"We are wired for connection, for meaning, and for the kind of relationships that help us make sense of our lives. When trauma goes unprocessed, we don't simply become guarded. We lose access to ourselves. My work is about helping people find their way back to connection, not just with others, but with who they actually are." — Arianna Fernandez, LMHC

Meet Your Therapist

Hello, I'm Arianna.

I hold a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling from Carlos Albizu University, where my studies spanned both mental health counseling and marriage and family therapy. I have been in clinical practice since 2009, with experience spanning multiple levels of care and a career that grew from direct clinical work into senior leadership. I have served as Program Director, Assistant Clinical Director, Clinical Director, and Chief Clinical Officer, while also holding the title of Chief Operations Officer concurrently.

My clinical background includes trauma, attachment wounds, eating disorders and body image, grief, relational challenges, emotional eating, women's issues, postpartum adjustment, and major life transitions, as well as experience supporting first responders and individuals in high-stress professional roles.

Many of the people I work with are insightful, capable, and deeply self-aware, and yet they still find themselves stuck in painful patterns, emotionally overwhelmed, disconnected in their relationships, or uncertain about how to move forward. Insight alone was never the missing piece. Understanding your patterns is not the same as being free of them, because the patterns were never about a lack of understanding. They were about protection.

That is the center of how I work. When life asks more of us than we have the capacity to hold, the nervous system shifts into protection. Anxiety, over-functioning, perfectionism, emotional eating, shutting down, keeping people at a distance. These are not flaws to fix. They are the ways you learned to stay safe when connection or meaning felt out of reach. My work is about understanding what your protection has been holding, building enough emotional safety that it no longer has to run the show, and helping you find your way back to connection, meaning, and alignment with who you actually are.

Healing in my practice isn't just cognitive. It happens in the nervous system, in relationships, in the stories you carry about who you are and what you deserve. My approach is warm, direct, and depth-oriented. I will move at the pace your system can actually hold, and I will also gently challenge you to go further than you thought you could.

f you've tried therapy before and felt like something was missing, like you understood yourself better but nothing actually changed, that is exactly where this work begins.

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How I work

I don't use a one-size-fits-all method. I draw from a range of evidence-based modalities depending on what you need, what your nervous system can hold, and where you are in the process. The method serves the person, never the other way around.

The tools I work with include CBT, ACT, EMDR, Somatic Trauma Healing, Trauma-Focused CBT, narrative therapy, solution-focused therapy, family systems, Bowenian and transgenerational approaches, psychodrama, and mindfulness strategies. I also incorporate EMDR as part of my work

My training includes coursework toward the Certified Eating Disorder Specialist credential, experience with Developmental Trauma and Attachment Styles, and psychodrama.

How I See the Therapy Process

Connection → Meaning → Protection → Awareness → Integration → Alignment

Attachment, trauma, nervous system regulation, and relational patterns are not separate problems to treat one at a time. They are parts of the same developmental story.

We are wired for connection. Through our earliest relationships and experiences, we begin making meaning about ourselves, other people, and what the world is likely to give us. When connection, safety, or emotional needs are disrupted, the nervous system learns to protect us. Those protective responses were intelligent. They helped us stay connected, avoid pain, manage unpredictability, or make sense of something that didn't make sense. But over time, they can become the patterns we struggle with most in adulthood, even when the original circumstances are long gone.

This is where the work begins. Not with judgment of the pattern, but with curiosity about it. What is it protecting? Where did it come from? What did it help you survive or manage, and what is it costing you now?

Insight matters, but it is not the whole of healing. Understanding why you do something does not always change what your nervous system does in the moment. The deeper work happens through integration and building new experiences that allow your nervous system, your relationships, and your sense of self to respond differently over time.

The goal is alignment: more freedom to choose from who you actually are and what genuinely matters to you now, rather than automatically responding from what you once had to do to stay safe, connected, or whole.

The Heart Behind Revive

It all began with a powerful realization: everything that looked good on paper wasn't actually good for my soul.

At the height of my career, I was holding two chief executive titles at a respected, mission-driven nonprofit. I had worked hard, accomplished what I'd set out to do, and reached a level of success I once dreamed of. From the outside, everything looked right. But somewhere along the way, I began to question whether the life I'd built still reflected who I was and what I wanted.

I found myself at a crossroads. It wasn't about wanting more success, more recognition, or another title. It was about wanting something different. More purpose. More authenticity. More freedom to live in a way that felt true to me.

What I didn't fully recognize at the time was that I was going through my own process of differentiation, learning to separate who I was from the roles I held, the expectations around me, and the things I had spent years working toward. It meant asking myself some uncomfortable questions and being willing to listen to the answers.

Eventually, I took a leap of faith. I stepped away from executive leadership and created Revive Counseling.

That decision was more than a career change. It was a turning point in my life, one that deepened my understanding of how difficult it can be to recognize when something no longer fits, especially when it's something you've worked so hard to build.

I know what it's like to have everything appear to be in place while quietly questioning whether you're where you want to be. And I know that sometimes the hardest part of change isn't figuring out what you want next. It's giving yourself permission to choose it.

That's the heart behind Revive. Not becoming someone entirely new, but having the courage to reconnect with yourself and create a life that feels like your own.

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What I Can Help With

Women's Issues

Relationships & Dating

Attachment & Relational Patterns

Motherhood & Postpartum

Anxiety & Mood Disorders

Trauma & Nervous System Healing

Eating Disorders & Body Image

Emotional Eating & Bulimia

Coping Patterns & Skills

Grief & Loss

First Responders & High-Stress Professionals

Meet the Support Team

Bounty –The Healing Frenchie

Chief Support Officer

Bounty is the heart behind some of the warmth at Revive — and the inspiration behind something bigger.

As our resident French Bulldog and honorary Chief Support Officer, Bounty brings a grounding presence, quiet companionship, and a touch of joy to this practice. He has a remarkable gift for showing up exactly when extra comfort is needed — reminding us that healing doesn't always arrive in words. Sometimes it arrives in presence, softness, and the simple feeling of being safe enough to just be.

Bounty is also the face of The Healing Frenchie — a mental health education and resource brand built around making healing more accessible, more human, and a little less intimidating. Through illustrated content, psychoeducation resources, and tools for both clients and clinicians, The Healing Frenchie brings the same warmth and depth that lives at the heart of Revive — just in a format that meets people wherever they are.

Because healing should feel approachable. And sometimes, it takes a Frenchie in glasses and a bow tie to remind you of that.

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