By: Marilyn Lazaro, MBA, M.S., LMHC, LPC, NCC, SUDP

To see what insurances I accept please look at my services page. Thank you!

To look at my licenses, education, and overall credentials please go to the page titled credentials.

A bit of history about me is that I was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Queens, New York. I joined the United States Navy via the Delayed Entry Program at 16 years old. While in active duty I achieved my Bachelor’s degree. After being in active duty for about 7 years I went on to the Navy Reserves to achieve my Masters degree. In addition to my master’s degree, as you can see in my credentials page, I completed an advanced graduate certificate in Alcohol and Substance Abuse counseling. A couple of years later with much hard work I completed my Masters of Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resource Management.  I am also bilingual, I can speak and write in both English and Spanish.

I would really like to use this section to thank all the many great people in my life that mentored and guided me towards achieving my goals. I am very grateful to them for all their help. I love them all very much. Some of these great people were teachers I had in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Then, supervisors, managers, coworkers, and military navy leaders. I can call out names, but I don’t want to embarrass them!

I am very fortunate to say the United States Navy was very good to me, and a great deal of my life involved the military. Ever since I was 15 years old I wanted to be a Hospital Corpsman, a rate I still carry. After 9/11 happened, my motivation to join got even stronger. For those that want to know details of what I did in the U.S. Navy, well, just know that I did my job and would do it again, perhaps even better if I could go back in time.

Before I joined the U.S. Navy I helped manage my mother’s business in Queens, NY. The name of the business was, Marylin Travel and Multiple Services. I have been in the business world, thanks to my mother, since 9 years old. My mother taught me a lot about businesses along with the other business owners who I worked with during my time in Marylin Travel and Multiple Services. New York City is a business jungle and competing in that world at 14 years old was not easy! Some of the activities I did in the company was selling advertisements, publishing a magazine called “Mundos De Cielos” (I created it), merchandise sales, translations, secretarial services, typing work, resume writing, and travel sales. Eventually the business had to close, because I chose to join the military and nobody could manage it.

Some of my other work experiences include real estate, professional resume writing, cook, timeshare sales, supply, budget management, and Zumba instructor. I am probably missing some here, but these are the ones I remember best. Needless to say I exposed myself to many different types of work experiences.

What I found out about myself after all these experiences is that I love to help people and will find ways on how to achieve this. Some of my other activities are singing, dancing, poem writing, short story writing, acting, playing the piano, alto-saxophone or violin. I think it is important to continue learning and I believe that we never stop learning. For this reason, I am always working hard to update myself in my education. It helps me be better prepared to help whoever comes through the door. I believe in prevention and empowerment. I find myself to be more of a guide than a director for my clients. Is important for them to be empowered and not feel controlled by their therapist! I don’t believe in forcing a client or patient into a situation or therapy they don’t feel comfortable or is not ready.

I hope this introduction gives you an overview of who I am for those that are curious.

However, I feel what is important is my client and their needs. The focus for me in your session is you, not me. I really don’t like to talk about myself, unless therapeutically necessary for the client, because I feel that time belongs to my client and their needs. I repeat, who is important at that time is my client, and how we can work towards achieving their goals.