I Didn’t Choose Therapy-Therapy Chose Me!

Hello! Hola!

Thanks for popping in and taking the time to get to know me a little better. My name is Catalina Fortich, and I am a therapist here at CMC Therapy!

Before I go into my “credentials” as a therapist, I want you to get a better sense of who I am. First off, I am a bilingual (Spanish-English),

bi-cultural (Colombian-American) South Florida native.

Honestly, I would never survive in any other climate that isn’t tropical, humid and hot!

I moved to West Broward (the furthest north I allow myself to go) 8 years ago with my husband of 17 years, my daughter and my son. Both whom are now TEENAGERS!

Having a family (familia) of my own, wanting to be the “best” version of myself for them was my motivation to become a Marriage and Family Therapist . What I wasn’t expecting was how much I learned about myself in the process.

I am a believer in therapy and its potential for healing and growth because I have experienced it first-hand. I was able to understand that what my family and I really needed was a more complete and content version of ME!

I Didn’t Choose Therapy; Therapy Chose Me!

I don’t consider being a therapist as only a career, but rather a life calling. I believe most therapists enter this profession because we have a passion for helping others, or we have gone through some difficult times of our own, and I was no exception. I have always had a desire to delve into a person’s lived experiences, to understand them better, and celebrate their small and big triumphs.

Nowadays, I realize it isn’t much of a coincidence that I spent most of my pre-teen and teenage years reading books about abuse and trauma survivors, teenagers struggling with eating disorders, and overcoming medical challenges. My mission when working with my clients today is to be a witness to their triumphs and help them access their abilities and strengths to take their lives and their relationships to the next level.

Becoming....

At this point, you already know a little more about how I got into this profession and my reasons behind becoming a therapist. Even though my journey began way before I made the decision to turn my passion into a profession, I guess the official journey began when I was finally accepted into the Marriage and Family Therapist graduate program at Nova Southeastern University in 2014.

There, I spent 2 years learning from some of the most enlightening and knowledgeable professors I now have the privilege of calling my colleagues. They guided me through understanding the magnitude of the responsibility of becoming a therapist, and being entrusted with people’s most vulnerable life moments.

I am grateful to them for teaching me the ethics, science, empathy, and compassion needed to delve into our client’s lives with the respect that they so deserve. However, my most valuable lessons were learned while interning both at Nova University School-Lower School in the guidance department, and at Broward Outreach Center providing individual and group therapy through their residential substance abuse treatment program.

I learned that when entering the lives of my clients, there are some very important assumptions that I must operate from- including the understanding that everyone is doing the best that they can, given their current level of understanding and their own lived experiences.

I recognized that people are not problems, they have problems.

That families, couples and individuals are experts of their own lives and I am a collaborative partner in helping them find new solutions to painful situations.

I believe we are all a work-in-progress; and that we can never fully BECOME what we want to be until we embrace the idea that we must remain teachable, open and CURIOUS about the lessons behind our struggle.