Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Clincial Supervisor: Deborah Pontillo, Ph.D, Director . PSY#18934
Marrissa Juarez is a registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist with a passion for helping children, adolescents, and families build resilience, strengthen communication, and navigate life’s challenges. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from California State University, San Bernardino, and her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from California Baptist University.
Marrissa works with young clients to address life transitions, anxiety, behavioral challenges, and difficulties in social and emotional functioning. She emphasizes building healthy coping skills and tools for lifelong well-being. In her work, she draws from evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness techniques, and other empirically supported strategies to promote self-awareness, emotional regulation, and personal growth.
Before joining San Diego Kids First, Marrissa worked extensively within a school district, where she collaborated with educators and families to address students’ social-emotional and behavioral needs. She currently works under the direct clinical supervision of Dr. Deborah Pontillo, Director, and brings a compassionate, adaptable, and strengths-based approach to therapy.
Outside of her clinical work, Marrissa enjoys spending time with her family, exploring nature, and relaxing with her beloved dog, Stitch
What Others Say About Us
Dr. Pontillo is an exceptional, and one-of-a-kind child psychologist. I have referred many children of my patients to Dr. Pontillo and she has always given them the best care and attention. Referring a patient to another professional is a big responsibility. I always look for a colleague who is efficient, professional, experienced and one who is able to come up with a clear diagnosis. I keep referring to Dr. Pontillo because of her expertise, efficiency and especially her warm and caring personality that is extremely necessary when dealing with children. I very highly recommend Deborah Pontillo, Ph.D as a child diagnostician, developmental and behavioral specialist, and therapist.
I’ve been referring my patients to Dr. Pontillo for the past several years with the utmost confidence that she will care and understand their developmental needs. Dr. Pontillo always provided them with a balanced and age appropriate intervention to help not only the child but the family as a whole.
I am a general pediatrician with a special interest in ADHD, spending about 20% of my clinical time caring for ADHD patients. I have known Dr Pontillo since 2005 and have an enormous respect for her clinical skills and insights. She is my “go to” psychologist for more complicated developmental issues and for diagnosis of subtle high functioning disabilities. Dr. Pontillo’s interest in her patients and her ability to clearly delineate developmental problems allows parents to move forward with establishing a treatment plan. She is an invaluable resource to the San Diego Pediatric community.