About Dr. Menendez
Licensed Psychologist · Psychoanalyst
A practice grounded in depth, lineage, and listening.
The people who come to me are often thoughtful and capable, and yet quietly stuck — caught in patterns of relationship, work, or self-understanding that they can see clearly and still cannot change. My work is the patient, careful study of why.
How I came to this work
I trained as a psychologist because I wanted to understand the inner life — not symptoms in isolation, but the long arc of how a person becomes who they are. I completed my doctorate in clinical psychology at The Wright Institute in 2009, and over the years that followed I was drawn more and more deeply into psychoanalytic work — the kind of therapy that takes seriously the unconscious, the past, the body, the language a person uses without noticing.
In 2018, I completed my full formal training in psychoanalysis at The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute, the training arm of The Florida Psychoanalytic Center — several years of coursework, supervised analytic cases, and personal analysis of my own. In 2026, I was certified as a Fellow of the American Board of Psychoanalysis (FABP), the national board certification for adult psychoanalytic practice.
Teaching and supervising the next generation
Alongside my clinical work, I have spent many years training other clinicians. From 2010 to 2016, I served on the faculty of the University of Miami Doctoral Program in Psychology, where I was also a clinical supervisor to doctoral students learning the craft of therapy. I currently teach at The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute, where I am a faculty member and approved supervisor for the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program, and where I also serve as an Analyst of Candidates and Supervisor of Candidates in the Institute's psychoanalytic training program. Teaching keeps the work honest — it requires me to articulate, again and again, what we are actually doing in the consulting room and why.
What I bring to the room
My approach is calm, direct, and depth-oriented. I do not believe in rushing a person toward insight, nor in collapsing complex inner lives into diagnoses. The work I offer is psychoanalytic in spirit: we slow down, we listen carefully, we pay attention to the patterns and feelings that arise between us. Over time, something shifts — not because I tell you what to do, but because you begin to understand yourself more honestly.
I work bilingually, in English and Spanish, with adults navigating anxiety, depression, grief, identity, relationship difficulties, and the long-standing dynamics of family and self. My practice is LGBTQ+ affirming and culturally informed.
Training & Lineage
Education
Psy.D., Clinical Psychology — The Wright Institute, 2009
Formal Psychoanalytic Training — The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute, 2018
Board Certification
Fellow, American Board of Psychoanalysis (FABP), 2026
Teaching
Faculty & Clinical Supervisor, University of Miami Doctoral Program in Psychology, 2010–2016
Faculty & Approved Supervisor, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program, The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute
Analyst of Candidates & Supervisor of Candidates, The Florida Psychoanalytic Institute
Licensure
Licensed Psychologist, Florida — PY8389 PsyPact Authorization — #24365