About
Marcia Bonato Warren MA, MA, LPC (she/her)
Origins
My name is Marcia Bonato Warren (pronounced MAR-see-uh) and I was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I am proud of my heritage and the gifts of my ancestors and identify as multiracial and multicultural.
My father’s family is from Santa Clara Pueblo in northern New Mexico, and I am fortunate to be an enrolled member of my tribe. My mother is Brazilian-Italian and immigrated to the United States in the late 1960’s to teach university level Portuguese and Spanish. I grew up living in and between multiple cultures, traditions, and languages and hold a deep love for new places and all the unique sensory and relational opportunities they can offer.
Life and Transitions
As I left home and began my adult life, I sought out educational experiences and professional opportunities that were cross-cultural in nature. I studied art, anthropology, languages and international studies in my undergraduate years, which included two study abroad programs: one where I was able to travel to eleven countries around the world on Semester at Sea, and the second studying Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After I graduated, I decided to continue my studies and moved to Washington, DC, where I earned my Master of Arts in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
For the next fifteen years, I created a rich career within the fields of intercultural exchange programs, advocacy, international and minority business development, Native American affairs, community building, and policy development. During this time, I published a report on the state of telecommunications access in Native American populations called Native Networking: Telecommunications and Information Technology in Indian Country. This report led to the formation of a nonprofit organization, also called Native Networking, whose primary mission was a multi-year inter-tribal initiative to ensure telecommunications access throughout Indian Country through legislative initiatives and coordination.
By my mid-thirties, I found myself at a transition point. As a mother with two young children, I decided to close the chapter on my professional life to focus on raising my children in their early years. I was very fortunate to be able to do so and cherish those years with my family. As my children got older and more independent, I began to consider a new career path which could give me a sense of purpose and integrate my previous career with a desire to be of service. I decided to go back to school and bring my love for working with people to the field of counseling. In 2015, I graduated with a Master of Arts in Somatic Counseling/Body Psychotherapy from Naropa University in Boulder, CO, and began to teach, see clients in my private practice, and introduced my work of Embodied Code-Switching® into the world.
But there were more transitions ahead of me. In 2020, as the world faced the challenges of Covid-19, my life began to fundamentally shift. My marriage ended, I became an empty nester soon after, and I began to rediscover the foundations of who I am…a process that continues to unfold with deep insights, love, and fierce self-compassion. Yet amidst all the changes around me, there was one message that came to me quietly and never left: “write your own story.” I began to write, but more importantly, find my own voice to share the stories and teachings that wanted to be told. And in these moments of so many endings, a new beginning emerged which has led me to this moment and the publication of Movement and Identity: Multiculturalism, Somatic Awareness and Embodied Code-Switching®.
Embodied Code-Switching®
The story of Embodied Code-Switching® began in 2015 when I created my own therapeutic practice to support multicultural individuals and therapists to develop resilience and facilitates the expression of their cultural identities through somatic awareness and movement. I first published my work in 2018 in the chapter “Moving Between Identities: Embodied Code-Switching,” in the book Oppression and the Body: Roots, Resistance, and Resolutions and in 2021, I co-authored an article entitled “The Body as Cultural Home: Exploring, Embodying, and Navigating the Complexities of Multiple Identities” in the Journal of Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy.
Over the past decade, Embodied Code-Switching® has been cited in numerous journals and publications, graduate theses, and significant literature in the field such as: Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in Context by Pat Ogden, PhD, and “Race is Complicated: A Toolkit for Psychological Therapies Training” (a resource commissioned by the United Kingdom Coalition for Inclusion and Anti-Oppressive Practice) by Danielle Osajivbe-Williams and Marcelline Menyié.
The Journey Continues
Today I am a therapist, facilitator, teacher, and writer with over thirty years of cross-cultural experience in the fields of international education, minority business development, Native American federal policy and legislative initiatives, non-profit organization management, and most recently, culturally responsive and trauma-informed counseling and training and education.
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Colorado and have continued to build on my education and experience by earning certificates in Clinical Supervision (I and II), Intercultural Foundations, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Trauma Training (I and II), and Indigenous Psychology.
My work is multifaceted and inspiring. I provide counseling, supervision and education to individuals and groups in the areas of cultural awareness and competency, social justice, and intercultural communication, and currently serve as a guest lecturer and adjunct faculty in Naropa University’s Buddhist-Informed Contemplative Counseling and Somatic Counseling graduate programs.
As a trainer, I have provided workshops for organizations and companies such as the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC), the Society for Intercultural Education and Training (SIETAR), the International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy Association (ISMETA), and Blue Cross/Blue Shield and look forward to expanding my work in this area, both online and in person.
The perspective I offer in my work represents my lived experience as a multicultural/multiracial woman, who holds identities in both international and U.S. marginalized cultural areas. I have called myself an “in-betweener” all my life and have consistently sought to bridge cultures through my studies, my work, and within myself. By blending my skills as a Somatic Counselor/Body Psychotherapist with my background in intercultural communication and social justice, I create learning experiences that respect the complexity of diversity and identity, as well as embrace the value and beauty of culture and difference within all of us.
My hope is that I am able to bring a spark of curiosity and joy to my clients as they explore the embodiment of their cultures and identities and discover the power of personal stories and resilience in their lives.
