Pacific Quest
Hilo, Hawaii

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Teresa Bertoncin Joins
Pacific Quest Clinical Team!

Pacific Quest is excited to welcome Teresa Bertoncin to the Clinical Team! Teresa is a licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is a certified EMDR Therapist, and also has advanced training in Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy (EFT). Teresa earned her undergraduate degree from University of Michigan, and her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and her thesis focused on trauma and rites of passage work.

Teresa has worked with adolescents and young adults for most of her twenty-year career. Her areas of skill & expertise include families with struggling teens and phase-of-life transitions; grief, loss, trauma and PTSD; relationships in crisis and family readjustment issues; stepfamilies; substance use disorders; generalized & social anxiety; ADHD; parenting, child development & attachment Issues; cultural issues & intergenerational family systems. In addition to EMDR and Emotionally Focused Therapy, Teresa also has extensive experience with play therapy, biofeedback, neuropsychology, and permaculture techniques - a perfect blend for her role at Pacific Quest!

Dr. Lorraine Freedle, Clinical Director, says "I have known Teresa for many years and could not be happier that she chose to join our clinical team. She brings generosity of spirit, international experience, and exceptional clinical skills - particularly in EMDR, relationally-based modalities, and family therapy."

Teresa recently returned from two years of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa where she worked as a psychosocial trainer and consultant. She developed and established a young program with a strong emphasis in wilderness leadership programming. Teresa has also conducted psychotherapy training and consulting for trauma-based organizations in Swaziland, and provided trauma-based therapy and life-skills training for Zimbabwean refugees. She believes that connection and relationship is the cornerstone of all progress and healing.

Formerly a collegiate gymnast, Teresa owned and operated a gymnastics academy for 20 years, and incorporates strength-based psychotherapy with positive coaching techniques for a mind-body approach to establishing resiliency, empowerment and sustainable life skills. Teresa enjoys gardening, beekeeping, outdoor activities, travel, writing and spending time with her family.

Pacific Quest is an outdoor therapeutic program for struggling adolescents and young adults that offers a clinical, yet holistic, approach to treatment. Our neurodevelopmental approach, combined with horticultural therapy, integrates evidence-based therapeutic methods, whole-person wellness and organic gardening to sustain a healthy community and motivate change.