Founder and CEO of Ser Integral: Portuguese Center for Mindfulness, guided by a vision of human development that integrates clinical psychology, mindfulness, and trauma-based approaches, in service of deep transformation and the reconnection with our humanity and authenticity. 

She holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Glamorgan and a Master’s degree in Neuropsychology from the University of Kent (United Kingdom). She also completed a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University / Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (USA). She worked as a clinical researcher at the University of Oxford on the OPTIMA project (Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing), which focuses on the study of ageing and cognitive dementia.

Carla was the first certified teacher in Portugal of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, having completed the training in 2007 at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Since then, she has been teaching mindfulness-based programs to a wide range of populations, including the general public and healthcare professionals.

She has advanced training in several mindfulness-based programs, including Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT and MBCT-L) through the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), as well as mindfulness programs for children and adolescents. She has also completed professional training as a Supervisor for Mindfulness-Based Program Teachers.

In recent years, she has deepened her training in trauma-informed approaches and nervous system regulation, including Somatic Experiencing through the Brazilian Trauma Association, Polyvagal Theory with Liana Netto, Internal Family Systems (IFS) through IFS International, and the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) (in training) through Ser Integral.

She is the author of the book Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Older Adults: Evidence for Practice (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2014) and the poetry book Mergulhar no Ser e Não Ser (2023).

Full member of the Portuguese Psychologists’ Association since 2011, Professional License No. 010431, Specialist in Clinical and Health Psychology and Clinical Neuropsychology.

She has practiced yoga since 1999 and has more than 25 years of meditation practice.