Helena García
About Me
Biography
Helena García
I grew up in one of the most privileged places in the world: Málaga, La Bella. A place that waves the flag of diversity and where cultures have coexisted for centuries.
Malaga is a land of beginnings and endings, of welcomes and farewells… but, for me, Malaga is and always will be that place to where I can return.
As a traditional Malagueña, I grew up in my neighbourhood and attended to my district school and high school, breathing the smell of the sea, eating “espetos” at the beach, and having hot chocolate with churros for breakfast every New Year’s morning.
I studied Psychology at the University of Malaga, completing the clinical curriculum itinerary and doing my final year internship in a neuropsychological rehabilitation center.
Subsequently, I completed my Master’s degree in Sexology and Sex Therapy at the Institute of Sexology in Malaga and I began to practice very soon as a mental health therapist in the private practice, working in coordination with cases referred from psychiatry.
I have always been attracted to different cultures and languages, so as soon as I had the opportunity, I experienced what it was like to live abroad. I have visited and lived in different places, and I have always tried to keep for myself something good from each place I have been. During one of these trips, I was professionally trained in topics related to the prevention of sexual abuse of vulnerable population and people with disabilities, and on clinical counselling for pregnant teenager girls who suffer a loss. In 2010, I went to the United States where I managed to practice psychology, working as a mental health therapist in the field of child and family mental health in two different institutions. I worked for a non-profit organization where I served underprivileged and/or vulnerable children and their families, and later in a mental health department in a hospital setting.
Parallel to these professional experiences, I completed my Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution at Portland State University in the state of Oregon. I chose the curriculum pathway focused on international and intercultural conflicts under the umbrella of peace studies, and completed the hours corresponding to the training that granted the Mediation Certificate awarded by the Oregon University System (for community dispute resolution programs) and the Oregon Judicial Department (equivalent to the registry of court-connected mediators). Finally, I defended my final master’s project, which focused on developing training modules for professionals who mediate in collaborative processes and the impact of cultural diversity on mediators.
Years later, I returned to Spain and completed studies in the degree of “Expert in Child Clinical Neuropsychology” at the University of Malaga. At that time the legal situation related to the practice of psychology was governed by a new law approved a few years before I returned, so I completed studies of Master in General Health Psychology at the Distance University of Madrid in order to continue practicing as a mental health therapist.
Since then and up to the present moment, I continue to practice as a mental health therapist at the Clinical Center of Psychiatry and Psychology “CiPS Malaga”.
In parallel and since 2016, I work as an adjunct teaching psychology classes at the University of Maryland Global Campus. I teach students who are immersed in the military context.
