Marina Compean, LCSW

01/20/2025

Not bad
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01/14/2025

Look at me!
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10/30/2024

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10/24/2024

Exciting News! 🎉 I’m thrilled to announce my partnership with Headway, which allows me to accept even more insurance plans, making therapy more accessible for you!

Starting November, I’ll be in-network with Headway and Alma, providing trauma-informed, somatic, and culturally affirming therapy to individuals and professionals who want to heal, grow, and thrive—without barriers.

If you’re ready to start or continue your healing journey, reach out today! Let’s make therapy work for you.

🌿 Virtual sessions
🌿 Bilingual services (English & Spanish)

09/19/2024

Empowering BIPOC and first-gen professionals to heal and thrive with trauma-informed, somatic-relational therapy. I emphasize safety, connection, and an authentic , lighthearted yet profound approach to healing. Accessible care with insurance coverage available via Alma. Link in bio.

09/12/2024

🌿 Calming Surfaces: Stand or walk or touch on cold surfaces like tile or grass, or submerge your feet in a cool foot bath for immediate relief.

5️⃣4️⃣3️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ Grounding Technique: Notice 5 things you see, 4 things you touch, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you taste to bring you back to the present moment.

👤 Body Scan & PMR: Scan for heat or tension, then focus on cooler body parts. Tense and relax each muscle group from feet upward to release tension.

💆🏽‍♀️ Self-Massage with Cooling Oils: Use peppermint or eucalyptus oils to gently massage temples, neck, and shoulders.

🫶🏽 Calming Touch: Place hands over your heart or abdomen, breathe deeply to activate relaxation.

🏝️ Guided Imagery: Visualize calm, safe, protected settings like waterfalls or shaded paths to shift focus to comforting places.

🧘🏽‍♀️ Movement: Try slow yoga poses or tai chi to calm the body without generating heat. Alternatively, try shaking gently or bouncing up and down to discharge nervous system energy.

🍉 Hydration & Nourishment: Eat hydrating foods like watermelon or drink cool water in small sips to regulate body temperature.

🧠 Body Awareness & Self-Compassion: Notice body sensations, offer yourself compassion, and engage in gentle self-talk to ease discomfort.

These strategies help ground and calm the body during stressful times. 🌿

06/03/2024

Phew!
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04/02/2024

Boom!
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01/21/2024

A wall push can help reset our stressed nervous system by releasing the energy from our body.

Find a sturdy wall with a spot you can push against and place your hands (not fists 😉) 🫸🏽on the wall as if you’re going to perform a 🫸🏽 standing push up.

Start pushing firmly as you bring attention to how your muscles and body begin to release. Keep pushing,

Do you notice:
💪🏽 Your arms, legs, or core begin to shake or quiver?
🥵 Changes in temperature throughout your body?
🗣️ An urge to make a sound?
🥹 Tears or sweat?

These are some (not all) sensations that can indicate your body has discharged some stuck energy and is “resetting” from a stress response.

Take a break, step back from the wall and see what you notice. Does your breath seem different? Do your muscles now feel more relaxed? Do you feel the urge to repeat the wall push? If so, repeat it and continue to check in with yourself.

There are many somatic techniques that can help us release stuck energy and emotions. If you’re “somatic curious” and would like to explore other similar somatic exercises to practice, comment “release” below for a link to purchase Somatic Practices Journal.

01/11/2024

Happy to share Somatic Practices Journal is now available to purchase! The journal offers prompts with room to explore your experience with somatic strategies. It is intended as an introduction and exploration into mind-body techniques that can be integrated into daily practices.
My hope is that you find it an accessible and helpful resource!

Somatic Practices Journal: Mind-body exercises for stress management, enhanced resilience and self-awareness

01/10/2024

One of the prompts in my forthcoming Somatic Practices Journal is on Grounding. Grounding can help regulate our stressed nervous system by bringing us back into connection with the present moment. There are several ways we can practice grounding strategies, and one of my favorites is Earthing.

