Welcome & Overall Approach

Thank-you for visiting my website. You will find information here about who I am, my services, events, writings, and media. As a human developmentalist (my Ph.D. is in Human Development and Family Studies), I seek to help people move through normal life transitions in a way that maximizes their opportunities for personal growth.  I believe my approach is compassionate, yet direct and action-oriented. I assume a basic respect for a person’s intuitive abilities and strengths, emphasize building a relationship of trust, and focus on helping people actively engage with the challenges of life.   Unlike psychotherapy, which is concerned with diagnosing and treating pathology to help people become "normal" and cope, a developmental approach is about thriving instead of surviving.  My training in social ecology also gives me an awareness to help people consider the social, economic, and cultural context of the issues we discuss, and not just personal psychology.  

Read more about my overall approach

In human development, a professional approach usually involves some teaching and facilitating of learning valuable concepts and skills.  I have special expertise in communication skills, especially in working with couples, based on my training at Penn State in “Relationship Enhancement,” a well-developed human development educational program. I also work with couples around other relationship issues with an educational approach, including sexual enrichment. 

With individuals and groups, I have developed a coaching program I call “Monster Wrangling,” which includes concepts and skills from cognitive behavioral technology as they relate to inner child work, as well as guided imagery, NLP, and expressive arts.  These methods have been published as part of my larger work, Leaving the Fold, and we use the accompanying workbook as the educational curriculum. 

With 28 years of background in human services and education, I am able utilize approaches that are appropriate to the situation. I am also an ordained minister in the Church of Spiritual Humanism, which is grounded in the empirically-based “positive psychology” and "learned optimism" of Martin Seligman. From this humanistic perspective, I am able to provide spiritual guidance and serve as an official celebrant.

Finally, I have done extensive work in the area of recovery from religious trauma and authored a book on the subject. I have an online support group for help with this and can provide individual information and coaching. More about his work is at my other website, www. Journeyfree.org.

In general, a course of work with me is short-term, empowering, and results-oriented. 

Fees and appointments

Sessions are by appointment in person or by telephone, with day and evening times available. My office address is 1918 Bonita Ave., Berkeley.  

Fees are on a sliding scale:

In-person sessions: $125-$155 per hour

Telephone or Skype sessions: $100-$150 per hour

Group sessions:  $30-$50

Payment plans can also be arranged.  

If you are considering working with me, you are invited to call for a complimentary 15-minute discussion of concerns. (510) 292-0509.

TESTIMONIALS:

Cyndi C., Vallejo, CA

Marlene is WONDERFUL! She has helped me gain confidence and make tremendous emotional growth in a relatively short time. 

I remember the first time I realized that she was speaking from experience: the same kind of experiences she was helping me work through. I just thought it was so cool that she had "been there" and offered so much hope by example. 
 

Marlene has a wonderful sense of humor and a way of putting people at ease. I love the way she makes me look at things differently. She is warm, compassionate and funny (and really smart). 

In our private sessions I find her visualization work very helpful. Group sessions are fun. I like that we can be silly and that it isn't all serious. I feel safe and comfortable in group, like I am free to say whatever I need to say.



Jeff S., Berkeley, CA

My partner and I were going through a very rough spot in our relationship and had already been through a couple other couples counselors and we were right about to call it quits when we ran across a recommendation for Marlene on another website. We decided to try her out, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of, well, my life anyway. She helped us learn empathic communication techniques and work on really "hearing" each other. Week by week she helped us navigate the way back to a healthy, rewarding relationship. I particularly liked the "homework" and assigned reading that my partner and I did together. I don't have enough good words for her. Thanks Marlene!

Isabelle, Hayward, CA

Marlene Winell deserves 5 stars because of her 1) dedication to break our negative patterns of behavior, and 2) use of extreme creativity when it comes to solving complex communication problems. My husband and I began going to her when my son was 7 months old and we needed to do everything we could to save our rocky marriage for the baby's sake. The last 5 months have been extremely helpful in terms of lowering the number of fights we have in general and in front of our child, and also has helped us feel stronger as a family and as happier individuals. She is skilled at overcoming communication problems because she gave us the tools to overcome communication blocks ourselves, so that in the future, we now know how to solve these issues on our own. I cannot give enough praise for Marlene Winell as an excellent couples' counselor for all the hats that she wears and all the knowledge and experience she utilized to help us save our marriage.

Robert T., Arizona

I found the (Release and Reclaim) retreats enormously helpful, with a wonderful group of warm people who had been through much of what I had been through. Marlene is a uniquely gifted leader who understands like so few do what it's like to be in the middle of the all-encompassing religious life many of us former 'born agains' lived in. I HIGHLY recommend attending...you will not regret it.