Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernanda Barcelo.
Fernanda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a young woman, I naturally gravitated towards listening to people’s stories, and my strong curiosity around understanding the human mind eventually lead me to my studies in psychology. In 2011, I was in my Master’s in Counseling program when I offhandedly chose to take a mindfulness course that offered a rare opportunity to go study Indian culture with one of my professors. I spent an eye-opening two weeks in South India, working with Indian psych-grad students and learning how their studies extended far past the classroom. From supplying clean water to remote villages, to joining in on meetings for the legal protection of women against domestic violence, I learned firsthand how mental health is not just a matter of one-on-one client sessions, but that it is truly a physiological, societal, and sometimes spiritual issue. It was also there in Mysore, India, within a small Tibetan monastery, that I was first introduced to meditation, and the power that mindfulness can have on our emotional, mental, and physical health. The discovery of mindfulness changed the trajectory of my life and career, and I began my journey towards weaving in these ancient eastern practices with modern, science-backed psychology.
In 2012, I began seeing clients at Austin Mindfulness Center, where I was given the opportunity to learn and hone my skills in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion-Focused Therapy. In tandem with seeing clients, I dove headfirst into studying yoga, yogic philosophy, and other mindfulness practices. I found much of my own healing and strength in yoga and because of this, I eventually decided to become a teacher myself, traveling to Bali, Mexico, and back to India to learn as much as I could about this practice and its lineage. I was very fortunate to have a handful of incredible female teachers, who not only taught me about yoga, but about our innate wisdom and how to cultivate a loving relationship with our body and ourselves. I’ve now taught yoga for over ten years, accruing over 1000+ hours of training and teaching experience, and it continues to be a lovely compliment to my psychotherapy work.
In 2018, I opened the doors to my private practice, Mind Body Peace, where I currently focus on providing holistic mental health services to women in the form of one-on-one sessions and women’s groups. My work weaves together all I’ve learned from both Eastern and Western approaches to psychology, including my knowledge on the physical body and its relationship to the mind, and a strong focus on value-based living, somatic approaches, inner child work, and embodying a true sense of integrity. Outside of sessions, I am a mother and wife – two roles which have expanded my capacity for love, compassion, and emotional intelligence beyond anything I ever learned in a book.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The path to being in holistic mental health always felt very clear to me. The biggest challenges I faced didn’t have much to do with confusion around my path, but more around the logistical difficulties that one experiences as a new therapist. As any mental health provider knows, building a caseload, starting your own practice, and being the head of all the realms of your business can be incredibly challenging and overwhelming. Couple that with a career that inherently burns you out if you’re not very careful with your time and energy, and it can be quite the uphill battle. It took me many years to build my private practice into something that was not only successful, but also deeply reflective of the specific type of work I wanted to be doing. I am grateful that now, at almost 40 years old and after being at it since 2012, my practice and work feels incredibly authentic to who I am, and reflective of what I want to be doing in the world.
As you know, we’re big fans of Mind Body Peace. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My private practice, Mind Body Peace, offers holistic mental health services for women and non-binary individuals. I specialize in working with adults who are struggling with finding alignment in their twenties, thirties, and forties. I work with my clients to create intentional, healthy relationships, while navigating being single, dating with integrity, or de-centering romance to focus solely on self-development. I also specialize in recovery from anxiety and burnout, boundary work, healthy communication skills, and integrating holistic wellness practices.
I use ACT (Acceptance and Commitment therapy) as the basis for my work with clients, weaving in my knowledge on inner child work, self-compassion, value-based living, mindfulness, and holding this all with a feminist approach to their therapy, which recognizes the hardships of women specifically in a patriarchal society.
I also facilitate women’s groups, personal development retreats, lead corporate conversations on mental health, and have been part of several panels on the discussion of mental health as it pertains to women. Along with actively teaching public yoga classes at Present Practice Yoga, I have also led several yoga teacher trainings and wellness workshops.
My work is driven by a deep respect for each person’s unique journey, and an understanding that the path to inner harmony is as individual as the women who walk it. I believe in the power of mindful, compassionate exploration to facilitate personal growth and healing, and believe that only through understanding where we come from, can we have conscious control on where we are heading. I prioritize looking at the whole human in my work, placing well-deserved importance on the physical (or somatic) experience of my clients, as well as the emotional.
What were you like growing up?
I was the youngest of three girls by 7 years, so I leaned on my imagination for entertainment a lot. I drew my own comics, made my own board games, and was a voracious reader. I was mostly an extrovert (except for those painful middle school years!) and loved to be surrounded by my friends. My mother introduced me to Buddhism and the world of the esoteric, psychics, and energy at a pretty early age, and I credit a lot of my interest in those things to her!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fernybarcelo.com
