(she/her)
New to Grow
I'm Anabel, a clinical social worker and certified trauma therapist and I work with people who are really good at holding it all together — until they're not. If you're exhausted in a way that's hard to explain, carrying more than your share, and wondering if this is just what life feels like now — this is the space I built for that. I work with adults who are holding everything together — managing responsibilities, relationships, and internal pressure — while quietly wondering why it all still feels so hard. My practice, Surviving to Thriving, exists for people who are ready to stop white-knuckling their way through life and start actually living it.
Our first session is a conversation, not an intake form. I want to know what brought you here, what's felt heaviest lately, and what you're hoping to feel differently about. We'll talk about what's been going on, what you've already tried, and what you're carrying that you haven't quite found words for yet. I'll share a little about how I work and we'll figure out together whether we're a good fit. You don't need to have a clear narrative or know exactly what's wrong — most people don't, and that's okay. Come as you are.
I bring a direct warmth to sessions — I'm not the therapist who sits silently while you spiral. I'll reflect what I'm hearing, push back gently when something doesn't add up, and name the things that are hard to say out loud. I'm trained to work with the layered, non-linear kind of healing that doesn't fit neatly into a 12-week protocol. I've worked with complex trauma long enough to know that insight alone doesn't create change — so I balance holding space with actually moving through things together. I'm also someone who carries a full life outside this work: a blended family, an Asian American identity, a household that doesn't run itself. I understand firsthand what it means to be the person who manages everything while quietly wondering when it gets to be your turn.
My ideal client is the person who has it together on the outside and is exhausted by it. High functioning showing up for everyone - life looks fine from the outside. But underneath, tired in a way that sleep doesn’t fix often carrying something that hasn’t fully named yet. A childhood that looked normal but left marks. A pattern of over-functioning that started as survival and became a personality. I work best with clients who are ready to look at the pattern, not just manage the symptoms. Who want to understand the thread before they start pulling on it. Who are done with coping strategies that don’t get at the root. I specialize in complex trauma, cognitive mental load, and invisible labor. I’m licensed in Washington and Texas, and I work exclusively via telehealth with adults.
Other specialties
I identify as
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I use DBT as the foundation before we go anywhere deep. Distress tolerance and emotional regulation aren’t just coping tools — they’re what make it safe enough to look at where the patterns actually started.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Helps clients identify the emotional patterns underneath their reactions — not just what they do, but what they’re actually feeling and needing underneath it. For trauma clients especially, getting to the emotion beneath the behavior is often where the real shift happens.
Trauma Informed Care
Everything I do is filtered through a trauma lens. That means before we address a behavior or pattern, we ask where it came from. Trauma-informed care isn’t a technique — it’s the orientation that shapes every session.
Attachment-based
So much of what my clients carry traces back to early relational experiences — what they learned about safety, about need, about whether they were too much or not enough. Attachment-based work helps us trace those patterns back to their origin so we can actually change them, not just manage them.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I use CBT through a trauma lens, which means we don’t just challenge a thought — we first ask why that thought made perfect sense given what you’ve been through. The goal isn’t to think more positively. It’s to understand where the belief came from and whether it still serves you.