)
Being a registered clinical social worker has pushed me further by requiring me to have an in-depth understanding of clinical presentations. However, what I value most in my training is being able to understand how the systems in which we live impact our mental health.
If you think I could be a fit for you, I would be honored to support you in your journey and you can feel free to contact our office or book online.I am open to a brief telephone consultation to help you decide if we could be a fit. I look forward to meeting you.