>Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist · LMFT #102384 · Westlake Village, CA
I did not just study
generational healing.
I lived it.
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 am a Licensed Marriage
and Family Therapist.
And I am also a daughter.
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.
That is the experience I bring into the room with every woman I work with. Not just clinical training — though I have that too. A real understanding of what it means to carry this wound and what it actually takes to heal it.
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 never met my Abuelita.
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. And I, in turn, began mothering from that same incomplete blueprint. Not because I didn't love my children. Because I didn't know yet 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.
"It didn't start with you. And it can end with you."
The Moment Everything Changed
I was in the fire.
And I found a way through.
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
I specialize in one thing.
I do it very well.
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 feeling emotions — talk therapy alone does not reach the root of the mother wound. For these women I also offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy as a deeper pathway. KAP helps women access what has been unreachable so the healing can actually land.
What I Believe
The beliefs that shape
every session.
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 is not about blaming your mother. She received what her mother could give. This work is about understanding the chain — and choosing to be the one who breaks it.
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.
This wound has a beginning. It also has an end. I have seen it end. I have lived it ending. That is not a promise I make lightly — it is the reason I do this work.
Credentials & Training
Clinically trained.
Personally tested.
Education & Licensure
- —Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist · LMFT #102384
- —Master's Degree · California Lutheran University
- —Bachelor's Degree · California Lutheran University
- —10+ Years in Clinical Practice
Specializations & Certifications
- —Generational Trauma & Mother Wound Healing
- —Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Specialist
- —SYMBIS Certified Facilitator · Pre-Marital Counseling
- —Faith-Informed Therapy
- —Board Chair · Childhood Matters
Insurance & Fees
The cycle can end
with you.
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