Marta is half Scottish and half Spanish and has therefore been exposed to bilingualism since she was a child and, as a Third culture child, she is aware of what it feels like to live in between cultures. She attended the Complutense University of Madrid in order to study Clinical Psychology. During this period, she worked in Navalcarnero Prison and Fundación Atenea as a volunteer developing Intervention Programmes, psychosocial counselling and social reintegration for abusers. She completed her university internship in the Complutense University of Madrid Clinic, where she learnt the importance of using and applying efficient scientifically proven therapeutic techniques (therapy does not simply consist in discussions and venting, but also provides patients with useful tools that eliminate emotionally blocking symptoms and that be used on a daily basis.)

Upon finishing her Psychology degree, Marta moved to Edinburgh, Scotland (her father´s home country) where she worked with people within the Autism Spectrum. Her role consisted of taking a positive approach when developing person- centred support plans in order to better their quality of life while also providing them with new problem-solving strategies, autonomy and independence techniques when managing their own finances and fostering communication and social skills with the aim of creating and maintaining social relationships (friendships, love relationships…).

Marta immediately noticed the lack of psychological assistance for the Hispanic community residing in Edinburgh, so she opened the first Therapeutical Clinic in Spanish “Psicologia en Edimburgo” (Psychology in Edinburgh) that is now attending patients of all nationalities and backgrounds. Marta has learnt that there are many psychological challenges and difficulties that arise when adapting to a different country (living far from a sick family member, getting a divorce in a different country, difficulties in establishing relationships when speaking a different language etc.) from her own personal experience as well as through the experiences of thousands of people who have opened up to her during her time in Scotland.

Marta has acquired broad experience in treating adults from all nationalities, addressing diverse issues involving emotional instability, anxiety (including physical symptoms, worries, obsession etc.), and altered moods, with the treatment of traumatic experiences being particularly interesting to her.

From an early stage in her career, she became interested in the issues couples may face and therefore completed a course: "Couple therapy, sexuality and family" at the Complutense University of Madrid. As she herself says, "it is a challenge with fulfilling results. Sometimes, when they start therapy, they cannot even look at each other and to be able to see how they regain their connection after a few sessions is very satisfactory."

She works from a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach (CBT), she finds applying specific therapies that best suit each case vitally important, along with the use of techniques which have been proven efficient according to scientific studies. Some of them include: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). In fact, her master’s dissertation focused on the application of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy in people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.

Marta has also recently completed the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) course with the EMDR Europe Association to treat emotional Trauma. EMDR is an evidence-based approach that uses eye movements for the processing of traumatic memories. Marta uses EMDR when her patients have been through a traumatic experience and still experience symptoms in the present related to that traumatic experience. You can have more information about how she uses EMDR reading “The treatment of emotional trauma with EMDR” that she has written in our blog.

Her patients describe Marta as warm and approachable person who commits to her cases completely. Her understanding of therapy implies possessing the ability to have an open mindset along with flexibility when contrasting hypothesis.