Education and Background

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I received my PhD in Education, Counseling Psychology from Stanford University.  In addition, I obtained an Ed.M. in Risk and Prevention: Childhood from Harvard University, a master's degree program that focused on trauma and young children. I also have a B.A. in Psychology from Wellesley College.  

I have been a licensed psychologist since 2009 and have been in private practice since 2010. I previously had practices in both Pacifica and Burlingame.  I have worked with children, teens, parents and families in both clinic and school-based settings. I completed my post-doctoral clinical psychology residency at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. At The Guidance Center, a community mental health center in Long Beach, CA, I completed my pre-doctoral clinical psychology internship. I have also provided counseling, support, and consultation to students, teachers, and parents in elementary, middle and high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. As an accredited provider of Triple P- Positive Parenting Program, I also help adults strengthen their parenting knowledge and skills. In addition, I obtained an Animals and Human Health professional development certificate from the Institute from the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work.

Animal-Assisted Interventions and the Human-Animal Bond

• Dizon, M.R. (2021). Animal Instincts. Following an Unmarked Path from Volunteerism to a Career in Human Animal Interaction. In L.R. Kogan and P. Erdman (Eds.), Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists (pp. 109-111).  New York: Routledge, 2021.

• Dizon, M. (December 2007). Creature Comfort: The Effect of an Animal-Assisted Intervention on Anxiety and Self-Disclosure Among Youth Exposed to Community Violence. Paper presented at The National Technology Assessment Workshop on Animal Assisted Programs for Youth at Risk, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health.   

• Dizon, M., Butler, L., & Koopman, C. (2007). Befriending Man's Best Friends: Does Altruism Toward Animals Promote Psychological and Physical Health? In S.G. Post (Ed.), Altruism and Health: Perspectives from Empirical Research. (pp. 277-291).  New York: Oxford University Press.  

Multicultural Counseling 

• LaFromboise, T. & Dizon, M.R. (2003). American Indian Children and Adolescents. In J.T. Gibbs, L.N. Huang and Associates (Eds.), Children of Color: Psychological Interventions with Culturally Diverse Youth. (pp. 45-90). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Dizon, M. (February, 2003). Depression and Suicidal Ideation in Filipina American Adolescent Girls: Examining the Mother-Daughter Relationship as a Protective Factor. Paper presented at the Alumni of Color Conference, Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

• Bay Area Psychological Association
• California Psychological Association 
• American Psychological Association
• Asian Mental Health Collective