Meet Bianca
About Bianca
Bianca is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, Equine-Assisted Mental Health Therapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, and Integrative Health and Well-being Educator. Complementing her clinical therapies is her expanded energy healing practice, where she is a certified Hatha yoga instructor, Shambala Reiki Master and Usui Reiki Master Teacher, as well as a healing sound practitioner, incorporating crystal bowls, tuning forks, and Tibetan gongs into meditation, yoga and mindfulness-based stress-reduction classes.
Bianca has led classes in hospitals, wellness centers, corporate workplaces, schools, yoga studios, and for her own private clientele since 2009. In 2014, she created Be Integrative Wellness, an integrative health and well-being therapeutic practice that brings together the physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual modalities for “whole person” healing. In 2015, Bianca served as a yoga instructor for the YEAH study conducted at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Recreation Department, an evidence-based and clinically informed longitudinal study on how yoga reduces inflammation and increases well-being in women. The study resulted in significant data evidencing the healing practices of hatha yoga and how it reduces anxiety and depression in women.
Bianca is also a practitioner of Somatic Experiencing, a trauma resolution method developed by Dr. Peter Levine and taught through the Somatic Experiencing International Trauma Institute, where Bianca assisted Dr. Abi Blakeslee’s (PhD, MFT, SEP) and Debra Clydesdale’s (LAC, DNBAO, SEP, CMT, CDS) international trainings and is an approved SE session provider.
History
After a move from San Diego to Sun Valley, Idaho, Bianca experienced a life pause when she underwent three major surgeries and was guided to take two to three years off to heal. During that time, she followed her heart and began her certification with PATH, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship at Swiftsure Therapeutic Ranch in Idaho. This was a natural evolution from her accomplishment as a nationally recognized equestrian and competitor toward following her passion of partnering with horses to help others heal and enjoy life. She also laid the groundwork to attend graduate school after she recuperated.
Having previously earned her BS in Allied Health in Executive Healthcare Leadership and Health Promotion and a BFA in Communications and Fine Arts, Bianca enrolled in the Community Mental Health Master’s Degree program at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and interned as the mental health therapist with the Blaine County School District in Idaho for her practicum in 2019-2020.
While working toward her graduate degree, Bianca partnered with NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness) and Swiftsure Ranch to pioneer NAMI’s first mental health equine-assisted therapeutic programs for children and families seeking mental health support. The in-person equine-assisted mental health interventions and experiences she observed while facilitating groups with NAMI and the Swiftsure community mental health programs enabled her to populate original and evidence-based content for her graduate thesis entitled, “How Equine Assisted Therapies Heal Attachment Ruptures.”
Bianca graduated with a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology in Community Mental Health in December of 2020. She worked as a school-based therapist and early childhood mental health consultant for Calm (Child Abuse Listening Mediation) and as a therapist specializing in co-occurring mental health and addiction for Casa Serena Treatment Programs for Women. While working at Casa Serena, Bianca offered and led equine- assisted mental health interventions for individual and group therapeutic nature experiences in Santa Barbara. Currently, Bianca works in a clinical private practice, The Wellness Collective, in downtown Santa Barbara, and conducts equine-assisted mental health sessions at the renowned Flag is Up horse ranch in Buellton, CA.
Bianca strives to provide healing with no barriers, stigmas, judgment, or other impediments to health and well-being. Sliding scales are available, and group space may be reserved exclusively for people of color and LGBTQ+ upon request.