The story behind what I do
I lived through the attack of 11 September 2001 in New York.
Years before, I had arrived in the city wanting to train and deepen my knowledge of trauma treatment. There I began working as a psychotherapist, precisely in the area where the attack happened.
Although I did not see the Twin Towers fall with my own eyes, I saw them fall hundreds of times through my patients’ accounts. That experience marked my professional life deeply and reaffirmed even more my wish to “accompany people who are going through the worst moments of their lives.”
I have now been working for more than 35 years as a psychologist specialising in trauma and grief. Some people ask me: “Don’t you get depressed listening to people’s sad stories all day long?”
The answer is no. Because when I listen to their worries I try to understand how the person is living and making sense of what they are struggling with. For me, those are clues that reveal the skills, strengths, experiences and resources they already have, the ones they need to develop, and the ones we need to work through.
We know that therapy does not change the past, but it can transform the way we relate to it. That transformation opens the door to new possibilities and allows us to live with greater freedom.
About Me
I am a psychologist, trained at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, with more than 35 years of professional experience accompanying processes of trauma, grief and transformation. I have lived in Colombia, the United States, Australia and Spain.
Being an emigrant has given me a broad and deep view of how our experiences, bonds and contexts influence the way we feel, relate and live.
Throughout my career I have trained with international leaders in trauma and the nervous system, among them Peter Levine, Bessel van der Kolk, Janina Fisher, Dan Siegel and Stephen Porges.
I am a Certified Addictions Counsellor from the University of Miami, an Expert in Psychotherapy and Hypnosis from the Erickson Societies of New York and Madrid, and I have specialised in trauma at NYU, among other training.
But there is something that goes beyond training, and that is the emotion of seeing how a person recovers hope little by little, reconnects with their resources and discovers that they can face what once seemed impossible.
Accompanying processes of transformation is one of my passions.
“We all have shadows and we all put on masks, but if we cannot recognise them we do not move forward. That is why some battles are won from the inside.”
Martha Escamilla