Rafael Cortina, LMFT, MBA, MAC, CCTP-II

Rafael J. Cortina is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #48209) in the State of California, a Master Addiction Counselor (MAC), a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II), and a Certified Gestalt Therapist and Gestalt Couples Therapist. A bilingual (English-Spanish) clinician, he has worked in both Mexico and the United States for over 25 years, offering psychotherapy to individuals, couples, families, and groups.

Rafael holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from National University in San Diego. His extensive clinical background includes specialized training in EMDR, TRM, addiction treatment, and trauma work.

He is the developer of the Compassionate Relational Gestalt Trauma Model (CRGTM)—an integrative framework that bridges Gestalt Therapy, polyvagal theory, and contemporary trauma neuroscience. The CRGTM conceptualizes trauma and addiction as creative adjustments to disrupted connection and emphasizes healing through embodied awareness, relational presence, and compassionate contact. His model offers a field-theoretical and phenomenological path toward wholeness, inviting both therapist and client into co-created healing through attuned relationship.

Rafael currently serves as President of the International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (IAAGT), where he previously served as Vice President and Membership Chair. He is also co-founder of In-Sight Transformative Therapy Group in San Diego, a practice dedicated to relational, somatic, and trauma-focused psychotherapy.

He has taught and supervised clinicians as Adjunct Faculty at National University, Faculty Member at the University of Phoenix (San Diego Campus), and Lead Faculty at the Humanistic Institute of Gestalt Psychotherapy in Tijuana, Mexico. His past clinical appointments include Clinical Director at ACI Specialty Benefits, MFT at Sharp Mesa Vista Outpatient Dual Diagnosis Program, Staff Therapist at the LGBT Center of San Diego, Bereavement Counselor at San Diego Hospice, and Lead Clinical Psychiatric Social Worker at Bayview Behavioral Health Campus.

As an international presenter and trainer, Rafael has facilitated workshops, trainings, and lectures both in-person and virtually across the United States, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Africa, Asia, and Europe. His signature programs—such as Reclaiming Wholeness, Healing Through Connection, and Pathways to Wholeness—invite therapists into a deeply experiential exploration of the relational field, embodied presence, and compassionate healing.

Rafael’s work reflects his core belief that healing is not achieved in isolation but through relationship—through moments of shared vulnerability, curiosity, and compassion that restore our human capacity for connection and wholeness.