Meet Marisa
Marisa La Piana, LCSW (CA)
Leo Sun / Taurus Moon / Sagittarius Rising
she/they
I am a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist practicing on unceded Chochenyo Ohlone land in Oakland, California, and serving folks all over the state. I identify as a white, queer, neurodivergent, gender-expansive femme healer who navigates chronic illness. My practice is informed by my own experience in these identities as well as an intersex genetic condition called Turner Syndrome. Unpacking internalized ableism and unmasking have been a big part of my own trajectory over the last few years!
I hold a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Social Welfare, where I concentrated in Community Mental Health. I spent the beginning of my career working on domestic violence hotlines and serving children and youth, including immigrants and refugees, at community-based clinics and school health centers before pivoting into private practice.
My therapy practice was created with the needs of queer disabled and neurodivergent folks at the center. It is deeply influenced and inspired by the inherent strengths, resilience, and wisdom of these communities. I bring a relational, queer-and-neurodiversity-affirming lens into the therapeutic space and utilize a blend of parts work, somatic work, and Attachment Focused Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to support folks to heal from trauma, connect to their body-heart-minds and move in the direction of safety, empowerment, joy and meaning. Some of my favorite wisdom teachers during these pandemic times include disability justice organizers such as Stacey Park Milbern and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.
I’m deeply honored and excited to be joining the Kintsugi Therapist Collective cohort at this time in my professional and personal development. At a time of deep collective pain and isolation, I believe that community is vital to sustainability as we strive towards collective liberation!
If you are interested in my therapy practice, you can contact me through my website: