Hi! I’m Marissa.

I’m a licensed therapist passionate about supporting people through life’s most challenging and transformative moments. I believe therapy can be a space to reconnect with your own inner wisdom, build resilience, and move toward meaningful change.

As a biracial woman who has lived all around the world, my understanding of identity, belonging, and mental health is deeply shaped by both personal and professional experience. I grew up in California in a diverse and complex family—raised by a Black mother and white father, with a Native American step-grandfather and foster siblings from a range of cultural and trauma backgrounds. This upbringing taught me to be both practical and deeply attuned to the nuances of human experience.

I took this interest and went on to study at UC Berkeley and earned my MS in Social Work from Columbia University, where I also interned with the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) to deepen my expertise in trauma healing modalities.

Throughout my life, studies, and work, I’ve had the privilege of working with diverse communities across the United States, Europe, and beyond. My experiences include supporting individuals in refugee camps in Cyprus, contributing to clinical psychedelic research in Australia and the Netherlands, and serving underserved communities in New York and France impacted by race-based trauma, grief, and loss.

These experiences shape the culturally responsive, trauma-informed lens I bring to therapy. I understand that our experiences don’t exist in isolation—they’re influenced by culture, relationships, and the systems we move through. I’m especially committed to supporting clients navigating identity, racial trauma, and cross-cultural experiences.

At the core of my approach is collaboration. I don’t see clients as problems to be fixed, but as whole people with adaptive stories, strengths, and the capacity for growth. Therapy with me is a space to explore, make meaning, and move toward change at a pace that feels safe and grounded.

Ultimately, I believe healing isn’t about becoming someone new—it’s about reconnecting with the parts of yourself that already exist but may have been lost, protected, or overlooked.

If this resonates, I’d love to connect and support you in your process.