DoorwaysVA Blog

We are so pleased to announce that our Child Mental Health Specialist, Diana Ortiz, M.Ed, will have her work on display at the Congress of the Inter-American Society of Psychology’s latest conference.  The conference will focus on “For the People’s Health:  A Psychology Engaged with Social Transformation.”

Diana’s work is titled:
Unheard Voice of Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Mental Health Needs, Prevalence, and Interventions

And Here is Diana, in her own words, about the conference and opportunity:

“I am really pleased about this opportunity. I am proud to be part of Doorways, and I am thrilled to share with an international community some of our goals, challenges, and what we have been implementing as effective mental health practices for children and youth and their families affected by domestic violence.

As the only child mental health specialist in our agency, I have worked part-time for our three programs for about two years [DV shelter (Safehouse), Family Home, and Home start]. Every time I start working with a new family, new stories fill my notebook and the willingness to be part of their healing process keeps me motivated to find what may be the best approach for each particular family. As an integrative therapist, I used many play-based therapy techniques, culturally responsive approaches, and family interventions. I firmly believe in being flexible and establishing a strong and trusting relationship with the child and the family, and through that relationship, facilitate healing and change. Being flexible means being able to think outside of the box, not only about what approach to take, but thinking about the time, the space, and find their own pace.

Children fill out my heart with their resilience, their tenacity, capacity to love, forgive, and create new opportunities. Providing them a safe space where they are allowed to feel the way they feel, a non-judgmental place where they can cry and laugh, be silly and express their deepest fears, be children again, and seemed to be a key part of the process. Parents and caregivers are also an important piece of this puzzle, and providing a space where they can appreciate their courage, love for their children, and ability to repair their broken pieces of their family, is what we can do to honor them. I could not be happier to be part of a team where we all work in synchrony to provide families the best resources, our professional integrity, and a helping hand.”

Diana Ortiz, M.Ed

Child Mental Heath Specialist