Earthing is to sync the body to the natural rhythms of the earth. This somatic practice can yield restorative benefits for our rattled nerves and stressed spirits.

The earth beneath us gives us a surface to sit, stand, walk, run, swim, climb, play, and build on. It provides us with sustenance and water. We are ALL connected by it, with it, to each other. It also provides us with something very surprising - electrons. When we touch the ground with your bare feet or body, the electrons flow into us, grounding us with nourishing energy from the Earth.

I like to spend time in nature and my little burgeoning garden, feeling the soil in my hands—getting a little dirty is good for your mental health!

I take a few moments to breathe in the cool crisp air, I notice my body relax and my lungs fill. I can smell the green, grassy, peppery scent of my arugula and kale. I notice my tummy gurgle in anticipation of my lunch salad! 😋! 🥬🍃🥗

Curious? Interested in this somatic practice? What might you notice by spending more time in nature?

01/09/2024

I love to work with…

🌺WOC whom, despite being high achievers, struggle with worthiness and guilt

🥀BIPOC sorting through relational and intergenerational trauma

💐 Young professionals seeking to align with purpose and passion work.

🌻Tender beings who struggle with loneliness and belonging

🌈People who not only seek to be witnessed and understood, but also thrive and feel more embodied.
 
⬆️ Is this you? ⬆️

Are you curious about Resiliency and Attachment Focused Somatic therapy?

Have you wondered if EMDR or Brainspotting could be helpful to you?

Te comunicas mejor en Español?

⬆️ Is this you? ⬆️

📲 Can’t wait to meet you and get started! 📧I’d love to support you with gentle, culturally affirming therapy to support your healing.

01/08/2024

As I look forward to the publication of my Somatic Practices Journal, I want to share some of the exercises you will find in the guide. Somatic practices are often simple but not necessarily easy. As we get better acquainted parasympathetic our nervous system (the “be at our best,”rest, and digest response), it takes repetition.

Resourcing refers to identifying pleasant, comforting, enjoyable images and or memories, bringing them to mind, and and noticing the present moment impact on our nervous system.

By inviting our mind/body to attune to sensations of safety or goodness, however small they may be, we can shift our states from stress responses to states of calm or neutral. As with most things, it takes practice to build our awareness—especially to a felt sense of calm, comfort, and safety when we are most often in the hustle and bustle of our stressful lives.

Taking a few moments to pause and resource throughout our weeks and days can help soothe a rattled sympathetic nervous system (our fight/flight response).

I have the benefit of my resource partner available to me on the ready, most days. Milo, my therapy pup and constant companion, is a wonderful resource. He is curious and playful and ALWAYS happy to go on sniffy walks. He’s got warm eyes and a sweet disposition—and he always raises my spirits! Just glancing over to him, I feel my whole body relax a little, and a smile emerges on my face!

What do you notice when you spend time with your resources?

01/01/2024

Coming in 2024! I put together a somatic exercises journal with guided prompts for somatic practices and space to explore your somatic journey. I look forward to sharing the finished product with you all!

11/07/2023

An invitation to a wonderful offering from an esteemed colleague and friend, hosted by .

10/29/2023

Excited and proud to share that together with my “assistant” I will be integrating animal assisted approaches. Did you know that inviting dogs into therapy can:

* Reduce stress and anxiety and lower blood pressure
* Lessen symptoms of depression and loneliness
* Enhance mindfulness and attachment
* Lessen the effects of trauma and PTSD
* Improve human-to-human social functioning
* Help people suffering from agoraphobia
* Improve sensory recognition in people recovering from a stroke
* Improve Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
* Increase feelings of acceptance and belonging

Connecting and interacting with safe and comforting animals can shift our physiological state to enhance and align our emotional and cognitive abilities and coping. Milo and I look forward to this new chapter in my work. If you are inclined to explore how having some canine support can help, I can’t wait for you to meet my assistant, Milo.