Mariana K. Falconier

Dr. Mariana Falconier is a Professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. She completed her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) and her doctoral degree in Family Studies at the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Falconier, originally from Argentina, began her work as a therapist with individuals, couples, and families in 1992. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in both states Maryland and Virginia and has been an approved supervisor by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy since 2007. Dr. Falconier directed outpatient mental health clinics at WATS and Vesta, Inc. before joining Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where she served first as Director of the Center for Family Services (2008-2016), and later, as Director of the Master's Program in Marriage and Family Therapy (2017-2018

She has taught nationally and internationally undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural and diversity issues in MFT, couple therapy, MFT theories and techniques, particularly post-modern approaches, and developmental psychology. Her research focuses on how couples cope with chronic stress, including economic, immigration, medical, and minority stress, and develop and evaluate interventions for low-income couples, LGBTQ+ relationships, and Latine couples. Her research has also addressed couples' emotional co-regulation processes and environmental emotional connections. She has developed the evidence-based program TOGETHER/JUNTOS en PAREJA, an interdisciplinary group program designed to help couples with economic and other chronic stressors by strengthening their communication, individual and dyadic coping, and financial management skills. Dr. Falconier has received over $11 million dollars in federal funding to implement the TOGETHER program for low-income Black/African American and immigrant Latine couples, and LGBTQ+ relationships. Dr. Falconier’s work for these programs has made her the recipient of the Excellence in Professional/Clinical Practice Award from the National Council for Family Relations (NCFR) and the George F. Kramer Practitioner of the Year Award from UMD School of Public Health. 

Dr. Falconier has published and presented nationally and internationally and is the leading editor of the book Couples Coping with Stress: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (2016), recipient of the 2018 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award and co-author of the book Treatment Plans and Interventions in Couple Therapy: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach (2024). She has been involved in multiple international collaborations with colleagues in Switzerland, Rumania, Italy, Hungary, Argentina, Pakistan, Hong Kong, and Chile among others and has served as editor of national international journals. Her international collaborations also included a presentation on families’ stress and coping for Pope Francis and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences at the Vatican City. She is a member of COAMFTE Standards Review Committee.