Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist · LMFT #102384 · Westlake Village, CA
Therapist. Mother of ten. Married 38 years. Daughter of an emotionally unavailable mother — and the woman who decided the cycle would end with her.
About Amelia
I did not just study generational healing. I lived it. I was raised by an emotionally unavailable mother — and that wound shaped every relationship I had, including the one with my own children.
I have been married for 38 years and raised ten children. I know what it takes to build emotionally safe relationships from the inside — not from a textbook. I also know what it costs when you don't.
I bring both clinical training and a lived understanding of what it means to carry this wound, speak honestly about what happened, and begin building something healthier in its place.
The wound your mother gave you does not have to become the wound you give your daughter.
— Amelia Mora Mars, LMFTWhere This Work Began
I came to know her through family stories — of the pain she carried, of the fear her children sometimes felt around her, and of a love that existed but could never quite find its way out. She was my grandmother. I carry her name. And I grew up wondering how emotional wounds move so quietly through generations.
That question followed me into my own family. My mother received what her mother could give — which was not always enough. I loved my children deeply, and I still began mothering from an incomplete blueprint because I did not yet understand what I was carrying.
That question — how does this move through us, and how do we stop it — is what brought me to this work. And it is what keeps me here.
The Moment Everything Changed
There came a moment in my mothering when I realized I was repeating what I had received. Not in the obvious ways — I was present, I was trying. But emotionally, I was somewhere else. Shutting down when things got hard. Unable to stay with the feeling in the room.
That recognition — that I was giving my children something I had never wanted to pass on — was the beginning of my own healing. I did the work. I learned what I was carrying. I became the mother I always wanted to be.
And then I synthesized everything that worked — for me and for the women I have sat with in therapy — into a clear process for breaking the cycle. That process is what I bring to every woman I work with.
How I Work
For most women healing happens through therapy — conversation, insight and the steady work of understanding where your patterns came from and learning to respond differently.
For some women — particularly those who have difficulty accessing memories or emotions — ketamine-assisted psychotherapy may offer another way to approach material that has been difficult to reach through talk therapy. When clinically appropriate, I offer KAP as a specialized therapeutic pathway in collaboration with a qualified medical provider.
What I Believe
Your reactions are not character flaws. They are survival strategies formed before you could choose them. Understanding where they came from is the beginning of everything.
Healing begins with telling the truth. There is room to name what happened, what you needed and did not receive, and how it affected you without minimizing the harm or rushing toward forgiveness. Understanding what shaped your mother does not erase your experience; it can become part of the larger work of breaking the chain.
The goal is not a perfect mother. The goal is a free one — a woman who responds from choice rather than from a wound she has never been able to name.
Faith and healing are not in conflict. For women whose Christian faith is central to who they are, I offer counseling that integrates clinical expertise with respect for your beliefs and your relationship with God.
Your history can shape you without deciding your future. I have seen women develop greater steadiness, self-trust, and freedom in their relationships. I have lived that change in my own family, and it is the reason I do this work.
Credentials & Training
The patterns you inherited have already shaped enough mornings, enough reactions and enough moments of shame. They don't have to shape your daughter's.
A free 20 minute consultation is where we begin. No commitment, no obligation — just an honest conversation about whether this is the right fit.
Call (805) 244-8489Westlake Village, CA · Telehealth throughout California · LMFT #102384