Beatriz Martinez-Peñalver is a licensed psychotherapist with over thirty years of experience in the mental health field. She recognizes that not everyone requires mental health treatment, but she firmly emphasizes the importance for everyone to cultivate emotional literacy as a crucial foundation for resilience and happiness.

She is a passionate advocate for emotional well-being and personal growth who has been recognized by the School Board of Miami-Dade County Public Schools for her commitment to students, their mental wellness, and emotional Literacy nationwide. She is an activist who has traveled the nation to spread the facts about emotional literacy on the doorsteps of policymakers, educators, and parents everywhere.

Her mission extends well beyond Triumph Steps and her goal is to ensure emotional literacy curriculums are taught at every school in Florida and beyond. Beatriz knows that any school practicing emotional literacy techniques, through Triumph Steps, is making an everlasting impact on students’ lives. 

Healthy Connections

She is the president and CEO of Healthy Connections, Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) in Miami, FL and the founder and CEO of Triumph Steps. Healthy Connections opened its doors in 2001, and with a team of about 25-30 staff members, has served thousands of clients (children and adults) with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions. Prior to opening the Community Mental Health Center, Beatriz ran a private practice where she led her patients to self-discovery and personal growth with the psychology of abundance, cognitive behavioral approaches, and meditation.

Happiness is a skill that can be learned.

With her many years in practice as a mother, Beatriz realized that schools are so busy giving our children mostly intellectual knowledge, that they completely omit an emotional literacy curriculum, which will prepare them for life. With this in mind, and a burning desire to bring an emotional literacy curriculum to every child in the world, she created Triumph Steps. Beatriz knows that if we teach each child the powerful force of thoughts, they will avoid developing erroneous thought patterns and self- defeating behaviors, and they will grow up inspired to create the extraordinary lives they deserve. This, in turn, will prevent that in 15 to 20 years any of them come to her mental health clinic, or any other clinic in the world, for emotional issues.

While Triumph Steps was designed for students, teachers, and parents, the program works for anyone who is seeking self-improvement. Beatriz has successfully implemented the Triumph Steps with adult clients as a transformative coaching program at Healthy Connections. This unique coaching program, given only by trained psychotherapists, provides the simple and clear steps that everyone needs in life to be triumphant.

Beatriz is not the behind-the-scenes type. As part of her mission to spread emotional literacy awareness and share the benefits of Triumph Steps, she speaks on topics related to emotional literacy on a regular basis. Most recently, she spoke in front of Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission, a unique commission of leaders across the state that convene every 20 years to revise Florida’s constitution, to argue for emotional literacy as a mandated part of education by Florida’s Constitution. Beatriz personally takes it upon herself to assure that anyone using Triumph Steps understands its innovative components. She has spoken in front of schools’ entire faculties on multiple occasions to drive home the importance of teachers’ involvement, and in front of student bodies to walk them through the steps. She also travels to speak to groups of parents to educate them on how the program can improve their children’s lives.

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Beatriz lives in Miami with her husband, a nationally known ER psychiatrist, her precious daughter, a fluffy dog, an exotic toucan and other tropical birds, turtles, many koi fish and a cat. She loves to rollerblade, ski, go boating, scuba dive and ride on her husband’s Harley. Beatriz is inspired by silence and the power it draws.