WALLINGFORD — While some businesses closed their doors during the pandemic, Massiel Abramson saw the global crisis as an opportunity for a new venture to help people with their mental health.
In June of 2020, the Wallingford resident launched Massiel Abramson, LMFT, Therapy & Consulting. It provides clinical treatment, mental health and professional coaching, mostly online. She also offers consulting to companies and organizations, focusing on mental health, trauma, race and equity.
A lot of her motivation for starting the business came after George Floyd was murdered by a policeman in Minnesota, an event that caused protests nationwide. As a person of color, Abramson felt the need to help with issues involving race and discrimination, including sharing information with the community, she said.
She approaches therapy by addressing an individuals’ problems through family history and the community, she said.
One of the companies she worked with is International Game Technology, which offered employees a day dedicated to mental health, including issues of trauma and racial discrimination.
A licensed marriage and family therapist for 13 years, Abramson is also the program manager for clinicians at the Child First Program of InterCommunity Health Care in East Hartford.
She uses the social media site Instagram to mix art, creativity and mental health. She wrote a book chapter about a collage group she started. In the group, she encouraged group members to express themselves about trauma, other experiences, strengths and goals through a visual component that didn’t involve words.
Abramson has been living in Connecticut for seven years and in Wallingford for almost a year. She grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts after leaving the Dominican Republic at age five.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from what is now Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts and a master’s degree from the University of Rhode Island in human development and family studies, with a concentration in marriage and family therapy.
As a young girl she always had an inclination to understand other children, especially those who communicated differently, she said.
Elizabeth Delgado met Abramson when they both served on the board of an organization in Lawrence, Massachusetts. They also worked together on a training series related to wellness, trauma and crisis for an organization in California.
Delgado, who owns a business in the wellness industry, described Abramson as an “empathetic listener,” someone who is “social justice oriented” and who “tries to find a lot of resources for her clients.”
In addition, Delgado appreciates Abramson for working with children and for doing it with “grace” and joy, she said.
To learn more about Abramson, visit massielabramson.com. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or through Instagram at @massielabramson.
[email protected]: @KarlaSantosNews
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