University of Denver, Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Intended concentration in perinatal mental health, in progress, expected graduation August 2025

University of Denver

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, June 2021

University of Alabama

Bachelor of Science in Human Environmental Science, May 2018

Marissa Mueller, M.A.

marissa.mueller@birchpsychology.com | 303.834.1026 ext. 20

*departing practice summer of 2024

Marissa is a clinical psychology extern and a student at the University of Denver. While gaining her Master of Arts degree and working toward her doctorate in clinical psychology, she has gained experience working with various issues, including perinatal mental health, parenting, trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, ADHD, LGBTQ+, relationship distress, identity development, and self-esteem. She provides psychotherapy and assessment for individuals across the lifespan, focusing on perinatal individuals and dyads, children, and adolescents.

Marissa works from a relational and emotion-focused, psychodynamic, and narrative lens. She seeks to walk alongside clients to help them understand the narratives contributing to patterns that no longer serve them, learn where those narratives originated, and illuminate the broader systems that perpetuate them. This insight with a collaborative therapeutic relationship paves the way for new narratives to emerge and change that heals.

Marissa brings her values of warmth, authenticity, connection, and cultural humility to all her work and would like to express her deep appreciation for the honor it is to walk alongside clients in their therapy journey.  She can be reached at marissa.mueller@birchpsychology.com and 303.834.1026 ext. 20


Specialties:

Testing- Social/ Emotional Assessments, ADHD Assessments, Psychoeducational Assessments

Therapy- PCIT, ADHD, Grief and Loss, Trauma, Perinatal/ Postpartum, LGBTQ, Humanistic, EFT, Attachment, ACT, Play Therapy, Early Childhood, Existential, Identity Development, COS (Circle of Security), Anxiety, Depression

Featured Blog Posts
Resiliency is a Superpower

When certain, potentially traumatizing events occur between the ages of 0-17, the effect they can have on that individual's life is massive; these events are often referred to as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). A prevalence of ACEs in someone’s childhood can lead to a number of different issues later in life, including physical health issues such as heart disease and diabetes; mental health issues such as being at a higher risk of suicide, depression and bipolar disorder, and other issues such as pregnancy complications, difficulty forming healthy relationships, and struggling to create a stable work history as an adult.

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Being the Family Member of Someone With a Chronic Illness

Though I’ve gotten a lot better at it, I still sometimes have to catch myself when I find that I am judging someone at first glance. As a psychology major in college, part of why I love psychology so much is because I feel like in no other field do you really get the opportunity to look at other people and deep dive into what makes them unique. People, in my experience, often have a lot more going on in their lives than is outwardly apparent.

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Transitioning into Spring

A number of weeks ago we covered seasonal affective disorder (SAD), often called seasonal depression. Often, when people think of seasonal depression, they think of winter, with its lack of hours of daylight and the cold keeping us inside. You might imagine that, regardless of whether or not someone has SAD, that spring is a time for growing as a person and “spring cleaning” your mind. Both of these can be true, however, it’s important to recognize the pressure that putting those expectations on yourself and others can lead to.

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Who is the Person Sitting Next to You?

There is something inherently unique to each and every one of us: our identity. Or, is it our identities? The idea of intersectionality is one that has started to pick up more eyes and ears as time goes on, and is one that is such an inherently cool concept. Think about it: we all have different aspects of ourselves that we share with others, perhaps it is your gender or your age or your race. We all have multiple different identities as well, like being a 40-year-old woman, or a non-binary individual whose religious identity is important to them. Put these two facts together along with our own experiences, and we are our own unique and inimitable selves.

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Why Can’t I Get This Done?: ADHD and Self-Esteem

It often feels like, to me, that most people have heard of and have a general understanding of ADHD, but that they don’t necessarily know what ADHD is or what it is like to have. William Dodson, MD, a psychiatrist and author posits that children who have ADHD will, by the age of 12, “receive 20,000 more negative messages from parents, teachers, and other adults than their friends and siblings who do not have ADHD.” Being one of the most common mental disorders that affects children, one would think that we would have an easier and more effective time treating individuals with ADHD. This, however, as noted by William Dodson, is often far from the truth.

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