Marisa has always been drawn to the ways people make sense of their lives. She is especially interested in how identity, relationships, culture, and belief shape the way people understand themselves and move through the world.

Her curiosity about these influences led Marisa to become a therapist. She earned her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Phillips Graduate University, where she trained in relational and systems-based approaches to psychotherapy. Today, she is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family therapist offering online therapy and telehealth counseling for individuals, couples, and young adults throughout California.

Before becoming a therapist, Marisa spent more than three decades in the arts, where she witnessed people create, collaborate, adapt, and begin again. That experience gave her a deep appreciation for the courage involved in change and reinvention. It also shaped her work with creative professionals in California and with clients seeking grief therapy, therapy for life transitions, identity exploration, a greater sense of belonging, and deeper meaning in their lives.

Marisa specializes in religious trauma therapy in California, spiritual abuse recovery therapy, cult recovery therapy, and therapy for people healing from high-control groups or religious communities.  She also works with individuals examining internalized and inherited beliefs that may be shaping their lives without their consent. Marisa is particularly passionate about exploring narratives around gender, power, perfectionism, and self-sacrifice, including what she sometimes calls the “inner patriarchy.” These belief systems can quietly influence a person’s self-worth, relationships, and choices, limiting their authenticity, freedom, and ability to trust themselves. Through this work, she helps clients untangle fear, shame, obligation, people-pleasing, and self-criticism as they learn which beliefs truly belong to them and build lives that feel more authentic and freely chosen. 

Marisa’s integrative approach draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), relational and systems-based therapy, and mindfulness-based practices. At the heart of her work is the belief that self-awareness, emotional flexibility, meaningful connection, and self-compassion create the foundation for lasting well-being. She considers it a privilege to accompany people as they question, grieve, heal, grow, and, when necessary, begin again.