About Mario Starace

30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE:
Mario Starace worked in the mental health field for over 30 years, under the umbrella of the N.Y. State Office of Mental Health. He not only served severely mentally ill consumers in his role of Intensive Case Manager at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, but was involved with mental health programs in many other mental health organizations throughout N.Y. State.
 

ADVOCATE FOR THE MENTALLY ILL:
He was the former co-chair of a subcommittee of the Brooklyn Mental Health Council, where he helped develop a resource guide for adult psychiatric residences. This guide made it possible for mentally ill consumers to make better choices about where they wanted to live and gave mental health providers a better idea of the services offered by different facilities.

PRIVATE PRACTICE:
Today his time is focused on writing, speaking and counseling individuals on how to utilize stress management wellness models leading to Conscious Contentment. Mario specializes in awakening individuals to a higher purpose and greater sense of fulfillment/satisfaction through the practices of Transpersonal Counseling, body/energy work from Reiki,Yoga,Tai Chi and aromatherapy (essential oils).

OTHER WORK:
Mario has been a practitioner and teacher of aromatherapy for the past ten years at community colleges, adult education programs, hospitals, nursing homes and charitable foundations. Click here to view a listing of some of the programs and workshops Mario conducts. He has also been a member of an organization called "The Prison Project" for 28 years and teaches yoga and meditation to individuals who are incarcerated within the federal and state prison systems in the Northeast. Mario is a Sensei instructor of Tai Chi at the Poppenhusen Institute in Queens.

EDUCATION:
Mario Starace received his Master of Arts degree from New York University in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Bachelor of Arts from Pace University in Human Relations. He was certified in 1997 as a Tai Chi instructor, he is a Black Belt 1st degree in the Martial art of Tae Ki Do, and a Reiki Master Third Degree.

BOOKS:
He is currently writing his first book, "Conscious Contentment," and a book of inspirational poetry.


"Picture a man who spent 30 years working with the persistently mentally ill, who also volunteered his free time to venture into dangerous prisons to teach inmates how to meditate. That level of compassion, fortitude, and dedication to humanity is rare–yet it’s also a gift that Mario shares in abundance with those who seek him out."
―John Calabrese
Transpersonal Psychotherapist and Editor-At-Large of Creations Magazine