{"id":3071,"date":"2019-10-21T12:02:32","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T12:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/about-me\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T15:32:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T15:32:31","slug":"about-me","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/about-me\/","title":{"rendered":"About me"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Valeria<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

I<\/span>never thought I would become a psychologist. For a long time, I believed my path was in economics \u2014 until I discovered what truly moved me: <\/span>helping people build lives that feel worth living. That realization changed my direction and opened a journey of both personal and professional growth.<\/p>\n

I trained as a psychologist at the University of Costa Rica, where I learned to view mental health through a critical lens and recognized how access to care in my country is still often a privilege. This fueled my conviction to work responsibly, guided by research and evidence-based interventions.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

During my training, I had the opportunity to work in hospital settings, where I discovered my passion for supporting people through illness, health challenges, and end-of-life processes. This experience also showed me the value of interdisciplinary collaboration in providing comprehensive and humane care. Through my Master\u2019s degree in Clinical Psychology at UNIBE, I have continued to expand my knowledge and clinical practice, working with diverse populations in both hospitals and private practice.<\/p>\n

My journey also led me into the corporate world, where I worked at McKinsey & Company, gaining insight into organizational dynamics, leadership teams, and the crucial role of mental health in professional life.<\/p>\n

In addition, I am a faculty member at the University of Costa Rica, where I teach courses on health psychology. This role has allowed me not only to contribute to the training of future professionals, but also to deepen my expertise in supporting people facing chronic illnesses such as cancer, HIV, diabetes, chronic pain, heart disease, and gastrointestinal conditions.<\/p>\n

One of my most meaningful experiences has been my collaboration with Proyecto Daniel, supporting adolescents with cancer and their families. This work continues to remind me of the strength of human connection and the importance of providing care that is both clinically rigorous and deeply compassionate.<\/p>\n

Today, my commitment remains the same: to provide therapy that is updated, human, and effective. I stay in continuous training, with a particular interest in contextual therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which not only seek to relieve suffering but also to help people live in alignment with what truly matters to them.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\u201cPain and purpose are two sides of the same coin\u2026 You hurt where you care, and you care where you hurt.\u201d\u2014 Steven C. Hayes”<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3070,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3071","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3071"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3104,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3071\/revisions\/3104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valeriaemo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}