Dear HTES Team,

 I want to offer my deepest condolences on the loss of Dr. Maria Hess. I wish comfort and peace for her friends, family, and the many students whose lives she touched so profoundly. It was with great joy and hope when we began our collaboration as a team and navigated the promise and complexities of the CRDP program. Maria was a true pioneer in compassionate care with a focus on the needs of the underserved Latinx community. Maria will be missed. Thank you for sharing. Ed.  

Dr. Hess taught me and many others that our stories, as people of color, mattered. That our voices need not be silenced anymore. And her famous words that “trauma is the gift that keeps on giving.” This is why we must focus on healing.

I can still remember Maria’s excitement and enthusiasm about Humanidad when I was applying for an Internship. She couldn’t say enough good things about Humanidad, and her pride was infectious. I knew after that first conversation that I wanted to work for Humanidad and that I wanted to train under Maria. I am grateful to her for having hired me and fortunate that I benefited from her wisdom and her strong leadership.

Maria’s unique personality and energy was heartfelt, her laughter was contagious, and her passion as a therapist was inspiring. Her voice of knowledge and wisdom will always be with me as a therapist.

Thank you Humanidad staff for sharing this beautiful recognition and tribute to the founder of HUMANIDAD Maria Hess. I so recall meeting her almost 5 years ago when we started CRDP. She was such a great person she represented such passion for her work and her dream to help grown HUMANIDAD so that it could stand the test of time and continue to be there for the needs of the Latino community. I will never forget that first meeting with her I left feeling this is a woman who we need to support to keep moving forward the work she started. Congratulations Humanidad, you are doing this. Con mucho cariño at this difficult time.

Maria Hess was a huge presence in the world of Psychotherapy. Her brilliance, skills and dedication were greatly respected by all who worked with her. I was fortunate enough to be her colleague in a consultation group with other therapists for many years. She always brought insight and support in a humble and humorous way. She will be sorely missed by everyone she’s touched.

Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes a cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes The teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

This is what I learned from Dr Hess. She was groundbreaking in linking mental health and cultural responsiveness here. She also was relentless in providing help after Andy Lopez. She always found a way to yes. She let nothing get in her way.