Influential Woman · Mental Health / Trauma Therapy
Celina Pina
Founder, Venilia Gardens, Inc., DBA Cultural Counseling Services
West Tisbury, MA
Her Story
About Celina
Dr. Celina Pina has maintained a private practice for approximately 30 years, driven by her interest in trauma work after leaving a public organization to establish her own. She has authored several books, including Oneness: The Five Keys to Emotional Oneness and the Emotional Detox System, ISM which addresses autism identification, and The Hidden Anatomy of Stuck which she is currently writing. As a global speaker, she travels to Kenya and dedicates significant time to Cape Verde, West Africa, where her family originates, collaborating with the Cape Verde American Medical Society to deliver trainings and programs twice annually. She provides pro bono services to underserved immigrant populations and holds licenses to practice in Massachusetts and New York, with an office in New Bedford. Her approach integrates holistic and integrative medicine principles, emphasizing work with neurodivergence, energy psychology techniques, and brain rewiring alongside traditional talk therapy. She attributes her success to love, particularly the motivation from her father during personal challenges, and prioritizes authenticity, meeting clients where they are, and healing from the heart over financial gain.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Celina
01What do you attribute your success to?
Love. When I was going through my downfall, the love that I had for my father was so important, because I never wanted to lose his love for me. So I fought hard to get out of the deep holes that I was falling into so that my father could feel proud of me always.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
We need very strong, committed specialists in this area. We need to also start thinking about working with the brain and doing the work that's meant that we can do with energy psychology like tapping or MVR. We really need to think about how do we rewire the brain. Talk therapy is good but there's other things that need to happen. There's so many new therapies out there. We have to think of other ways and I'm really involved in integrative medicine because we have to all work together. It's important that we see the whole person and I do tend to be more of a holistic involved therapist.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Being as authentic as you can. Getting to the truth and being authentic in the way that we can really honor the patient. Meeting them where they are. Leading them through their darkness in small steps. I value my process. I value the ability to meet people where they are and I value the idea of working from the heart. It's not about the money that's coming in it's about the healing of the person. To get people to feel because there's so much numbness and dissociation. Really come from a place of love from your heart.
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