Victoria Sarmiento, MFT

Victoria Sarmiento is a bilingual Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 17 years of experience working with adults, children, adolescents and families. Some of the areas she has focused on treating including ADHD, Anxiety, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Depression, trauma, relationship loss, family planning/pregnancy/post-partum, (in)fertility journey, same-sex relationships and significant life transitions. Victoria received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Boston University and her Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Diego.

Victoria began her career working for a non-profit organization that serves adult survivors of sexual assault, sexual abuse and domestic violence. After several years she transitioned her career to serving children, youth and their families inside the educational system working for San Diego Unified School District. Her fourteen year career with SDUSD has generated vast experience working in the special education system and supporting students with co-occurring disorders. Victoria began working at Positive Change Counseling Center in July of 2020 as a part time clinician focusing her skill set and enhancing her career by working solely with adult individuals and couples. Her passion for psychotherapy has grown over the course of her career and inspires her to explore the latest techniques and interventions in an effort to support her clients. Each work environment has provided Victoria with an opportunity to work with diverse populations from a variety of socio-economic, religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Victoria is often described as a warm, attentive, attune and goal-oriented therapist. She values the importance of creating a safe environment where individuals can fully express themselves, identify their needs and wants, create the change they are seeking and experience being seen and heard. Victoria has extensive training and experience utilizing a variety of therapeutic modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), Prolonged Exposure, Relaxation Therapy, Mindfulness, Motivational Interviewing, Solution- Focused Therapy, the Gottman Approach, Emotion Focused Therapy and Imago Therapy.