Dr. Menendez has many years of experience offering psychotherapy to adolescents and adults, individuals, couples and families. Individuals, couples and families are referred to Dr. Manuela Menendez for a variety of different reasons with varying degrees of discomfort. It is Dr. Menendez' task to help each individual, couple or family with their specific problem. A great majority of psychological and sometimes physical distress comes from a lack of awareness of what one is communicating to themselves and others. Dr. Menendez helps her patient(s) become aware of and understand what they are communicating to themselves and others through a detailed examination of their thoughts, feelings and actions. It is through this understanding that significant and permanent change can happen in their lives. Dr. Menendez provides a safe, private and respectful environment where her clients will feel that their needs will be understood, and thoughtfully addressed. Her aim as a psychotherapist is not merely symptom reduction or removal. Her experience has been that through the use of psychodynamic psychotherapy, patients can reduce and/or eliminate their symptoms or difficulties. Furthermore, the process of psychotherapy builds emotional strength and flexibility. Engaging in psychotherapy should not only reduce or eliminate symptoms or difficulties but also increase one's capacity to deal with future hardships and struggles in life. In this way, successful psychotherapeutic treatment should have life long and far reaching benefits.

Dr. Menendez has taught Supervision and Consultation to doctoral students in the Counseling Psychology program. She has also taught Counseling Theories to Masters level students in the Marriage and Family Therapy program. Dr. Menendez currently supervises individuals and groups on their counseling skills. She is responsible for teaching and supervising students with clinical case assessment, formulation and psychotherapeutic treatment. Dr. Menendez's supervisees are doctoral level students in the counseling psychology program at the University of Miami.

Dr. Menendez was the college counselor in the Student Health Services Department. She provided counseling and psychotherapy to the college students at New World School of the Arts in Downtown Miami.

Dr. Menendez conducted assessments and treatments with patients living in a residential treatment facility. The patient population consisted of previously homeless male and female adults with dual diagnoses and triple diagnoses.

Conducted mental health outreach and in home psychotherapy to recently housed, formerly homeless population of Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County. Duties included assessment and treatment of recently housed chronically homeless and dually diagnosed population. Issues treated included trauma, substance abuse, impulsivity, paranoia, non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors, loss, adjustment disorders, anxiety and depression.

Provided biweekly empirically validated psychotherapeutic services and treatments to an inpatient psychiatric adolescent male population in ages ranging from 13 to 17. Additional duties included providing process group therapy and psycho-educational group therapy as well as a specialized group dealing with issues related to sexual victimization and perpetration. Provided monthly MHT staff trainings and power point presentations with subjects ranging from admission criteria to cultural sensitivity. Court appearances and presentations regarding the clients were required several times a month. Documentation included daily progress notes, weekly staffing notes, admission, monthly and discharge summaries, court documentation, bio-psychosocial evaluations and psychosexual evaluations.

Assessed, diagnosed, created treatment plans and provided psychotherapy to individuals, couples and families with a variety of presenting problems using psychoanalytic approaches. Conducted weekly, bi-weekly and tri-weekly psychotherapy. Case load consisted of heterosexual and GLBT male and female patients, ranging from the ages of 18 to 80, who struggled with things such as addiction, relationship issues, attachment difficulties, anxiety, depression, acculturation difficulties, OCD, impulse disorders, behavioral problems, parenting issues, personality disorders and severe trauma. Areas of specialization included working with minorities, immigration issues, addictions, sexual identity, end of life issues, and treating people with ongoing chronic illnesses. Languages used were Spanish and English. All psychotherapy was conducted under the supervision of Dai To, Ph.D.

One of four interns in the first geriatric psychoanalytic psychotherapy training program at Bayview Hunter’s Point Adult Day Health Center. Assessed, diagnosed, created treatment plans and provided ongoing weekly and biweekly on-site psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral psychotherapy to primarily African-American and Latino elders between the ages of 55 to 94 with chronic illness. Conducted simple cognitive screenings for dementia and depression. Consulted with IDT teams concerning best holistic approach for participants. Clients suffered from a variety of medical, cultural, economic and psychological maladies such as Complex PTSD, dementia, psychosis, racism and sexism. Additionally, weekly psychoanalytic case conference and four hours of psychoanalytic trainings per week centering on the connection between psychodynamic theory and technique and the elderly and minority populations. Received 3 hours of weekly psychoanalytic individual supervision.

