English 
French 
In practice since 2000
Registration: Ontario – Quebec
Services in English, French and Spanish
Mayerling Hurtado is a Clinical Psychologist registered with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and the College of Psychologists of Quebec. With over 25 years of professional clinical experience, her practice focuses on supporting clients in making positive changes through insight and the acquisition of practical tools that empower them to reconnect with their strengths. Her rigorous professional preparation, which includes an eight-year sequence of university and hospital-based specialization, reflects a depth of training and clinical hours consistent with doctoral-level preparation in North America.
Since 2000, Mayerling Hurtado has built a solid career providing psychological assessment and treatment services to individuals, couples, and groups. Her empathic and highly supportive approach is designed to create a safe, caring, and non-judgmental environment where she works collaboratively with clients to create lasting change. This work is further enhanced by a deep understanding of multicultural dynamics, allowing her to be sensitive to individual differences and offer a customized approach to client care, across diverse cultural backgrounds, tailoring her approach to each client’s unique experiences and life context.
Mayerling Hurtado offers services in English, French, and Spanish, and is available for consultations both in-person and online.
Professional Experience
She has been a registered psychologist since 2000 and has been practicing as a registered psychologist in Canada since 2012. Her wide clinical background spans a variety of settings, including general hospitals, mental health hospitals, long-term care facilities, community programs and in a diverse and busy private practice both Canada and South America. She has worked within specialized systems such as Humber River Hospital Toronto and the CIUSSS of South-Central Montreal, providing care for diverse populations, including those with significant physical disabilities, those requiring acute psychiatric intervention, and individuals focusing on mood disorders, anxiety, and depression. Her expertise also includes the treatment of personality disorders, trauma, psychosis, and attachment difficulties.
In addition to her clinical practice, Mayerling Hurtado has held leadership roles, including serving as Chief of Psychological Services at the “El Peñón” Mental Health Hospital in Caracas. She is committed to professional development, having served as an Adjunct Professor and clinical supervisor, training staff and interns in specialized clinical psychology and psychiatry programs. Her evidence-based practice is continually informed by advanced training in modalities such as Psychodynamic Insight-oriented Therapy, Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Systemic Therapy, among others.
Academic Training
Mayerling Hurtado completed her academic and clinical training in psychology through a combination of university education and intensive hospital-based clinical specialization in Venezuela. She earned a Licentiate Degree in Psychology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (founded in 1721), a five-year professional program. Following this, she completed a three-year postgraduate specialization in Clinical Psychology at the Centro de Salud Mental del Este El Peñón, a psychiatric teaching hospital in Caracas founded in 1962. Both degrees are research-heavy, mandating a formal written thesis and oral defense before a jury to graduate.
Advanced Clinical Training
In addition to her academic training, Mayerling Hurtado has completed extensive continuing professional education in personality disorders, psychodynamic psychotherapy, personality assessment, and evidence-based clinical interventions. Her ongoing professional development reflects a commitment to maintaining advanced clinical expertise and integrating contemporary, evidence-informed approaches to psychological care.
Credit systems are not directly comparable across countries. In the Venezuelan university system, as used by the Universidad Central de Venezuela, credits reflect only direct instructional hours (e.g., lectures and seminars) and do not include the substantial amount of independent study, reading, and preparation expected outside the classroom. In contrast, North American credit systems typically incorporate total student workload into their calculations. As a result, when making direct comparisons, the credit totals presented here represent only a portion of the overall academic effort, and the full scope of training would be higher if independent study hours were calculated using North American conventions.
ONLINE PSYCHOLOGY SERVICES
Psychotherapy sessions are offered on-line as a regular part of our practice so you can get the support for your mental health needs from wherever you are in Ontario or Quebec.
Book a NO-COST CONSULTATION and we can have 15 minutes, no obligation phone or secure video call to explore if this service would be a good fit for you.