327 South Ivy Street
Escondido, CA 92025
IIBA Faculty

Office voicemail only (no text): (858) 259-2480
E-mail: vincentiaschroeter@gmail.com
Website: vincentiaschroeterphd.com

Office Hours: TBD
Specializes in:
• Chronic Stress Reduction
• Attachment Disorders/Adoption
• Addictions/Grief/Infertility
• Infant Mental Health

Professional Associations:
Southern California Institute for
Bioenergetic Analysis
(past Board of Director; past coordinating trainer)
San Diego North County - California
Association
Marriage and Family Therapists
(past Board of Directors; research grant recipient,
1997)
California Association Marriage and Family
Therapists
International Institute for Bioenergetic
Analysis
(International Faculty)
Earliest Relationship Network (treatment for children 0-5 (Founding
Member)
Neuroscience and Regulation Therapy Study Group (Founding
Member)

Accepting New Clients: Yes

Vincentia Schroeter practices psychotherapy at The Center for Self-Discovery in Escondido. After graduating with a Masters in Psychology from The University of San Francisco, she became a licensed psychotherapist in 1975 and began working in the addictions field and with autistic children in a residential setting. Moving to San Diego in the 1980’s she joined the faculty of the San Diego Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis (now SCIBA), and began a private practice where she enjoys working with individuals of all ages, as well as couples, families and individual children.

Besides counseling, Vincentia enjoys teaching and writing and giving seminars. She wrote a chapter based on her research on bonding between mothers and infants, in a book called, Babies and Bioenergetics. Vincentia also wrote a chapter on grief in a book called, Body Psychotherapy in Progressive and Chronic Disorders. She has served on the editing board of the International Institute for Bioenergetic Analysis journal, becoming Chief Editor in 2008 and has published papers on bioenergetics in relation to various subjects, such as updating personality types, grief, and integrative regulation therapy.

Professional philosophy:
Fascinated by the relationship between emotions and the body, I have pursued my interest in how the body manifests psychological problems through physical symptoms, and physical holding patterns. After completing training in Bioenergetics in 1980, I have specialized in this form of treatment with clients who are interested in it. Based on psychoanalytic theory, which believes that problems originate in developmental failures or conflicts from childhood, Bioenergetics adds the unique perspective that these failures or conflicts manifest not just in distortions of thought, but also in certain unconscious restrictions in the body. Observing and assessing these restrictions leads to helping the person live a fuller and less stressful life. Just showing someone where their breathing is restricted and how to improve their breathing helps them feel better. As with any therapy the dynamics of the relationship between the therapist and client are a prominent factor in the work. I like teaming up with a client, or dyad, or family to work together to achieve their goals. I believe even when they are lost in struggle or pain that people are motivated to grow.

Through my forty years in practice, I have woven other interests into my work. Self-psychology has taught me how best to mirror clients and understand the dynamics of transference. Somatic Experiencing, hypnosis and trauma releasing exercises have been powerful tools to work with shock trauma. Through the infant mental health field I have learned about attachment, attunement, neurobiology of the brain, and self-regulation. My own research in this field, with parents and infants helped me gain an appreciation for the role of temperament in personality. I have developed some of my own techniques to help dyads (parent/infant; parent/child; parent/teen; and couples) learn to engage in a more mutually rewarding relationship with each other.

Services offered:

Special Issues: depression, anxiety,
   infertility, adoption, grief
Long or short term therapy
3 sessions for assessment and referral for
   clients struggling with addictions
4 sessions for addiction intervention services
12 sessions for couples counseling