Dr. Mary Perleoni, Ph.D., LMHC
Healing Relationships, Honoring Stories, and Building Hope
Founder of IBWHC, and is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and National Certified Counselor practicing in Florida.
About
Dr. Mary Perleoni is a licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and National Certified Counselor (NCC). Although Dr. Perleoni has served as a practicing professor educating future therapists, her passion lies in clinical work. Specifically, Dr. Perleoni specializes in helping couples navigate some of life’s most painful and defining moments, including infidelity, infertility, and the difficult crossroads where discernment therapy becomes essential.
Throughout her career, Dr. Perleoni has worked with children, families, individuals, and couples in a variety of clinical settings. Her expertise in trauma therapy gives her a unique ability to help couples not only address the pain of the present but also recognize how past experiences shape current patterns. She works with couples to rebuild trust, redefine their relationship, and make confident decisions about their future together or apart.
Dr. Perleoni’s work is grounded in compassion and guided by both research-based and holistic practices. She integrates Gottman Method Couples Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Gestalt Therapy and mindfulness. With these approaches she helps individuals and couples build present-moment awareness, work through trauma, and gain insight into relational patterns.
In addition to traditional weekly sessions, she offers Couples Intensives which are immersive, focused experiences designed to create meaningful breakthroughs in a condensed timeframe. Dr. Perleoni’s intensives are specifically designed for couples navigating infidelity or discernment.
introduction
EDUCATION
Dr. Perleoni earned a Master in Mental Health Counseling degree from the University of Saint Joseph and a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Central Florida. She saw gaps in the research literature surrounding trauma-informed care and sought to fill them. She has published several articles on trauma and completed her dissertation outlining an experimental study providing trauma-informed therapy to children in poverty. This deep foundation in trauma research continues to inform her work with couples, allowing her to guide clients with both clinical expertise and sensitivity to the complex layers of human experience.
EXPERIENCE
Dr. Perleoni’s experience includes working in an agency specializing in trauma, a community health center specializing in borderline personality disorder, and a private practice serving diverse populations.
She has served as a professor in New York City and Florida teaching master’s students obtaining their degrees in Marriage and Family, Mental Health, and School Counseling. In addition, she has supervised several counselors-in-training using a developmental approach in both clinical and school settings.
She is a lifelong learner who is constantly seeking further education and training so that she can be the best counselor and educator possible. Clients often come to Dr. Perleoni feeling uncertain, disconnected, or overwhelmed by challenges they never expected to face. She provides a safe, non-judgmental environment where both partners feel heard and supported. Her goal is not quick fixes, but meaningful, lasting change helping couples move from pain toward hope, clarity, and connection.
Dr. Mary Perleoni founded It Begins Within Healing Center with a clear mission: to raise the standard of mental health care by blending compassionate, research-based therapy with a team of highly skilled specialists. From the start, she envisioned a practice where clients of all ages, children, teens, adults, couples, and families could access expert care tailored to their unique needs. Her background as a trauma therapist and published researcher shaped the foundation of IBWHC. Recognizing that no single clinician can meet every need, Dr. Perleoni has carefully recruited and mentored a team of therapists who bring expertise across specialties, including anxiety, depression, ADHD, trauma, parenting support, relationship challenges, and performance optimization. This collaborative model ensures that every client is matched with a therapist who not only understands their struggles but is trained to guide them toward growth and healing.
In addition to leading a practice built on quality and specialization, Dr. Perleoni works closely with couples facing some of life’s most difficult challenges:
Infidelity: She helps couples rebuild trust and intimacy after betrayal, guiding them through the painful process of repair with compassion and evidence-based methods.
Infertility: She provides a safe, supportive space for couples coping with the emotional toll of infertility, helping them strengthen their bond while navigating uncertainty and grief.
Discernment: For couples questioning the future of their relationship, she offers discernment counseling to foster clarity, reduce conflict, and support empowered decisions about moving forward together or apart.
Today, IBWHC reflects Dr. Perleoni’s belief that quality mental health care should be specialized, personalized and deeply human, helping people heal from the past, thrive in the present, and find hope for the future.
Specialties
Approaches
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Gottman Method Couples Therapy uses proven techniques to help couples improve communication, resolve conflicts, and deepen their connection.
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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on changing negative thought patterns and behaviors to achieve lasting positive changes.
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TF-CBT is a specialized form of CBT designed to help children and adolescents overcome the effects of trauma.