Nelba Márquez-Greene is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in grief, loss, trauma and their impact on individuals and systems.
Image by: Neasa Waaler
Background/Philosophy of Therapy
“It may be a grieving life . . but it is still a beautiful one.”
Nelba holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School and a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from St. Joseph College. Nelba taught and supervised at the Family Therapy program at the University of Winnipeg’s Aurora Family Therapy Centre and later worked as the Coordinator for Klingberg Family Therapy Center’s outpatient child and adolescent psychiatric clinic. She also served as adjunct faculty at Central Connecticut State University.
Nelba founded the CTAMFT (Connecticut Association for Marriage and Family Therapy) Diversity Committee and served on the CTAMFT Board of Directors. For her advocacy, she received the 2004 Minority Fellowship Award by the AAMFT, the 2004 Distinguished Professional Service Award, and the 2013 Service to Families Award by the CTAMFT. In 2017 she was awarded the Key to the Centre award at the Aurora family Therapy Centre in Winnipeg, MB.
In 2018, she was profiled as one of “100 Women of Color” and a YWCA (CT) Women’s Leadership Award recipient. She was featured in People Magazine’s October 2019 issue as one of Ten Women Changing the World and also recognized by Chelsea Clinton and Hillary Clinton in their Book of Gutsy Women.
Nelba has testified and advocated at the state and federal levels on many different mental health initiatives, hosted TEDx talks, and is a nationally sought after speaker. In the many years that have followed, stints in advocacy, public policy, community care, etc. have affirmed her core belief that in order to change the world we must take care of people. First- that grief must be allowed in the room and is a normal response to loss. Second- that tools, language, skills, resources and acceptance should be available to all grievers. And lastly, that the intersection of grief when tied to injustice (as with violence and other traumatic loss) must be addressed.
Who are her clients?
Individuals, couples and families impacted by grief and/or trauma.
Consultation, Coaching, Public Speaking
Organizations, companies, groups and schools looking to understand how to better support their employees/community.
Communities looking to best support families and individuals and helpers after tragedy.
Organizations, companies, groups and schools focused on the need for compassionate responses to supporting people, mental health awareness, gun violence and more.
Fait communities and grief groups
M.A., Marriage and Family Therapy
2005 - University of St. Joseph
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
2007 - State of Connecticut
A sought after speaker, Nelba has appeared at conferences and gatherings including The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, American Psychological Association, The Child Trauma Academy, NATCON, Hartford Seminary and many, many more.
“Nelba is one of the most authentic and caring individuals I have ever met. For years, I have watched her move mountains to support communities and grieving families. As a psychotherapist, her ability to empathize and join with her clients, listen deeply, understand fully, and reflect with the client on what this means moving forward, allows for increased levels of healing for those that are experiencing pain.
As a speaker, Nelba imparts her knowledge, wisdom, and personal experiences in a highly impactful way, very quickly joining with the audience at an emotional and heartfelt level, touching all those around her deeply. Her raw, authentic communication- both written and verbal- brings others to a deeper level of understanding, and instills in others a desire to engage more fully in community, family and healing.”
Emily Wang, PhD
Nelba Márquez-Greene lives in CT with her husband and son where she honors both the delightful and not so delightful parts of her grieving life. In addition to her private work at This Grieving Life and running her daughter’s non profit foundation (www.anagraceproject.org) - she currently serves as activist in residence at Yale University in the School of Public Health.