Donnella is a high-energy mental health professional who enjoys working with couples and individuals that are seeking to improve their personal/intimate relationships. She grew up in a blended family and is a part of a blended family as a partner, mom and stepmom, so she has a passion for working with blended family couples and individuals as well; however, she services a variety of clients, including traditional/nontraditional couples/relationships, individuals seeking help for a variety of reasons, and the men a part of the ReinforceMen’s support group.

Her strengths include creativity, fairness, honesty and humor, which she incorporates into her sessions to help build a natural and genuine bond with her clients. Donnella has a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. She primarily practices using techniques in EFT, DBT, and EMDR. She is EMDR/RTEP and EFT trained. She is pursuing further education in each of these specialties, as well as sex/intimacy/pornography addiction, blended family couples, single parenting, past and recent trauma, and men’s mental health issues and concerns. She enjoys integrating principles of attachment theory and teaching clients skills surrounding boundaries, interpersonal skills/relationships, and identity development. She believes it is important to treat each client with unconditional, positive regard to foster a safe space for healing, health, and growth.

Prior to working at the Arizona Relationship Institute, Donnella was a behavioral health technician, using Applied Behavior Analysis techniques in order to aid children with disabilities aged 2-18, to learn academic, social, physical and emotional skills. Shortly after, she worked as a case manager for adults struggling with various issues such as substance abuse, anxiety, depression, trauma-related issues, and eating disorders. In both professions, she worked closely with parents, siblings, significant others, clinicians and other professionals to ensure that each client received top-tier quality care and achieved their goals while receiving the support that they needed. She has experience working with clients of various backgrounds, diagnoses (anxiety, depression, ASD, ODD, personality disorders, etc.), relationship types/styles (traditional and non-traditional, pre-marital, divorced, single parents/dating, sex therapy), beliefs, and lifestyles, and remains open and eager to learning about all the components that makes her clients special and unique.