Welcome, dear visitor! 😊 I'm Claudia Candelas-Prado, a licensed clinical social worker proudly serving California. As a native of the beautiful Bay Area, I pursued my master's degree at San Jose State University, graduating in 2015. Over the past eleven years, I've had the privilege of working alongside children, adolescents, young adults, and their families in a variety of environments, including community agencies, hospitals, and schools. Creating a warm and welcoming space is my top priority, where patients can openly share their everyday struggles and explore the path to their best selves. I'm here to support you on your journey, encouraging openness, growth, and discovery. Let's embrace this journey together!
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
In our first session together, we'll ease into a friendly introduction and give you a warm welcome to the services I offer. We'll take the time to explore any challenges or obstacles you might be facing. This is also a wonderful opportunity for us to pinpoint our treatment plan goals and map out the steps we'll take together to reach them. With this information in hand, I'll design a personalized plan just for you, ensuring a supportive and nurturing experience as we continue on this journey together.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
As a provider, my greatest strength lies in crafting personalized treatment plans that align with your unique goals. I truly believe that each client brings their own distinct experience to the therapy journey, and one-size-fits-all interventions simply won't do. I'm deeply committed to validating your experiences and offering a safe space where we can navigate and make sense of life's challenging moments together.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I find great joy in working with first-generation students, bilingual Spanish/English speakers, and families who have navigated generational trauma. My work has been enriched by supporting teenagers and young adults as they journey through life's transitions, whether it's school, family changes, relocation, and more. I'm here to offer gentle guidance in coping with complex medical needs and addressing the challenges of anxiety and depression. It's deeply rewarding to walk beside you as you embrace your unique journey
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
In session, we will work towards identifying how your thoughts impact your emotions and the behaviors that you engage in. By increasing our awareness of how our thoughts impact us, we are then able to change these thoughts to create more balanced ones and cope with our difficult emotions much more effectively.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
Every individual carries a unique experience which is important to consider when we are looking for interventions that would best fit your needs. In our sessions, we will take into consideration how our religious practices, cultural background, identity, spirituality, community, and other factors play a role in our presenting symptoms.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
In our sessions, we will identify skills to help you tolerate distress (decrease intensity of emotions quickly), tools to help you manage/regulate emotions in an appropriate way to prevent a crisis (help you identify your safe zone), and skills to help us improve and enhance our interpersonal relationships with others.
Mindfulness-Based Therapy
Mindfulness helps us focus on one thing at a time. Anxiety and depression can often lead us to experience brain fog, making it difficult to focus on what to do next or what is happening in front of us. Mindfulness based therapy can help us reach the mental clarity that we need to continue to move forward.
Motivational Interviewing
Life changes can be difficult! Motivational interviewing uses a practical and empathetic approach to help you identify steps to make changes to your behaviors. Let's work together in breaking down those really big goals that you have been holding back on, in to smaller steps to create long term change.