Mary Rivas
LMHC, Bilingual Psychotherapist
(English/Spanish)
Mary is a creative and supportive counselor who wants to help people reconnect to themselves in a passionate, playful, and meaningful way. Her strength lies in being able to gracefully bring insight and clarity to the struggles her clients face.
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Check out the Good Stuff Mary recommends in-between sessions to help you along your mental health journey.
What She Overcame
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was leaving a long-term relationship that was no longer for me. The results of that decision taught me everything I am today. I was faced with a difficult choice: either keep investing in something that was no longer for me, or end a relationship for an opportunity to change the direction for the rest of my life. No one around me understood my decision. However, after going through my own therapy process, I listened to my own inner wisdom, and I made the choice I believed was best for me.
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I ended the relationship, moved out of my cozy apartment, took a break from my role as a therapist, and travelled all across the country to California, the “other sunshine state”. I accepted an internship at a 214-acre farm of beautiful countryside in Moorpark, California, just 40 miles north of Los Angeles. I knew absolutely nothing about farming or gardening, but I felt called to do the internship there. I knew I needed time to disconnect from being the "helper" so that I could focus on my own healing. I went with my gut, but little did I know that learning how to regeneratively grow fruits and vegetables and how to raise pigs, chickens, cows, and ducks would teach me so much about myself -- and, make me a better therapist for my clients in the future.
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I learned that one of the most important elements in producing good food is the soil from which it grows. A well-nourished soil produces well-nourishing produce. A true life metaphor. I realized that the soil from which people grow is our environments -- the people, messages, and our own perspectives -- we nourish every day. While I was learning about the components of what makes soil healthy, I was simultaneously rediscovering myself and how I could integrate what I learned at the farm into the work I do with clients. If I do not nourish myself, how could I be nourishing for my clients? How could I help my clients create their own nourishing “soil” if my own soil was malnourished?
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As a result of going through my own therapy process, traveling, spending time in nature, and surrounding myself with incredible role models, I learned that even positive life changes can feel terrifying...at first. BUT, amidst choosing encouraging relationships and strengthening the affirmations I give to myself, I much prefer the struggle of growing through the dirt into a beautiful, aromatic flower … over staying safe and hidden as a lonely seed buried underground.
Mary’s goal is to guide clients to discover and integrate the hidden parts of themselves so they can experience immeasurable results in their relationships -- with themselves and with others.
Mary helps...
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Adults manage grief, addiction, stress, anxiety, and life transitions
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People-pleasers break that codependent cycle of self-sabotage
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Couples struggling to communicate to enhance their sense of intimacy and reconnect
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Individuals talk to their inner child and find nourishing ways to reparent themselves
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Clients walk through the struggle to rediscover their sense of true identity
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Clients apply faith-based principles to their counseling and growth process
She uses...
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A blended, holistic and person-centered approach
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Evidence-based techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy
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Mindfulness techniques
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Inner child work
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Gentle “carefrontation” to help clients find insights they would not have otherwise seen
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​Role play scenarios
Her clients...
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Feel better equipped with resources and tools necessary to tackle day-to-day struggles
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Discover their strengths and how to utilize and express them, even in the face of opposition
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Develop ways to feel deeply nourished on emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual levels
Her not-so-secret power
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She knows how to gracefully shed light and bring self-awareness to root-cause issues
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She listens and makes those around her feel fully heard and seen
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She’s a Miami native, bilingual Spanish/English
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She’s a Certified Yoga Instructor. Namaste, mi gentes!
When she isn’t working, Mary is an avid explorer of new places and revels in her time in nature. She is a passionate yoga instructor, and she loves to cook with fresh herbs and veggies (paella, anyone?). Unsurprisingly, Mary loves gardening, relaxing by the beach, and hosting friends and family with her Pinterest-inspired recipes.
"Mary is a great counselor that's helping me deal with my divorce in a healthy way. Teaching
me ways to sit and think about everything before reacting."