DeeMarla Tavares, LCSW

Marla Tavares joined Heritage Health through Family Support Services in 2008, as a Mental Health Clinician. She has worked within the helping field most of her adult life and decided to pursue social work because of her passion to empower people to create positive and healthy changes on their journey in life.

She has 14 years of experience in the mental health field and is enthusiastic about teaching Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), which combines opposing forces of acceptance and change with the goal of learning four major skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness, she facilitates the development of these skills through weekly groups or individual sessions. Marla also utilizes Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to support healing from traumatic experiences 

Originally from Alaska, Marla considers Idaho her forever home, she embraces outdoor living and loves to camp, hike, garden, support her children’s sporting events, spend time with her growing family, two dogs Bailey and Bentley, and close friends.  

Marla earned her bachelor's degree from Lewis-Clark State College in 2008 and a master's degree in Social Work from Boise State University in 2010.