Marcella has more than 23 years of experience — licensed 19 years — in providing psychotherapy to adults, children and families. Six months before earning her master’s degree in counseling, she began working as a new therapist at the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, where she worked in one of the pioneering Family Preservation programs. Early in her career, she moved often because her husband was a submariner in the U.S. Navy, and in the process she developed a broad perspective through a diverse range of experience. She has worked in clinics, child development centers, schools, transitional housing programs, a women’s center and private practice, as well as with employee assistance programs. For the last nine years, she has provided counseling and consultative services on military installations — all branches — throughout the United States, Europe and the Virgin Islands. She has settled in San Antonio, Texas, and continues to work with the military population and in private practice again.

Her approach to therapy is practical and collaborative. She has a genuine interest in her work and continues to be amazed at the resilience of the individuals she works with.

Therapy is a process with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is where the story unravels, and as it does, the therapist and client work together exploring the history, patterns, thoughts and behaviors to determine how they are impacting the present. The middle part of therapy tends to be where most of the work and growth occur. At the end stage of therapy there should be some resolution of the goals that were established initially. Not every problem is solved in therapy because our challenges continue.

It never gets easier, you just get better. — Author Unknown 

Marcella has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and a Master of Science degree in Counseling from Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She believes education should be life-long and continues to obtain training in order to sharpen her existing skills and develop new ones, often earning specialized certifications. In her spare time, she enjoys historic home restoration, architectural salvage, cooking, off-the-beaten-path travel and Siberian huskies.

Below are the primary modalities and training she uses to help clients in therapy:

• Imago Couples Counseling (developed by John Gottman)
• Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (known as REBT)
• Brief Solution Focused Counseling
• Cognitive Therapy (applied to parenting, marital therapy, individual therapy, and addictions issues)
• Communication Skills & Conflict Resolution
• Neurolinguistic Programing (known as NLP)
• Rapid Trauma Resolution Therapy (holds certification)
• Veterans Behavioral Health Counseling (holds certification)
• Stress Reduction, Mindfulness, and Healthy Lifestyle
• Addictions and the Family System
• Structural Family Therapy
• Practical Parenting (parent education)
• Love and Logic (parent education)
• Behavior Modification
• Counseling Difficult Adolescents (holds certification)
• Play therapy (for children 3 to 10 years old)
• Bibliotherapy and Drawing
• Psychoeducation