About Me
20 year journey of personal healing
My pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a cis-female, bisexual, first-generation Latina/e, and single mother to a magical and extraordinary queer teen son who affectionately calls me a “hippie”! I was raised in the suburbs about 40 minutes north of Manhattan but have called North Carolina my home since 2007. I completed my undergraduate and graduate work in the State University of New York Systems and hold a NC license in Marriage and Family Therapy since 2011. I spent my early career in residential, inpatient and outpatient settings focusing on issues of anxiety, depression, loss, addiction, trauma, stress reduction and navigating life transitions. The foundation of my philosophy rests on the early theories developed by Alfred Adler, Carl Jung and Carl Rogers. More recently, I have been influenced by contemporaries such as Gabor Maté, Ramani Durvasula, Terry Real, and Pete Walker. Please check out my “resources” page for more inspiration.
However, nothing has taught me more than my 20 years of doing my own personal healing journey. My heart and spirit are called to do this transformational work within. It is the vehicle that informs me in my work as a therapist. I stay close to what my own recovery has taught me including experiences of parenthood, divorce, relationships, career-life, sexuality, spirituality, and embodiment. I live unapologetically as a flawed human who has learned to navigate the challenges in life with a deep sense of compassion toward the different parts of self.
I have a deep respect for individuals who can show up in their lives as best as they can, sometimes disheartened and alone, but still with a glimmer of hope for finding and speaking their truth, remembering their power, and trying to heal. It takes an extraordinary amount of courage to stay “open” despite the hardships that life presents. If we work together, I am deeply honored to walk that path with you for however long is necessary to see you live a life of passion.
Therapeutic Approach:
For me, the therapeutic process is collaborative and alive. I am naturally a very [ethically] curious, compassionate and empathetic person. I am interested in learning your story and what you want to accomplish during our work together. My intention is to empower and create/hold space for you and your process.
I am a combination of humanistic and psychoanalytic therapist. I also throw in some CBT for good measure. I help individuals fully embrace who they are, find freedom, heal, and thrive. Generally speaking, my clinical approach is influenced by several frameworks including Internal Family Systems (parts work). It is a gentle, integrative way to examine how we operate and how heart-wounding experiences (such as loss/trauma) show up in our relationships, beliefs, emotions, thoughts, and body. “Parts work” empowers us to compassionately connect with and relate with those parts.
In working with someone, I also consider how your current life circumstances is impacted by societal/cultural conditioning, current relationships, childhood and past trauma/loss that lives in our body. In short, I view the work through a holistic lense. Meaning that well-being comes from integrating the body-mind-spirit. We have an innate and biological reflex to protect ourselves from experiences that are/were not always safe. There is great wisdom in that intuitive reaction. However, it unconsciously “walls off” parts of us, and over time, we adopt patterns that no longer serve us. With that lense of admiration, together, I hope to help you uncover, express and integrate those parts and bring more fluidity, joy and peace into your life. In that awareness, we awaken to new possibilities and practice alternative paths toward healing. We come home to our true nature: ourselves, all parts.
Practice focus areas:
- Life Transitions
- Spirituality exploration/Mysticism
- Trauma including sexual trauma, religious indoctrination/abuse.
- Grief and loss
- Narcissistic abuse recovery
- Stress Management
- Relationships to self and others
- Identity exploration (racial, sexual, cultural, ancestral, etc.)
- Compulsive eating behaviors
- Anxiety
- Supplemental 12-Step Support
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
– Carl Jung
More thoughts…
Collaboration: I enjoy collaborating with individuals of diverse racial, gender, cultural, spiritual and backgrounds. I provide a safe place for the LGBTQIA+/QTBIPOC/BIPOC communities and welcome those who want to explore sexuality and sexual histories. This is a dynamic process and hope you will consider alternative ways to approach your challenges. I will encourage you to be patient with yourself and the process.
My holistic orientation to healing:
In my unconventional approach to mental health, I consider all aspects of your whole being: emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual needs. Nothing operates in a vacuum. It is my belief that our infinitely intelligent bodies are a key to our healing and living open-hearted. The body is speaking to us all the time. It is a life force within that is made for expansion and needs further expression; it is our teacher. However, it is not always easy to identify what it is saying and we may not have the practice. By way of conditioning, our culture today silences the inner wisdom. So naturally, we have moved away from spirituality, mysticism, nature or alternative medicine as forms of healing and leaned a bit too heavily on western medicine. It is my humble belief that there are many paths to healing, and often includes a unique combination of many practices which change over time. Additionally, we were made for connection, not only to ourselves but with others and the world we live in. I have seen individuals transformed as they begin to wake up to their own needs, a connection with nature and community, and their need for a healing community. Humanity is part of a greater collective and there is a movement where more and more individuals are waking up to that reality. If this is a new concept to you, that is perfectly okay! If there is a curiosity that bubbles up, perhaps it is speaking to you as well.