Conducted psychoanalytic psychotherapy with children and adults in individual and couples treatment. Patient population consisted of non-insured individuals varying in ages from 6 to 65; male, female and transgendered with varied cultural backgrounds, and sexual orientation. Many patients were immigrants from other countries. Problems addressed in therapy consisted of depression, anxiety, neglect, parenting difficulties, substance abuse, stage of life issues, grief and loss, chronic ongoing illness, grief counseling, acculturation, psychosis, characterological problems, eating disorders, impulse disorders, addiction and trauma. Training included attending six hours of weekly psychoanalytic trainings taught by psychoanalysts from The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California. Classes consisted of such topics as transference/countertransference, trauma, addictions, infant development, adolescent development, geriatric psychology, neuropsychology, attachment theory and technique, and multicultural and sociocultural issues in psychoanalytic treatments. Additionally, requirements included completing two full neuropsychological assessments, a one hour assessment seminar, psychoananlytic group supervision and two hours of individual pychoanalytic supervision.

Provided onsite intake, assessment and referral services for clients of the Women’s Community Clinic. Engaged in crisis management and intervention with clients whom experienced reproductive health emergencies.

Duties included providing individual and group cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy to newly admitted patients in the rehabilitation ward of the hospital as part of an interdisciplinary team. Typical patient had open or closed traumatic brain injury as well as other recent physical insult such as loss of limbs, eye sight, and/or hearing. Problems such as depression, grief, loss, substance abuse, personality disorder, anger, adjustment disorder, anxiety, dementia, psychotic processes, and interpersonal conflict were dealt with using short term psychodynamic therapy as well as CBT techniques and supportive therapy strategies. Additional responsibilities included co-leadership of a weekly traumatic brain injury group where cognitive conditioning strategies were implemented to help members in their rehabilitation. Weekly Grand rounds were attended where residents are discussed among all the members of the treatment team to assess the best care possible for the patient. Weekly 4 hour didactic trainings at San Francisco General Hospital’s Neuropsychological Services provided instruction on neuropsychological assessments; including their history, administration, scoring and interpretation. Additionally, weekly didactic case presentations focused on neuroanatomy and neuropsychological case presentations. Finally, weekly four hour trainings at Laguna Honda Hospital focused on topics such as dementia and depression, anger management, group supervision, traumatic brain injury, structured interviewing, working with in-patient populations, clinical neuropsychology and assault response and prevention.

Responsibilities included intake evaluations and individual short-term and long-term psychotherapy for lesbian, bisexual and transgendered men and women from a self-psychological and control mastery perspective. Training included weekly four hour didactic seminars focusing on diagnosis, intervention and theory, including self and object relations theories, family/child issues and HIV/substance abuse. Presenting problems included developmental transitions, management of psychotic processes, suicidal ideation, relationship and sexuality conflicts, substance abuse and recovery, Bipolar depression, anxiety, cyclothymic disorder, personality disorder, as well as pre-operation sex re-assignment counseling. New Leaf services primarily serves low-income individuals, and those who receive disability and medi-cal services.

Provided psychotherapeutic services to ethnically diverse, dually diagnosed, incarcerated women in the Solano county jail. Clients presented with a range of issues including post-partum depression, PTSD, major depressive disorder, personality disorders, generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism and drug abuse/dependency. Responsibilities included conceptualizing cases in a bio-psycho-social model which included various psychological orientations such as interpersonal, psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral. Additionally, weekly one hour staff meetings where the substance abuse staff and psychology interns presented clients and worked collaboratively to establish client’ s continuing treatment, upon their release from jail. Finally, four hours a week of didactic training covered several relevant topics such as crisis intervention, substance abuse, resistance to treatment, control mastery theory, Complex PTSD and secondary traumatization.

Duties included assessing, diagnosing and creating treatment plans for counseling inner city children in a school setting and community mental health setting using play therapy, art therapy and sand tray techniques. Couple’s short term psychotherapy using Imago therapy model and individual long-term psychotherapy using narrative, family systems, psychodynamic, existential and supportive theoretical orientations. The client population was economically, ethnically and socially diverse ranging from upper middle class Caucasians to indigent racial minorities. Treatment issues included personality disorders, schizophrenia, kleptomania, depression, anxiety, sexual and physical abuse, grief, relationship problems, adjustment disorders and conduct disorder. Responsibilities included intake sessions, psychological evaluations, opening, transfer and closing summaries, opening and closing client charts, collecting client fees and attending weekly four hour didactic trainings on subjects such as narrative therapy and its techniques, group psychotherapy, working with sexually abused clients, suicide and homicide assessment and prevention.

Individual supportive counseling, career counseling, and student outreach. Client population included non-traditional college students with presenting problems such as adjustment disorders, relationships problems, depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Conducted intake and evaluation sessions, opened and closed client charts and constructed and presented workshops on study skills, stress management, and grief counseling.