Monica Manibusan, LMFT, is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over a decade of experience supporting children, adults, and families through meaningful growth and healing. She has a special passion for working with neurodivergent individuals and families, and brings a deep understanding of the unique challenges they face. Monica has worked extensively with children and families using a team-based approach to create change in the environments that matter most.

As the Clinical Director of North Star Families, Monica plays an active role in the training and supervision of the entire clinical team. Mentoring and supporting other therapists is one of the most rewarding aspects of her work and allows her to help cultivate a community of care that extends beyond her individual practice.

Monica’s therapeutic approach is rooted in empathy, playfulness, and deep respect. She draws from a range of evidence-based practices—including Attachment-Focused EMDR, play therapy, and Reflective Parenting—to meet each client where they are. Her work integrates a bottom-up, body-based lens that begins with regulation and builds toward cognitive and emotional healing. By focusing on the body’s nervous system responses first, Monica helps clients establish a foundation of safety and connection, supporting deep, lasting healing from the inside out.

She has completed extensive training in a variety of modalities that inform her integrative approach, including:

• Advanced Certificate in DIR/Floortime (ICDL)

• Attachment-Focused EMDR (Parnell Institute)

• Perinatal Mental Health (Postpartum Support International)

• Play Therapy (UC San Diego)

• Animal-Assisted Therapy (Peacock Foundation)

• ITCT-A: Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma – Adolescents (USC)

• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

• Reflective Parenting Program (Center for Reflective Communities)

• Managing and Adapting Practice (MAP)

• Early Start Denver Model (UC Davis)

Monica holds a Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from San Diego State University.

Outside of her clinical work, Monica enjoys swimming, baking, playing with her son, and spending time with her beloved dog Ollie and cat Meeko.