Gabriela Pessoa-Mendes, BA

Gabriela is an AEDP certified clinical Psychologist and Supervisor. She has been dedicated to studying AEDP in Brazil since 2008, but it was through in-person courses in NY – Immersion (2013), ES1 (2016/ 2017) and Advanced Skills (2017/ 2018) – that she became even more delighted with the practice of the model. “Listening to Diana, it became clear to me that I was delighted beyond a model of therapy; it resonated with who I am in life.” Gabi brings an embodied AEDP presence to her work – a sense of safety, openness, curiosity, and genuine care to her clients and supervisees. Her expertise in working with trauma in psychotherapy, or doing supervision, shines through her focus on the bottom-up experience – privileging relational and somatic/emotional work.

Gabriela graduated in PUC-RIO and has been dedicated to a clinical psychology career from the get go. Alongside her studies of AEDP, she also explored other valuable models, including SE – Somatic Experiencing Training and Mindfulness. She is certified in Mindfulness by MTI – Mindfulness Trainings International, by New Zealand lama Jangchub Reid. “Both my mindfulness teaching and AEDP therapy practices are more than just work; they are an authentic and meaningful way of living life”. In 2022 she had the honor of co-presenting at the Spirituality Workshop with Kari Gleiser, showing a video of pre-verbal trauma work. Gabriela had many AEDP faculty members as inspiration and deep appreciation for all who nurtured and supported the Brazilian community.

Besides that, in 2020, Gabi had a significant personal experience when she delved deeply into the principles of Attachment Bond Theory by becoming a mother. “Raising a child by those principles has been the biggest and most meaningful experience of AEDP practice in my life.”