Bonnie Merritt

Hello and Buen Día to you all! It would be my pleasure & privilege to work with you. I have been clinical trained as a forensic & family psychologist. I have worked for the last 18 years with a Spanish speaking population supporting healing around trauma and a variety of issues from prevention to severe and chronic suffering. Family and forensic means that my area of expertise lies where the family intersects with the court system: couples therapy around divorce, therapy revolving around child custody/arrangements, child abuse, removal and reunification and or juvenile detention.

I enjoy working with families, children, couples, and adolescents. I believe each person’s innate strengths give way to our natural desire and pursuit for wellness & healing. My hope is that working together we can find healthy outcomes for you.

Working with clients is an honor and I see myself as a partner in your healing. I bring my training, knowledge & experience and together with your willingness, experience and participation, I hope to walk the path of recovery together. As a team, we will find interventions and revelations, then choose the ones to implement leading to your improvement and success.

Some of the most effective therapeutic approaches that I have found most useful are Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Narrative Therapy (NT) and Motivational Therapy. For trauma, I have found EMDR to be particularly effective for my clients. Narrative therapy provides outlets for people to rethink and recreate a new storyline for their lives. Motivational therapy helps people increase their own capacities to make lasting changes in their lives. In the end, whatever approach we take, as long as we take it together, we can find success.

In our first session, a lot is happening, but the most important part is the “conocimiento”. (the process of getting to know one another) For therapy to be successful building a solid connection is paramount. At that first meeting, we need to also confirm we have all the proper paperwork done and go over any important informational details about therapy including confidentiality & roles. I spend a lot of time gathering historic details across various domains. All of this is done with the intent of getting to know you, where you’ve come from, who it has shaped you to be, what you’ve tried and what has worked and not worked.