Tania Paredes, Ph.D., LCSW, successfully defended her dissertation last month and will graduate from the Ellen Whiteside McDonnell School of Social Work at Barry University in Miami, Florida, in May. She is a well-regarded relationship and couples therapist with many years of private practice and public service to her credit. She expects to continue her private practice and expand her research and publishing after graduation.
“My 3 years in the Council on Social Work Education’s Minority Fellowship Program was a rewarding experience,” Dr. Paredes stated. “The MFP provided great training and many opportunities to network with other Fellows.”
A native of Miami, Dr. Paredes received her MSW at Barry University in 2000, graduating summa cum laude. In addition to being a licensed clinical social worker, Dr. Paredes also holds a Diplomate in Clinical Social Work, which represents the highest level of expertise and excellence. In 1997, she was awarded a White House Fellowship by the Department of Health and Human Services and received graduate training for her MSW at the University of Miami’s prestigious Mailman Center for Child Development.
Her dissertation, The Latino Father and the Role of Egalitarianism, Coping Skills and Depressive Symptoms in the Post-Natal Period, documented the correlation between protective characteristics and the likelihood of fathers experiencing depressive symptoms during the first year of the postnatal period. She began her research looking at women and postpartum depression but decided to focus on fathers after discovering they too were suffering depression. She was also named one of the Top 50 couples therapists in the United States by renowned clinical author Sherry Amatenstein.
In addition to her busy private practice, Dr. Paredes is a bereavement social worker at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, where she counsels family members of hospitalized children and provides grief counseling to those with loss or grief issues.
Those skills were especially needed in the wake of the mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where she and other social workers were called in to provide grief counseling to parents of deceased and wounded children. As a mother of two small children, Dr. Paredes said it was a very difficult experience, but she felt honored to be able to help.
Her website:
https://www.taniaparedes.com/ 