Mi
Historia
I began my own personal healing in therapy while in grad school and saw the benefits of reflecting on my life, goals, and the impact my family had on my beliefs. It has been an ongoing process of healing and growth at every life transition for me. There was a time when I finally convinced my parents to see a therapist, and during my search for a therapist it was difficult to find a Latino therapist whom they can relate to in my community. This is when I decided I would want to stay in the community I was born and raised in to help others with similar experiences.
After graduating California State University, Northridge with my degree in Masters of Science Marriage Family Therapy and School Counseling in 2013, I interned at Valley Trauma Center (now known as Strengths United) in Northridge and provided therapy to families who had or were in the process of adopting or in foster care. My passion to help families has grown through my work with Child and Family Guidance Center, Northridge where I treat children, adolescents, and families. Most of my work has been with the Latinx community in the San Fernando Valley. I have treated clients in their home, school, and office. My specialties are helping individuals with trauma, depression, or anxiety, children with behavioral problems, families adopting a child, or individuals struggling through life transitions. I have practiced therapy in community mental health for 6 years and am certified in PCIT, CPP, and TFCBT, yet I believe everyone is unique and take an approach that fits their specific needs.
I believe everyone’s life experiences shape who they become. I was primarily driven into this field because I love to help others. Since high school, my jobs have been in the service field; I worked as a tutor, mentor, college advisor, providing resources/workshops for students and their family on post secondary options, counselor, and now therapist. I am the eighth child of 11 and although I am proud of how loving and united my family is, nothing came easy for us growing up. My family was low income; my dad worked two shifts and did the best to provide for us. Mental health was never talked about in my family and if there were problems, my parents relied on their religious beliefs. Despite adversities, education and hard work was always valued in my family. I received my bachelor’s degree from UCLA focusing on Chicano/a Studies, which allowed me to learn more of the historical patterns, social injustices, and cultural background of Latinx communities. I was involved in many Latinx groups that volunteered serving minority communities in Los Angeles.
Although I began my graduate studies in School Counseling because of my interest in helping students succeed academically and prepare for college, I continuously ran into challenges because many of my students were facing mental health challenges like trauma, experiencing their parents’ divorce, abuse, bullying, self esteem issues, and other problems making it hard for them to prioritize school. I wanted to do more and decided on becoming a marriage family therapist.
