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Maria-Alejandra De Araujo Sanchez, LCSW

Licence #: L10378 - NPI #: 1902345457

Hi, I'm Alex! (she/her)

Welcome to my holistic therapy practice!

I believe that true well-being comes from a place of inner alignment and harmony between body, mind, and emotion. My approach is designed to help you achieve that balance and my goal is to empower you to live your best life, free from the constraints of past wounds and limiting beliefs.

Within you lies the power to heal from the past.

Specialties

I work with:

I assist with:

I believe that individuals are resilient, and in their hearts possess the strength and creativity they need to heal and achieve their full potential.

The steps of working together

I use a combination of carefully selected complementary techniques:

EMDR

Parts Work Therapy

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Narrative Therapy

Mindfulness Therapy

Body-Centered Therapy

My style is warm, direct, and authentic.

A little more about me

I am an adoptee, a mental health therapist, a social worker, a feminist, and a scientist, and my life’s journey has taken me across five different countries on three different continents. Through my experiences, I’ve come to realize that our paths in life are not always easy, and that old wounds and difficult circumstances can make it challenging to achieve true fulfillment and happiness.

That’s why in 2010, I made the decision to leave behind my successful career as a computer scientist and dedicate myself to helping others pursue their own journey towards mental and emotional well-being.

I bring into my practice a combination of specific trainings and life experiences:

Training

Master’s in Clinical Social Work ( from Portland State University).

EMDR Training (from EMDR Training Center, EMDRIA certified).

Clinical and Normative Issues within Adult Adoptee Populations (from Rutger School of Social work).

Cross-Cultural Care in Mental Health and Depression (from Amedco & Quality interactions).

National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training (from C.A.S.E institute).

Providing Effective Therapy for Adult ADHD (from Janet Niederman, Ph.D.).

Candid conversations about the experience of Black Interracial Adoptees (from C.A.S.E Institute).

Issues in Domestic Violence: Prevention of Domestic Violence (from CE4Less).

Experience

Work in hospital settings in secured units with patients experiencing acute mental health crisis.

Academic research in neuroscience and clinical psychology.

My personal perspective as an adoptee, an international transplant, and a feminist.

Publications and other contributions

De Araujo Sanchez, M. A., & Zeithamova, D. (2023). Generalization and false memory in acquired equivalence. Cognition, 234, 105385.

Bowman, C. R., de Araujo Sanchez, M. A., Hou, W., Rubin, S., & Zeithamova, D. (2021). Generalization and False Memory in an Acquired Equivalence Paradigm: The Influence of Physical Resemblance Across Related Episodes. Frontiers in psychology, 12.

De Araujo Sanchez, M. A., & Zeithamova, D. (2020). Generalization and source memory in acquired equivalence.

Zeithamova, D., de Araujo Sanchez, M. A., & Adke, A. (2017). Trial timing and pattern-information analyses of fMRI data. NeuroImage, 153, 221-231.

Blanc-Goldhammer, D., Sanchez, M. A. D. A., & Dassonville, P. (2016). Both Perception and Action Are Biased by Local Motion When Reporting the Location of a Moving Target. Journal of Vision, 16(12),981-981.

De Araujo Sanchez, M., Aadke, A., & Zeithamova, D. (2016). Trial timing in fMRI designs for pattern information analyses. Poster presented at Neuroscience 2016, San Diego.

Zeithamova D., Resnick A., De Araujo Sanchez M., & Bowman C. (2016). No trade-off between memory specificity and memory generalization. Presented at the 25th International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Budapest, Hungary.

Laurent K., Laurent S., Nelson B., Wright D., & De Araujo Sanchez M. (2015) Dispositional Mindfulness Moderates the Effect of a Brief Mindfulness Induction on Physiological Stress Responses. Mindfulness, 1-9.

Bernstein R., Laurent H., De Araujo Sanchez M., Measelle J., & Ablow J. (2014, July). Seeing red or feeling blue? Predicting infant-mother attachment disorganization 18 months postpartum from mothers’ prenatal interpretations of infant facial expressions. Presented at the XIX Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, Berlin, Germany.

Martinez H., De Araujo Sanchez M., Nelson B., Nelson L., Ablow J., & Laurent H. (2014, July). Anxiety, Depression, Maternal responsiveness/parental responsiveness. Presented at the XIX Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, Berlin, Germany.

Wright D., De Araujo Sanchez M., Nelson B., Hertz R., Ablow J., & Laurent H. (2014, July). Mothers’ Own Perceived Experience With an Overprotective Parent Relates to Neural Response to Their Infant’s Cry. Presented at the XIX Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, Berlin, Germany.

You deserve to thrive.

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