Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Storino.
Ana, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have more than 20 years of comprehensive experience in professional counseling working with teenagers, adults, and patients with psychiatric disease. I hold three Masters Degrees, in Clinical Psychology, Human Resources Development (Clemson), and Rehabilitation Counseling (USC School of Medicine).
My journey as a psychotherapist began in the most difficult of environments, a psychiatric hospital in Brazil. There, I developed deep compassion for those patients suffering from mental illness.
Prior to that, I worked as a Corporate Trainer Coordinator and Quality Assurance manager as well. For 20 years, I have used Cognitive Behavior Therapy as the cornerstone of my practice.
The most exciting and rewarding aspect of my career, however, has come from working with teenagers and their families in the SeeMe™ Process that I created in 1994.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Seventeen years ago, in 1999, I came to the United States from my native Brazil with my husband, Bruno, who was seeking his MBA, and my pre-adolescent son, Dante. I thought then that I would be here for two years only, I had forfeited a hefty promotion back home in support of my husband.
As the old saying goes, “things never go as planned.” And that was certainly my experience. The first year was the worst as I found myself in a severe depression. I had to learn, in a foreign land, with inadequate language skills, how to be flexible and to re-shape myself to my environment.
I wish I’d had a therapist who could have related to me then. As an expat myself, I have lived through major challenges and have survived them all.
Finally accepting my chosen destiny, I became the person I am today. I am now the therapist who can relate to the international community.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We believe in inclusivity, multiculturalism and human wholeness.
We believe our lives travel an evolutionary path that revolves around our identity and our environment.
We believe science serves human evolution.
We believe in the power each individual has been given since birth to thrive and progress along their path.
We believe relationships are ladders that we climb in order to evolve and to perfect our beings through the recognition and respect of our similarities and differences.
We work with clients one-on-one, in a safe, caring, and confidential environment. Like explorers, we’ll examine feelings, beliefs, and behaviors. Whatever your problem, we have both the tools and the heart to help you deal with them. You are not alone.
Expatriates face a unique set of challenges adjusting to a new culture: language difficulties, cultural differences, the loss of a close family and friend support system, and workplace differences. We know what it’s like. And we can help you adjust and expand. You’ve got a friend.
Addiction can destroy your own life and damage the lives of those around you. We can help you move through the source of your pain and emerge on the other side, fully capable of dealing with all that life brings your way. The substance is not the problem.
The SeeMe™ Process, created by Ana in 1994, guides teens to identify and assess their limitations and strengths while taking an exciting inner journey to learn about who they are, and who they want to become.
– Teenagers love technology. They also love storytelling. The SeeMe Process uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) at its centerpiece. It incorporates media tools and combines your teen’s natural interest in storytelling with their easy relationship with technology. SeeMe helps your teen recognize his/her weaknesses and strengths in this very moment.
Your teen will make self-videos where they reveal their thoughts and feelings about a particular problem or concern. Together, we view the video and your teen gets to see, firsthand, their faulty thinking at work.
Using CBT, I will guide your teen in how to “de-construct” the original, detrimental thinking and replace it with workable thoughts that build their self-esteem, expand their identity, and increase their joy of living, overall.
Throughout this process, your teen learns that, not only are they the lead character in their own life story, but they are also the head writer and producer. I have seen the SeeMe Process yield what I would call rewarding results, time and time again.
Viviane’s specialty, Trauma Release Exercises (TRE®), are a gentle, highly-effective method of easing the imprint of trauma out of the bodily tissues. It is a potent process and Viviane is one of only two people in Atlanta certified in its practice.
What were you like growing up?
Curious and compassionate. That was me as a child 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 3133 Maple Drive, Suite 110
Atlanta, GA 30305 - Website: https://www.atlantainternationalcounseling.com/seeme-program-teens/
- Phone: 864 901 6939
- Email: anamaria@aic.center
Image Credit:
http://www.mpaivaphotography.com
All photos by Marcelo Paiva
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
