Member Highlight — Julia Zabasky, LMFT

Militza Marin, LMFT

I had the pleasure of meeting Militza Marin. Militza is currently working in private practice and had an office in Granada Hills prior to the pandemic, however currently she is providing services via telehealth. Militza works with adolescents, adults, and LGBTQ individuals.

Militza attended San Diego State University and majored in Environmental Design with focus in Interior Design. She had a career in human resources and has worked as a Director of Human Resources. After a number of years in human resources, Militza shared that she was inspired by her therapist to return to school and to become a psychotherapist. A professor at CSUN also inspired her and encouraged her to apply to the program. She attended CSUN and earned a Masters in Counseling with emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy. Militza completed her intern hours at the Help Group and at Hathaway Sycamores. Although, she did not speak highly of DMH paperwork, she shared that she is grateful that she learned how to complete excellent paperwork and she has carried this work ethic into her private practice.

Militiza’s therapy style eclectic, and she is solution focused, psychodynamic, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy. Militza believes in giving homework to her clients to help them with minimizing symptoms. Militza shared that she had a client tell her that he wanted her to “fix” him. Militza told him that therapy is collaborative, and that he is the one that needs to work, and she will provide the techniques and he has to be the one to do his journey. She takes insurance through Optum and Kaiser. She believes in giving suggestions to clients and to push clients to practice coping skills. She refers to a psychiatrist for medication if needed.

Militza is the proud mother of two adult daughters of which the eldest is a psychiatrist and has a PhD in Neuroscience. Her younger daughter is a mother of two children and Militza loves being a grandmother!

Militiza likes to travel and went to Spain in 2019 and would like to go to France and Italy next. She travels by herself in a group and really enjoys getting to know the people with whom she travels.

Militza was born in Costa Rica and came to the US at age 9. She is a bilingual therapist and is able to read and write as she shared that her mother made sure that she would not lose her Spanish.

Militiza likes being a member of SFV-CAMFT due to CEU courses and workshops and feels that CAMFT is very proactive working for MFTs.