LIlia Urrutia de Palacios

Lilia Urrutia de Palacios

Ms. Urrutia is a psychologist.  A graduate of the Universidad Santa María la Antigua, she holds a master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Educational Psychology from Oklahoma University, and a master’s degree in Family Sciences with a specialization in Family Therapy from the Universidad Santa María la Antigua.  Currently, she is completing her Ph.D. studies in Psychology with a concentration in Family and Marriage Therapy at Northcentral University.

Ms. Urrutia attends her professional clinical practice at THE BRIDGE CENTER, where she specializes in helping clients attain more harmonious and satisfactory interpersonal relationships. She enjoys working with couples who are seeking to improve their relationship, as well as those who are confronting serious difficulties in their relationship and wish to save it.  She also works with couples who have decided to end their intimate relationship but want to do so in a healthy and satisfactory manner.  She enjoys helping parents who are having a difficult time relating to and educating their children (preschoolers, grade-schoolers and adolescents), as well as helping children through Play Therapy.  She also likes working with adolescents and adults as they move through the different stages in their life cycle, helping them find appropriate adaptations for each phase.  She particularly enjoys working with young adults who are in the process of detaching from their family of origin and creating a new, independent life for themselves, as well as with those who are preparing to begin, or have very recently begun, their life together as an intimate couple.

Previously, Ms. Urrutia has worked as a Family Therapist in the Human Development Center (2003 to 2008) and in the field of Educational Psychology at the Marbella Psychology Clinic located in the Royal Center medical offices, from 1995 to 1999.  Additionally, she has taught college-level courses for the past 15 years at the Universidad Santa María la Antigua, where she has held academic positions such as Dean of the School of Social Sciences from 2000 to 2009, Dean of the School of Humanities and Religious Sciences from 2004 to 2008, and Director of the School of Psychology from 1995 to 2000.

Ms. Urrutia has presented a number of scientific and professional papers in various congresses, seminars and academic and professional contexts.  She is a founding member of the Institute for Couples Science.  She has participated as a member of the Panamanian Association of Psychologists, and served as its vice president during the 1999-2000 period.  She is also an Associate Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AMMFT).