Bonnie Rose Fernandez

Bonnie Rose Fernandez, MFT Intern

Clinical Intern

Background

Bonnie Rose Fernandez is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern at the PGCC. She has trained in Depth Psychology, and also has a degree in American Studies with a focus on history and cultures. Depth Psychology holds that each of us has a powerful unconscious part of the Self that can hold the key to understanding our conscious lives.

As a counselor, Bonnie supports each person in the discovery of her/his own inner truths, and she assists in the exploration of the many internal and external conflicts that affect the choices one makes. These conflicts include the social conditioning that affects all of us, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, consumerism, social class, body image pressures, etc.

Survivor

Bonnie is a cancer survivor, and believes that art, movement, spiritual practice, talk therapy, life writing, and conventional medicine can all be used together to engage in this path of health and wellness. Bonnie believes that there is a way, though it may be gradual, to find one’s authentic self within all of the pressures of one’s life.

Engaging in this process can be challenging and scary, but also fascinating and life enriching.

Teacher

In addition to becoming a therapist, Bonnie has been a schoolteacher for 25 years, working with all ages of students and academic subjects over those years. She has extensive experience with addictions and treatment, and has completed research on the addictive family system as well as complex childhood abuse and trauma. Her work on childhood trauma and attachment has been published.

She is thrilled to be practicing counseling at CSUMB, supporting students as they discover their own ways to an authentic sense of self, and better health and wellness.

Education

Bonnie received her MA in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis on Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2011, a Social Science Secondary Education Credential from San Jose State University in 1988, and a BA with Honors in American Studies from UC Santa Cruz in 1983.