We recently connected with Romina Barrientos and have shared our conversation below.
Romina , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
The confidence I have now is a result of both my upbringing and my willingness to take risks in my late teens and early 20s. Growing up, my parents consistently spoke highly of me, emphasizing my strengths rather than my struggles. They made me feel seen and validated, especially when it came to my talents and appearance. I heard things growing up like: “You are so beautiful,” “you are smart” (even though I was terrible at math), and “you can do whatever you want to do.” I know parents are supposed to say these things, but my parents went out of their way to create space for my dancing and encouraged me to pursue my creative endeavors.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I was born and raised in Guatemala, “the land of many trees.”
Growing up, I loved to dance, write, and choreograph. My childhood and teenage years were filled with dance classes (ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, and jazz) and choreographing for hours just for fun. My parents had a weekly show where I would perform in our living room, and if I may say so I was also quite an entrepreneur since these shows were 1 Quetzal per person.
With my parents’ support, I was able to move to Sydney, Australia, when I was 18 to pursue a dancing career. Weeks before leaving on the plane across the world, my uncle died in a very traumatic and sudden way. A year before that, a very close friend of mine had died, also suddenly, from complications of a chronic illness I knew nothing about. These events shook me to the core, and they really made me re-evaluate whether I wanted to pursue dance as a career. I loved dance, but I felt like something was missing. Once in Australia, I met many wonderful mentors and one of them had a profound impact on me. Her name was Margaret Stunt, a speaker, teacher, and mentor, but she also became the type of woman I aspired to be. When she shared her story about healing after sexual abuse, I realized how little I knew about living a full life after loss, grief, trauma, and coping with the uncertainties of life.
At 19, I moved to Florida to pursue a career in counseling while also choreographing and leading a Dance Ministry on the side. I remember sitting on the brick steps of my old house in Guatemala, telling my closest friends that my dream was to eventually go back to Guatemala to build a safe space to provide mental health services to the underprivileged where I would also incorporate the arts and dancing.
Now in 2024, I am the closest to achieving that dream.
I started a private practice called The Inner Child Clinic in 2022 while simultaneously working a full-time job as a Behavioral Health Professional for the school district. But I started dedicating myself fully to the practice in January 2024. It was just the right time. When I decided to start my private practice, a lot of old friends and new colleagues became so supportive and have been key in the practice doing so well. I am in awe of how many people support this practice, and I am so grateful for those who have been there for me through it all, including my husband Emilio and my parents who live overseas.
Right now, I offer individual counseling both remote and in person. My approaches are trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy, and filial therapy (ideal for children 0-5). But I also see adults with past trauma. I am getting closer to completing my coursework to become a Registered Play Therapist. This credential includes 150 play therapy instructional hours, 350 direct play therapy hours, and supervision by a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor (this on top of all the work to become an LMHC). On Saturdays, I am leading new social skills/play therapy-based groups for kids between 9-10 and also 4-5. I still have a desire to go back to Guatemala to provide support to under-privileged communities. This is currently a work in progress, but stay tuned.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Do not take yourself too seriously, and when in doubt, laugh. Laughing and finding humor in the midst of pain adds a lot of balance to my life. We take life so seriously, when really we’re all just beginners at life. This is a value I learned after watching my favorite film, called Beginners. In one scene, Anna says: “Maybe I’m not perfect at it. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I want to be here.” I think part of becoming comfortable with who we are means being comfortable with the funny and awkward parts of ourselves. I think the faster we learn to laugh at our mistakes, the more balanced our lives become.
2. Silence. Recognizing when you need that time to quiet your mind and stay away from distractions (toxic boyfriends, any mind-altering substance, HBO, you name it). Silence means creating a space in your schedule where nothing happens. Taking some time to just be has been essential to me when making an important decision or starting a new business.
3. Surround yourself with people who align to your values. One moral principle that kept me focused in my teens and early 20s was “Love God and Love people.” Friends I keep close are: friends in the counseling world, teachers, pastors, leaders in churches and nonprofits, and artists. Even though they are engaged in different careers, they all have one thing in common: they all have experienced deep pain but somehow have chosen to love instead of hate.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
Allowing me to pursue my dreams, even if that meant living very far away from them.
They let me go not knowing when or if I would come back. (This is not common parent behavior in my Guatemalan culture.) Three years before I left for Australia, my parents separated after being together for 21 years. At that time, my mom was struggling with depression and my dad had started a new family. My mom was my best friend. Now as a parent, I cannot imagine the strength and trust it took for them to let me go to Sydney, Australia. I cannot fathom a world where I leave my son Alessandro at an airport at 4 am, where he gets on 2 planes and travels to an unknown destination to live with 5 strangers from all over the world.
My parents trusted me. They trusted and believed in me so much.
They knew my temperament, but they knew I felt very comfortable talking to them. If anything bad would have happened, I would have called them immediately. I was far physically, but emotionally we only became closer over time. I’ve been living overseas for about 13 years now, and I will be forever thankful for their immense trust in me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theinnerchildclinic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theinnerchildclinic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romina-barrientos-4ba4a585/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/romina-barrientos-jupiter-fl/1006319
Image Credits
Austin Sharkey- took the one of my pregnant belly, my headshot, and the one of me inside the ocean.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
