LCSW, 7 years of experience
New to Grow
Hello, my name is Francisca, I have experience working with community mental health, with undeserved communities and individuals from all walks of life. I've gained a lot of experience helping clients heal from traumatic experiences, process grief, and facilitated their empowerment to take on the reins of their healing journey. I am a proud Mexican American woman who believes that we all possess inherit gifts and capacity to heal and when identified and fostered this can be our catalyst for change. I am interested in learning each person's story and offering ongoing evolving support through the alliance that we will cultivate. I am well versed in a myriad of modalities that are trauma informed as well as psychodynamic, interpersonal treatment frameworks. Overall, I am an ongoing student. Aside from my professional trainings, I have learned via my individual healing journey, and from the individuals I have helped. I am passionate about helping each individual realize their path to healing.
Our first session will entail getting to know you, what is the experience of being you, and what brings you to seek support. I'll invite you to share in your own words. It's okay if you don't know where to start; I can guide the conversation with open-ended questions. I will inquire about your past and present life to understand your background, family dynamics, and any major stressors. Ultimately, the goal of the first session is for you to leave feeling heard, respected, and hopeful about the possibilities for healing and growth. I am versed in many evidenced based practices, that you can review under therapy approaches, and we can explore as time progresses what is the best approach for you, it does not have to be methodical as it is curtailed to you as an individual. I want to get to know you, and understand your unique experience, let us see what unfolds.
I strive to deeply understand your experiences, feelings, and world from your unique perspective. I view you as a whole person considering your mind, body, and spirit rather than just focusing on a specific symptom. I pay attention not only to your words but also to the emotions behind them, my role is to help us both stay grounded and present even when processing challenging emotions. I allow our interactions to flow; I am attuned to you and will be inquisitive as the session unfolds. I will share my insights, check in with you, make sure you feel seen and heard. I will work with you to assess what is the best approach that enables you to feel supported and make the changes that will help you to cultivate and tap into your own inner resources for healing and change.
I have experience helping clients work through stress, social anxiety, trauma, and struggles with self-worth. My practice focuses on empowering individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds heal from past and current experiences, who are curious about their inner world and willing to explore their thoughts, emotions, and underlying issues.
When using this approach, I am able to connect with each client as the unique individual that they are, with their own strengths, values, and vision for what they want to achieve. My experience incorporating this approach involves creating a supportive, non-judgmental space where the individual is comfortable exploring their goals and challenges. I believe every individual has innate potential to direct their own life, and my role is to listen actively, offer empathy, and help them discover the pathways that resonate best with their authentic self. I have been able to collaboratively, focus on the present experiences and future aspirations, to help each person reach their potential.
Working with this approach provides me with the fundamentals to understand that life experiences, especially difficult or traumatic ones, can profoundly affect how we think, feel, and interact with the world. When utilizing this approach, I prioritize creating a space where the individual feels as physically and emotionally safe as possible. l work together with each individual to set goals and decide the pace and direction of our sessions. I provide psychoeducation about fight, flight, or freeze" response, normalizing these symptoms as the nervous system's protective adaptations to past danger, rather than signs of dysfunction. With this approach as the foundation, I incorporate EMDR and somatic experiencing to aide individuals process and renegotiate their traumatic experiences.
My experience with grief therapy has helped me to understand that the process of grief is a unique journey, and my approach to therapy will be tailored to your specific needs and experiences. It is essential to create a safe and supportive space where the individual can freely express their feelings. I'll use techniques like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), expressive arts, person-centered empathy to help you process your emotions and identify any unhelpful thought patterns. In collaboration with each individual, I develop personalized coping strategies to help each person through this difficult time. I focus on not just navigating the pain, but also on finding new meaning in each person's life and restoring a sense of hope for the future. Whether it is a loved one, a pet, a relationship, and transitions we can process the loss together.
This treatment method is an insight-oriented therapy where I have explored how unconscious thoughts, emotions, and past experiences shape current behavior, relationships, and challenges that an individual experiences. In collaboration with each individual, I have been able to help clients identify how their life history, personal experiences including childhood influence present day patterns. By gaining self-awareness clients are able to understand unconscious motivations and work towards shifting their behaviors to be more aligned with their authentic selves.
This approach has helped me to combine elements from various therapeutic modalities to create a personalized plan that addresses a client's unique needs. My experience with this method involves a collaborative assessment to understand each individual's goals, history, and preferences, followed by the seamless fusion of different techniques, like CBT and mindfulness, into a cohesive treatment strategy rather than just selecting techniques individually. I have been able to build a unique treatment plan based on each individual strengths and challenges.