Mariana K. Falconier, Ph. D.

 

Dr. Mariana Falconier is an Assistant Professor in the Marriage and Family
Therapy Program at Virginia Tech and is the Clinic Director at The Center for Family Services. She is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and has been in the U.S. for nine years. She completed her master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and her doctoral degree in Family Studies at the Department of Family Science (former Department of Family Studies) at the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Falconier is an AAMFT approved supervisor and has been working as a marriage and family therapist since 1992 in various settings including psychiatric emergency rooms and rehabilitation programs, outpatient mental health clinics, and private practice. As she speaks both Spanish and French, she has worked extensively with Latinos in the U.S. and some African immigrant communities. She has also held upper management positions in outpatient mental health clinics. Dr. Falconier's research up to this point has concentrated on cultural diversity, parenting, and various aspects of couple relationships such as communication patterns, the impact of economic strain on relationship functioning, physical and emotional abuse, and perceptions on marital satisfaction. Her research interests also include therapists' training and supervision, online therapy, couple's therapy, epistemological and theoretical aspects of family therapy models and various issues related to the Latino community such as separation and reunification processes, couples' dynamics, fatherhood involvement and other family topics. Dr. Falconier has presented her work locally, nationally, and internationally and for several years she has taught courses on theories and techniques in family therapy and child development. Dr. Falconier has been married for 12 years and has two young children: Milena (6) and Lucca (3).