By Mary McPhail Gray
TBH Board Chair
Starting Monday, December 3 the TBH Family Center clinicians are providing their services in new quarters next to the agency’s main office: 105 Bertha in Taos. The move from the Old Magistrate Court on Salazar, formerly occupied by Tri County Services, was accomplished over the bitterly cold weekend with all hands helping out.
“Now all TBH Clients — including those from the Family Center — will enter through the main office door on the east side of our building at 105 Bertha,” said CEO Simon Torrez. “This will enable the reception area to serve all of the agency’s scheduled clients in one location — completing forms and keeping one master schedule.”
Left to right: Ashley Branch, Bruno Nora, Katie Torrelli-Delgado
The Family Center clinicians, Katia Torrelli-Delgado, Ashley Branch and Bruno Nora, have been working together to design the renovation of the new quarters—specifying space requirements for individual and group counseling, selecting welcoming colors and equipping a play therapy room. The work crew took special care to make certain there was ample insulation to insure quiet and privacy—so necessary for this confidential work.
Each of the Family Center therapists has enlarged their practice since joining TBH — serving youth and their families in the schools and at the TBH offices. Youth are seen in individual sessions, and families are included at the appropriate time in the therapeutic process.
KatieTorrelli-Delgado has deep training in a variety of therapeutic interventions. She is skilled in treating trauma and anxiety and grounds her practice in current research based on the combination of psychology and neuroscience. She has seen remarkable behavior change as clients learn to release old negative patterns and learn their own strength-based healthy behaviors. Such transformations are supported through a variety of specialized techniques, including touch, movement, auditory techniques and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDT).
These techniques build on new understandings that our brains can actually change — old emotional reactions that “trigger” events can be erased and new patterns established. Torrelli-Delgado is also able to use nutrition, education, spiritual awareness, and cultural sensitivity as part of her support for clients’ new behaviors. A native of Peru, she is bilingual and believes in treating “the whole person in their entire environmental context.”
Ashley Branch, a native of Taos brings her training and experience in the combination of health, psychology and counseling to her clients, using “soft touch” to welcome them on their journey to change. A skilled athlete, she understands the importance of physical skills in supporting psychological and emotional health. She enjoys partnering with her clients to help them recognize which things they have the power to change. Her therapeutic skills include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Functional Family Therapy (FFT), mindfulness, and relaxation techniques.
Bruno Nora immigrated to Taos in 2004 after studying psychology for 5 years in his native Peru. While operating a restaurant in Red River for seven years, he completed a B.S. in Psychology at UNM and a Masters at Adams State. He has interned and worked at a variety of Taos-based social service agencies and volunteered at the Juvenile Detention Center and a grief/loss support group. He sees children, youth and adults in his practice and is skilled with a variety of techniques including mindfulness, EMDR, play therapy, motivational interviewing, CBT, and Forward-Focus Trauma Therapy.
All three clinicians are receiving referrals and can be contacted at 575-758-4297 or at www.taosbehavioralhealth.org. We are delighted that all of the TBH staff is now in a common location and available to serve our community!
TBH has the largest credentialed and licensed behavioral health staff in Northern New Mexico and can be reached at 575-758-4297, 105 Bertha in Taos, and www.taosbehavioralhealth.org
Mary McPhail Gray is the Board chair of TBH and can be reached at 575-779-3126 or mcphailconsulting@gmail.com
