Marianela Medrano, PhD

Marianela Medrano, PhD, was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and has lived in Connecticut since 1990. A poet and a writer of nonfiction and fiction, she holds a PhD in Psychology. Her literary work has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines in Latin America, Europe, and the United States. She is the founder of Palabra Counseling & Training Center, LLC.

Her TEDTALK at Ursuline College speaks about her work and research on the Taino people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pQeBYd2oJk.

Dr. Medrano has trained in Mindfulness and spirituality in a variety of settings. She is a Mindful Eating instructor/facilitator. Additionally, she is training to become a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield through The Sounds True Foundation, a program for teaching awareness and compassion-based practices. She serves as a mentor/supervisor for the International Federation for Biblio/poetry therapy, IFBPT.

Dr. Medrano has lectured in many countries, including Spain, India, Colombia, El Salvador, Panamá, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. She has been in the mental health field for over twenty years and has worked with various populations and on a wide range of mental health issues, including drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, she has trained in trauma-specific modalities such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness. (TSM). Other trainings include, Relational Cultural Theory (RTC), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Gottman couples therapy.

Dr. Medrano’s work also appears in literary magazines and academic journals such as Brooklyn Review (1995), Punto 7 Review (1996) Sisters of Caliban (1996) Callaloo (2000), Tertuliando/Hanging Out (1997), Letras Femeninas (2005), Kacike (2009) Trivia Voices of Feminism ( 2009), Journal of Poetry Therapy (2009-2010), Sandplay Therapy Journal (2010), The Afro-Latin@ Reader (2010), Letralia (2011), Phatitude (2012),  Mujeres Como Islas II (2012), Manteca! An anthology of Afro-Latin@ writers (Arte Público Press, 2016), among others.

Her individual publications include: Oficio de Vivir (Buho,1986), Los Alegres Ojos de la Tristeza (Buho,1987), Regando Esencias/ The Scent of Waiting (Alcance,1998), Curada de Espantos (Torremozas, 2002), Diosas de la Yuca, (Torremozas, 2011), Prietica (Alfaguara, 2013), Rooting (Owlfeather Collective, 2017), El Libro de Revelaciones (chapbook), (2019). Her poetry has been translated into Italian and French.