Dr. Porto specializes in treating patients who have a history of trauma, mood and affective disorders, pain, and life-threatening illness. She is a trained first responder for the RI Disaster Response Team. She is a level two trained Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) clinician (www.emdr.com).

She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology since l991 from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in Boston. She completed a pre-doctoral program internship and a postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology with the Roger William's Medical Center and the Brown University Consortium in l992.

Dr. Porto completed a Master of Science degree in Psychiatic Rehabilitation Counseling in 1983 from Boston University's Sargent College of Allied Health Professions in Boston, Massachusetts. As an undergraduate, Dr. Porto earned a BFA degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Dr. Porto has served on the RI Psychological Association board.  She served as chairperson the RI Chapter of American Heart Association (AHA) Stroke Committee in the past. She has received multiple awards and recognition for her volunteer services as a frequent speaker for stroke support groups for the AHA RI Chapter Mended Hearts groups. She has also appointed to and served as committee member for the RI Governor's Commission on Disabilities for a three year term where she served on numerous advocate committees.

Over the years she has facilitated many support groups including bereavement, AIDS Caregivers and survivor support groups, stroke caregiver and stroke survivor education support groups while employed at St. Joseph's Health Center in Providence and in her group practice. Dr. Porto has been interviewed on Rhode Island radio and television discussion shows educating the public on domestic violence, stroke education and prevention, and caregiver burnout prevention.

Dr. Porto practices and studies Taiji Quan (Tai Chi), "External Qi Healing" and Medical Qigong currently with Master Wen-Ching Wu in East Providence, RI. (www.waydragon.com) and whenever possible, Taoist Qigong with Kenneth Cohen, M.A., M.S.Th., and author of The Way Of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing (www.qigonghealing.com).

Qigong, (Ch'i Kung) combines gentle movement, breath work, and  meditations to increase and balance the flow of vital "qi" energy in the body.  When practiced regularly, it is known to improve blood circulation, strengthen the immune system and cultivate inner peace and harmony.

Additionally, Dr. Porto has attended many meditation retreats over the past 30 years in an attempt to deepen self-mastery for healing purposes. Dr. Porto originally was introduced to meditation though the NY Transcendental Meditation Society (TM ) in the l970's. She credits her introduction to the practice of Vipassana meditation (Insight meditation) to Larry Rosenberg, Ph.D., author of Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation and founder and resident teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts (www.cimc.info).

She is currently studying Mahamudra style of meditation and has taken two intensive meditation training retreats with Daniel Brown, Ph.D., founder of the The Center for Integrative Psychotherapy in Newton, Massachusetts and author of Pointing Out the Great Way: The Stages of Meditation in the Mahamudra Tradition.

Currently she leads a weekly meditation support and practice group for individuals interested in learning meditation. In that class she blends together a variety of healing traditions, qigong exercises, breathing (Qigong and pranayama) techniques, mantra chanting, guided-visualization, relaxation and stress reduction techniques at the Focus Yoga Studio (focusyoga.com ) in East Greenwich, RI.