Marissa Casados
- CAS
- LPCC
- Doctoral Practicum Student
Marissa is a doctoral-level practicum trainee currently pursuing her doctorate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver. She has experience working across all levels of care in substance use treatment, including individual therapy, outpatient, IOP, PHP, residential and detox settings.
Marissa has primarily served marginalized, BIPOC and low-income communities and remains deeply committed to staying connected to and giving back to her community. Her therapeutic framework is grounded in Liberation Psychology, Feminist Theory and interpersonal processing approaches.
As a yoga teacher, Marissa integrates somatic practices to help clients process stuck emotions and trauma through somatic attunement. While she welcomes working with all client concerns, her areas of special interest include substance use, attachment and relational/couples work, first-generation student experiences, historical and generational trauma and oppression-based stress. As a Chicana and first-generation college student from a low-income background, Marissa is passionate about exploring how systems of oppression affect daily life and mental health. She is committed to decolonizing therapy and using the therapeutic space to process generational trauma rooted in colonialism, foster resistance to oppression and cultivate healing through identity and community.
Marissa is proud of her Mexica/Indigenous roots on Turtle Island and is deeply connected to Indigenous healing practices, which continue to inform both her personal and professional life.
When not at work or school, Marissa can be found doing yoga, aerial yoga, hikes, spending time with family and friends, reading, creating beaded jewelry or coming up with her next yoga flow.
Pronouns: She/her/hers
Education
- Third Year Doctoral Student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Denver
- M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Regis University
- B.S. Human Services and Counseling with a Concentration in Addiction Studies from Metropolitan State University of Denver
Place you'd most like to see or thing you'd most like to do
Move to a beach in Sayulita or La Paz, Mexico, open my own private practice/yoga studio/community space, and build a solid community alongside my partner and two doggies!
Areas of interest
Substance use, attachment, couples/relationship work, somatic experiencing, generational trauma, social justice/advocacy, first-generation student experiences, oppression-based stress/trauma, BIPOC identity development, Complex-PTSD, meditation/mindfulness, health psychology, life transitions.