Mariana Barata holds a Master’s degree in Clinicai and Health Psychology and she is studying to become psychotherapist at PsiRelacional – Association of Relational Psychoanalysis. Her professional journey began accompanying parents during and after the hospitalization of newborns, at Neonatal Intensive and Intermediate Care Units, and evaluating children born prematurely in the Neonatology and Development Consultation of Dr. Alfredo da Costa’s Maternity Hospital (Lisbon). She has been devoted to the areas of parenting, family support and parental counseling, working in Family Support and Parental Counseling Centers, with collaborative interventions directed to families, children and adolescents at risk and in danger. ln addition to this, she developed clinical work, in particular with children and adolescents in residential care. Her main research interests are attachment relationships during infancy, maternal sensibility and early preventive interventions.