Hello! I am a bilingual and bicultural Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Texas. I obtained my Master's in Counseling and Guidance from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and have dedicated five years to supporting individuals in need. I specialize in helping adults who are facing challenges such as anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and trauma. My goal is to guide them in developing healthy coping mechanisms and empower them to embrace their best selves.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our initial meeting, we will begin with short introductions. After that, I will carefully listen to your description of the specific difficulties you are encountering. This will enable me to develop a personalized plan for us to address in subsequent sessions.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
After working with various group populations in a nonprofit organization for victims of domestic violence, and later collaborating with a fantastic group of psychotherapists, I have developed a toolbox of resources to help my clients identify the underlying causes of their challenges. This enables me to create personalized plans that lead to measurable progress.
About Mariel Gonzalez
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473 Resaca Shores, San Benito, TX 78586Appointments
Virtual & in-personMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy that assists individuals in recognizing and changing negative beliefs or attitudes that impact their behavior. I implement this approach to assit my clients to effectively handle symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues by tackling the core thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to their emotional challenges. Throughout my experience as a counselor, I have observed that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has proven to be effective in assisting numerous clients in recognizing and addressing negative or erroneous thought patterns. CBT equips individuals with a clearer understanding of their environment, enabling them to navigate adverse circumstances with a more constructive and efficacious approach.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
In my role as a therapist, I often turn to DBT, which is an evidence-based approach that has shown to significantly improve people's lives. It helps alleviate feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress, while also reducing tendencies toward self-harm and suicidal thoughts. This kind of therapy really allows my clients to recognize and appreciate their own self-worth. Research has shown that the positive impact of DBT extends to individuals of all ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, and racial/ethnic backgrounds.
EMDR
One therapy approach that I use with my clients is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, which is a mental health treatment technique. This method involves moving your eyes in a specific way while you process traumatic memories, with the goal of helping you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. One significant reason for recommending EMDR therapy is that it does not require talking in detail about a distressing issue. Instead, EMDR focuses on changing the emotions, thoughts, or behaviors that result from a distressing experience (trauma), allowing your brain to resume a natural healing process. This split focus can make disturbing images less vivid, helping clients to feel comfortably distanced from them and reducing the emotional impact of those memories. Since this therapy is fast and safe, bilateral brain stimulation might help my clients feel more relaxed. As the memories become less vivid, the brain might start to associate memory recall with relaxation rather than emotional shock, resulting in desensitization. In my practice, clients receiving EMDR typically start seeing results much sooner than with other forms of therapy.