Marcia Olhaberry
Since the beginning of my professional career as a psychologist, I have focused on integrating clinical work, research, and teaching, with an emphasis on childhood, parenting, and early attachment, incorporating contributions from attachment theory and mentalization-based models. I have extensive experience working in early childhood and perinatal care, including the consequences of trauma on the development of early bonds and mental health. I have led and collaborated as a co-investigator in numerous research projects, which have generated knowledge shared in conferences, scientific articles, and book chapters. Currently, I work as a full-time professor at the School of Psychology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where I contribute to research development and the training of undergraduate and graduate students. I am also the principal investigator at the Millennium Institute for Depression and Personality Research (MIDAP), a collaboration between six Chilean universities. Regarding my management experience at the same university, I was the deputy director of MIDAP, director of the doctoral program in psychotherapy, a joint program between Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile, and I currently direct a diploma in early childhood and the perinatal mental health program at UC San Joaquín, which provides clinical care and contributes to clinical training.
I obtained a Doctorate in Psychotherapy from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 2011, also receiving a dual degree as Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology from Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg, Germany. Subsequently, I undertook a three-year postdoctoral fellowship, during which I developed an intervention programme focused on maternal depression and attachment in mother-infant dyads, funded by Chilean public funds (FONDECYT 2011-2014). Earlier, I obtained a Master’s in Psychotherapy in 2009 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and completed a Diploma in Child Sexual Abuse in 2006. I graduated as a psychologist from the University of Chile in 1993 and received training as a family therapist during that same year as part of my professional practice. I was accredited as a specialist in psychotherapy in 2004 and as a Clinical Psychologist Supervisor in 2015. My professional training includes certification as a Supervisor in Mentalisation-Based Treatment for Children (MBT-C) (2024), as well as Practitioner certifications in MBT for Children (MBT-C) and MBT Parent (2022) from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. I have also recently completed training in the Lighthouse Parenting Programme: Mentalisation-Based Treatment to Address Child Maltreatment, and in Mentalisation-Based Therapy for Trauma in Children and Adolescents (MBT-C & A Trauma) (2022). Additionally, I have trained and been certified in other clinical intervention modalities and numerous tools that have contributed to my clinical practice and research: CARE-Index (2011), Lausanne Trialogue Play (LTP) (2015), Video-feedback as a Psychotherapeutic Tool (VIPP-SD, 2015; VIT, 2022), Parental Sensitivity (EAS, 2017), Parent Development Interview (PDI) (2021), and Alarm Distress Baby Scale (ADBB) (2022, 2023).
I work as a full-time academic at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where I engage in teaching and research at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. I am a member of the academic faculty of the Joint Doctoral Programme in Psychotherapy (PUC-University of Chile), and in this role, I supervise doctoral theses. I am also part of the academic faculty of the Master’s in Psychology programme at PUC, where I supervise theses for this programme. I lead a diploma course focused on early childhood and teach on various diploma programmes at PUC. Additionally, I direct the Perinatal Mental Health Programme at PUC, San Joaquín, where we provide mental health services and host psychology interns and psychiatry and family medicine fellows. Furthermore, I serve as an associate researcher of the Millennium Institute for Research on Depression and Personality (MIDAP). I am currently leading two research projects: one addressing mentalisation and parental clinical symptoms, withdrawal, and child development in mother-father-infant dyads with moderate preterm birth (2023-2025), and another evaluating the effects of a school programme designed to promote socio-emotional development and mentalisation (2024-2026). Additionally, I am a co-investigator on two FONDECYT projects, one studying change processes in children who have experienced sexual abuse (2020-2024) and another examining communicative skills in infants, mentalisation, and early development (2024-2028).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5135-2175