I hold an M.A. in Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Psychology and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy. I am bilingual in English and Spanish. As a first-generation Latina woman with Maya descent navigating the layered identities that colonization carved, I've carried the particular ache of disconnection from my parents' homeland of Guatemala, from the language of the body, and from the kind of love that feels truly safe.

The heartbreak of my parents' divorce and the experience of navigating two worlds from a young age taught me to tune into emotional undercurrents long before I had language for them. I watched love collapse and wondered if it had to be that way. Over time I learned it didn't.

My own experience of conscious uncoupling with a previous partner became one of the most healing pivots of my life. What I discovered was that separation and heartbreak don't have to be done in bitterness and war, they can be done with love, with dignity, and with care for what was once sacred between two people. That experience cracked something open in me. It showed me that the patterns I witnessed in childhood didn't have to be my inheritance.

Through my own healing journey I have arrived at the most beautiful relationship of my life, one rooted in growth, respect, and deep friendship. But more than that, I arrived at myself first. My relational history began as a young woman who gave from empty, who loved without boundaries, who felt alone even in relationships, who didn't yet know her own worth. I am no longer that girl. I am a woman who knows what she carries, who feels complete on her own, and who understands that love and partnership are not a rescue, they are the most wonderful bonus to a life already full.

This is why I do this work. I have lived it and I know it’s possible.

Before becoming a therapist I worked in body-based practices, massage, yoga, and breath work, which taught me how much the body carries and how much it knows. Later, time spent learning from indigenous healers and plant medicine traditions deepened my understanding of ancestral healing, integration, and the sacred dimensions of transformation. These experiences continue to shape how I hold space: with presence, humility, and reverence for the stories and wisdom each person carries.

My work is especially alive with women and couples navigating love, trauma, and the profound shifts that come from life-changing experiences; including psychedelic journeys. I love dreamwork, meditation, ritual, tea ceremony, and the living wisdom of the Maya Cosmovision. I find restoration in long walks, yin yoga, connecting with friends, lying next to a river listening to water move over stone and spending nourishing time with my beloved, Wynn. I am a cat mama to a snuggly Jedi named Obi. And I am forever a student and seeker of the great mysteries of life.

Send me a message for a consultation call. I’d be happy to connect with you.

Warmly,

Wendy Barrios, LPCC, MFTC.