I have an extensive background in supporting adolescents, adults and families experiencing anxiety and depression, as well as survivors of trauma including complex trauma. Complex trauma can often include issues such as low self worth, difficulty with trust in self and in trusting others, addiction, isolation and identity issues. I received my Master’s in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, and am also an alumnus of Carleton College and the University of Chile. Additionally, I have obtained a Certificate in Clinical Trauma Professional Level II (CCTP-II). I am bilingual in Spanish.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
You can expect to be greeted with warmth and no judgment. I will ask you to share about what brings you to therapy, and I will offer psychoeducation to help center us on what is causing the distress. My style is conversational, no awkward silences! It will feel like a conversation with someone who is deeply interested in decreasing your feelings of fear, shame or sadness.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
I am currently writing a book on complex trauma. I am a survivor of complex trauma, and what makes me special is my ability to see how past experiences can create unhelpful lenses of how an individual sees the world, how they see their own limitations and regrets. I help create the safety and context that will lead to helpful new insights that bring about opportunities for positive change. In short, my greatest strength is my ability to see someone without misinterpretation. Often my clients share that I'm the only one that truly sees them, and so it's my job to help them work toward feeling seen and accepted by the people who are most significant in life.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I love to work with clients that have not had success in therapy previously. I feel my personal journey of healing has give me special ways of seeing and connecting with people that often feel misinterpreted and misunderstood. I love to work with people that have experienced deep wounds in childhood and to give them the information and compassion needed to make sense of what has felt like an impossibly stuck situation. I have had great success with people that have tried therapy and found it unhelpful. My style is extremely relational and focused on seeing strengths.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
With over twenty years in the professional mental health arena, I am skilled with many modalities. I often incorporate concepts of Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help you reclaim your sense of self and trust in your decisions and feelings. My approach works well for people struggling with symptoms of shame/low self worth, difficulty with social, familial, and work dynamics, identity issues, disassociation, and addiction. With my approach, you will learn to explain (without excusing) what has contributed to your current reality. You will gain insight and learn how to accept your current reality in order to step toward a better version of life. My approach is exceptionally relational, so you will feel my support and guidance every step of the way. With my approach, you will learn to explain (without excusing) what has contributed to your current reality and build self confidence through self compassion.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT has four main categories - emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, mindfulness, and distress tolerance. The way I incorporate DBT is often to start with increasing mindfulness - when we are more aware of all of our reality, we can make informed choices on what to address first. Often we can discover parts of life that feel hard to accept, and so the mindfulness gives us an opportunity to open the door and begin to form strategies to increase effective strategies for change.
Trauma-Focused CBT
Another modality that I often incorporate is cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps us to connect how our external reality impacts our inner experience. In other words, learning to see how we interpret what is happening around us can help us to understand why we feel the way we do about certain people, places or things. By increasing insight into why we feel the way we do, we can create new points of view by increasing understanding of how we've been shaped by our experiences.