Ilona Merli is a Bay Area-based Emotional Wellness Counselor and Education Expert focusing on: family and workplace dynamics and personal growth.
Currently available for consultations and weekly appointments.
Background
Ilona is an outstanding counselor with over 20 years of experience working with individuals, families, and organizations to resolve internal and external conflict; her approach is to guide people in exploring their maladaptive patterns and support them as they discover a new internal way of being.
Ilona uses an ego state model to help people develop an understanding of the different parts of themselves, as they move toward the recovery of their authentic Self and a more fulfilling life experience.
Certified Transactional Analysis Practitioner
2006 – 2012
M.A., Education
2002 – 2006
CTA, Teaching in a Global Society
2015 – Present
EFT Certification
2012 – 2015
Psychoeducation
A new level of psychological insight and functioning is urgently needed for every individual; once upon a time, we relied on professionals for serious life crises. But now, emotional awareness is a necessity just to make it through every day.
Technological advances, as well as advances in science and the social sciences, are several steps ahead of our own intra-psychic understanding. When we begin to understand how our experiences shape the way we process negative feelings, we can transcend them.
Introspective Capacity
In a world that often values competition over cooperation, maintaining healthy ego strength is a matter of survival. A clear understanding of boundaries serves to alleviate many interpersonal and intra-psychic conflicts.
Learning to look within objectively and with self-compassion is the first step to shifting negative core beliefs that often prevent us from overcoming boundary/enmeshment challenges. Most of us defend against feeling vulnerable or sad at all costs — we project, deny, and distract. Doing personal work in a creative way and in a safe space allows for a new relationship to the Self, others, and the environment.
Relational Intelligence
We come into this world as relational beings with an innate longing for relationships; our well-being is largely determined by the degree to which we successfully relate to our environment and others throughout our lifetime.
Love matters. Relationships matter. And as we continue to evolve and develop attitudes that serve to nurture connectedness to others and ourselves, we increase our capacity for true connection. Busy lives, daily concerns, and ever-complicated social realities put pressure on our sense of Self. Consequently, our relationships suffer.
Untangling maladaptive beliefs and behaviors we learned from our early environment and experiences offers unparalleled opportunities for self-expression. We can tap into the courage we need to express our true selves and be seen, heard, and valued.
