Marianela Dornhecker, PhD
She | Her | Hers; Licensed Psychologist: MO (2109013800) & TX (37639)
Throughout my education and career, I have worked with individuals going through a multitude of concerns from adjusting to life changes to struggling with diagnoses such as Bipolar Disorder. In my years of training in and practicing psychology, I was struck by the frequency with which someone in my office had been impacted by a traumatic event (often - more than one event) at some point in their life. Because of this, while I was in graduate school, I decided to seek specialized training in helping people work through trauma in a variety of settings. I became a certified trauma provider. Traumatic experiences have a tendency to impact the sense of safety a person experiences in the world - and as a result - impact the quality of an individual’s relationship with themselves and others. While I work as a generalist, my area of expertise is in helping an individual work through the impact trauma has had on their life, whether that impact is in the relationship they have with themselves, with their family, career, romantic life, or friends. As I continued my career, I noticed the impact experiences of trauma can have on one’s pregnancy and parenting experience on top of the already present stressors of raising young children and/or managing pregnancy in a highly individualistic culture. I decided to pursue post-graduate training in perinatal mental health to better support parents and families of young children in my practice.
Therapy is an opportunity to slow down and get to know yourself, pause for a moment, and make intentional decisions about the life you want to lead. My approach to therapy is geared towards establishing a safe environment and therapeutic relationship that encourages you to take risks in vulnerability in order to better understand your values and needs. I am warm, nonjudgmental, direct, and challenging. I work from an interpersonal, emotion-focused, and culturally informed lens. My goal is to meet you where you are at in your process, which means I will sit with you in exploration of your thoughts, strengths, coping strategies, and emotions and can meet you with action-oriented steps when you are ready. I take a holistic approach that is informed by research and your unique experiences in order to work collaboratively to develop a treatment plan to meet your personal goals. As a therapist (and a person), I believe I cannot help or truly connect with someone unless I take the time to understand their life story. I take into consideration your diverse identities and the cultures that shaped you in order to understand that story.
I graduated with my PhD from Texas A&M University and trained in a variety of settings while in graduate school. In my early career I worked at several university counseling centers, including a trauma specialty clinic. In addition to this, I have provided clinical supervision to a number of graduate students in the mental health field, and continue to volunteer as a supervisor for clinical psychology students. In my spare time, I like to bake, cook, and do anything that involves food. I believe that exploring and understanding food from the growing process to the eating experience is one of the best ways to understand cultures, humanity, and the ways people connect. I also like to listen to thought-provoking and humor-based podcasts, the outdoors, stand-up comedy, and traveling.