Hello! I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) based in California. I have been practicing for the past 13 years. I help children ages 0-18 and their families with their relationships, behaviors, and traumas. I also help adults with their traumas or challenges. I am bilingual in Spanish and English and have primarily worked with Latinos and other minorities. I also help graduate MFT interns who need supervision.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session together, we will begin to get to know one another, we will discuss expectations related to treatment, complete a brief assessment of your history and will then discuss what you are wanting from therapy by identifying your goals. This will help me tailor a plan for your treatment and follow up sessions. We will then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. Your treatment will be unique to you and my goal is to create a safe space where you can begin to meet your goals and heal.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Having a specialization in infant family and early childhood mental health and working with children, adolescents, and adults for the past 13 years, I've developed an authentic, genuine, trauma informed approach. This approach which will help you identify the root of your challenges, co-create a plan that's tailored to you, give you tools to manage your challenges, and assist you with making progress.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I have met all the criteria for the specialization of infant family and early childhood mental health. I have been working with children ages 0-18 for the past 13 years. My passion is working with children and their families. My younger clients are dyads, children and their caregivers, who have experienced traumas or need support with stressful behaviors. My older clients are seeking support, a safe place to process their traumas or emotions, and want to make a change.
About Ana Gonzalez
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Trauma Informed Care
When working with clients I always take a trauma informed approach. Whether working with little ones to adults or whether the client has experienced trauma first hand or has a loved one who has experienced their own trauma. Trauma has a way of impacting not just those who experience it but the ones they love. My goal is to help my clients understand what trauma is, its impact on current symptoms and behaviors, and how to manage the symptoms and behaviors.
Child Parent Psychotherapy
I have been using Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) for about 10 years with dyads of children ages 0-5 years plus their caregivers/parents. The focus of CPP is to provide littles ones who have experienced trauma the opportunity to process their trauma while being emotionally held by their loved ones. CPP also focuses on providing caregivers with psychoeducation on trauma, child development, plus strengthening their attachment to their child among other great work. CPP is done through creating a narrative of the childs trauma and processing the trauma through play, art, and other child developmentally appropriate activities.
Parent-Child Interaction (PCIT)
I was trained in PCIT about 12 years ago and used with children ages 2-8. What I enjoy about PCIT is seeing the progress that the dyad, child and caregiver/parent, make in treatment inlcuding strengthening the dyads relationship. I enjoy teaching and couching parents with parenting skills that help with their child's behaviors through child lead play. Behaviors that are often focus of this treatment are anger, tantrums, non-compliance, disrespectful behavior, attention seeking behavior, aggression, and destructive behavior.
Eclectic
When working with all my clients my approach is eclectic as I believe that each person is unique and have different energies and needs therefore I tend to use a combination of humanistic, person-centered, strength based and supportive approach. I also tend to use psychodynamic, strength based, motivational interviewing, solution focused, and CBT approaches.