Valeria is a Chilean born Australian multidisciplinary health professional based in the Dandenong Ranges.
I am an experienced health practitioner in the mental health care sector and have been offering private psychotherapeutic consultations for years.
I was a shiatsu massage practitioner for over a decade and worked with hundreds of clients. This modality is a therapeutic art form that helped transform my health, life and relationship to body, mind, energy and emotions. I facilitate trauma-informed care and practice based on what I learned, witnessed and experienced in these spaces and in my own growth.
My formal training includes a weave of traditional eastern energy work within a shiatsu therapy framework, humanistic, transpersonal psychotherapy and somatic therapy, as well as Western psychological science with a focus on the biopsychosocial model of care. I have an integrative approach to individual wellbeing. I appreciate and value story, authenticity, kindness, mutual respect. and getting to the heart of things to facilitate authentic personal growth.
I recently co-authored a health psychology study on conventional and complementary treatment use and satisfaction in Australian women with endometriosis published in the Internal Medicine Journal.
I am an experienced health practitioner in the mental health care sector and have been offering private psychotherapeutic consultations for years.
I was a shiatsu massage practitioner for over a decade and worked with hundreds of clients. This modality is a therapeutic art form that helped transform my health, life and relationship to body, mind, energy and emotions. I facilitate trauma-informed care and practice based on what I learned, witnessed and experienced in these spaces and in my own growth.
My formal training includes a weave of traditional eastern energy work within a shiatsu therapy framework, humanistic, transpersonal psychotherapy and somatic therapy, as well as Western psychological science with a focus on the biopsychosocial model of care. I have an integrative approach to individual wellbeing. I appreciate and value story, authenticity, kindness, mutual respect. and getting to the heart of things to facilitate authentic personal growth.
I recently co-authored a health psychology study on conventional and complementary treatment use and satisfaction in Australian women with endometriosis published in the Internal Medicine Journal.
My practice.
I am currently offering psychotherapeutic consultations via Zoom.
My areas of special interest in counselling and psychotherapeutic practice include depression, anxiety and stress, chronic pain and invisible illnesses, fatigue, emotional and physical trauma, disability, women’s health, self-empowerment and actualization as well as connection to spirit and place. My work is intersectional and inclusive.
Beyond intervention and counselling, I also offer care planning and potential referral pathways towards appropriate mainstream and integrated care beyond the scope of my private therapy practice.
My areas of special interest in counselling and psychotherapeutic practice include depression, anxiety and stress, chronic pain and invisible illnesses, fatigue, emotional and physical trauma, disability, women’s health, self-empowerment and actualization as well as connection to spirit and place. My work is intersectional and inclusive.
Beyond intervention and counselling, I also offer care planning and potential referral pathways towards appropriate mainstream and integrated care beyond the scope of my private therapy practice.
My training.
Graduate Diploma of Psychology (Advanced), Deakin University
Bachelor of Psychological Science, Deakin University
Diploma of Shiatsu & Oriental Therapies, Australian Shiatsu College
Diploma of Transpersonal Counselling, The Phoenix Institute
Currently undertaking further postgraduate studies
In my life I have sought aid and guidance from teachers and holders of traditional knowledge of my own lineages in my native South America, Asia, and here in Australia. I've been the recipient of tremendous kindness and ceremony and I've learned many wonderful things from plants, land, people and ritual in the regions of my ancestry. I have had exceptional teachers and mentors.
Bill Palmer - Movement Shiatsu, Trauma & Disability
Cliff Andrews - Advanced Shiatsu Energy Work, Stress & Trauma
Master Ohashi - The Ohashi Method
Mentored by Australian curandero Simon Green, whose ongoing support, patience and curative skill has over several years been a boon to my life.
Bachelor of Psychological Science, Deakin University
Diploma of Shiatsu & Oriental Therapies, Australian Shiatsu College
Diploma of Transpersonal Counselling, The Phoenix Institute
Currently undertaking further postgraduate studies
In my life I have sought aid and guidance from teachers and holders of traditional knowledge of my own lineages in my native South America, Asia, and here in Australia. I've been the recipient of tremendous kindness and ceremony and I've learned many wonderful things from plants, land, people and ritual in the regions of my ancestry. I have had exceptional teachers and mentors.
Bill Palmer - Movement Shiatsu, Trauma & Disability
Cliff Andrews - Advanced Shiatsu Energy Work, Stress & Trauma
Master Ohashi - The Ohashi Method
Mentored by Australian curandero Simon Green, whose ongoing support, patience and curative skill has over several years been a boon to my life.
