Areas of Expertise:

Counseling.

Embodied Movement.

Intergenerational Trauma.

Anxiety.

Identity Struggles.

About Muriel:

Ms. Muriel Vinson holds a Master in Somatic Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Muriel is is an Africentric, liberatory, sex-positive, body-positive Associate Somatic Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). Muriel’s pronouns are she, her, hers and she identifies as a cisgender queer woman. Muriel’s approach is whole-istic in that she engages and honors the mental, physical and spiritual processes of her clients. Muriel also utilizes a systems approach that recognizes the impact that social systems including friends, partners, family, community and larger society has on our mental health and overall wellbeing. Research interests include working with intergenerational trauma resulting from enslavement and colonization through African ways of embodiment including song, drum and dance as well as sex and sexuality in the Black community. Currently, Muriel is researching the role kink and BDSM plays in the lives of Black kinksters. Muriel offers individual, couple’s and family therapy at Heart In Balance Counseling Center in Oakland, CA. Muriel also supports the mental health of formally chronically homeless families at Contra Costa Interfaith Housing in Pleasant Hill, CA. In 2020, Muriel will move her practice to her hometown of Hampton, VA and continue to pursue MFT licensure in California and Virginia. Therapeutic areas of focus include anxiety, identity struggles (race, gender, sexual orientation, gender roles), neurodiversity, systemic and social justice issues (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, etc.), self-worth, intergenerational trauma, and burnout. Finally, Muriel is pursuing a certification in Kemetic Smai Tawi and currently serves as an apprentice learning traditional Indigenous American and African American medicine including, but not limited to, working with plants, rocks, astral travel, ritual, divination and energy.

Professional details:

Community-Based Models for Black Mental Health, Cohort Member

Heart In Balance, Somatic Marriage and Family Associate #109925

Supervised by Percy R. Castellanos LCSW #64671

Contra Costa Interfaith Housing, Mental Health Intern

Surpervised by Beth Limberg, PhD. Psy17418