(Eye-eeks-uh Don-ez)

Have you felt overwhelmed by emotions that you find yourself unable to verbalize what they are and cry or panic in replacement of it? Do you reminisce on the past, moments that you wish you could “go back in time and do differently with what you know now?”. Or perhaps felt invalidated by those around you because communication is difficult or even scary. As a POC, I know deeply what it means and feels like to be taught to hide your emotions and reactions for the sake of family or experience the silent and suffocating rules and expectations that were placed on me. Together, we can talk about how those expectations and rules influenced us and utilize skills to verbalize our once-impossible emotions.

Don’t worry–finding a new therapist can feel awkward at first, and all of this is normal. Let us celebrate that you took the time and energy to seek someone for guidance and support! I would love to be that companion with you on your budding journey to authenticity, wholeness, and happiness.

Experience

What does being a “trauma-focused therapist” mean? It means that I work with you to recognize and process how traumatic experiences throughout your life have impacted your mental, emotional, behavioral, physical, and spiritual well-being. This is rooted in the understanding of how these traumatic experiences have forged and influenced our emotional and behavioral responses. Our goal is to create healthier responses and relationships towards ourselves. I understand the shame and confusion that occurs when you experience such symptoms with zero guidance or support to help ease them. 

Utilizing strengths-based methods, I work with clients to explore their inner child, inner teenager, and emerging adult to give space and speak to these traumas that we were never allowed or felt safe enough to do. Perhaps you have felt that quiet pressure from the cultural/tradition of the household that are “expected to move on, and be the bigger person.” As the second oldest/middle child of Puerto Rican parents, I have the awareness and empathetic understanding of the impact of the Silent Rules, Silent Expectations, and pressure to please your elders at the cost of your autonomy. This creates a co-dependency behavior with not only the family but with other relationships in our lives to maintain the identity our culture/family has created. 

My experience is geared towards emerging and young adults who are BIPOC-LGBTQ+ and ranges from anxiety/depression to navigating relationships, family dynamics, life transitions/life changes, and codependency. As a strengths-based therapist, I utilize Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Shadow Work. My goals with my clients are to create a space where we can feel safe to verbalize our emotions and develop skills to both manage our emotions as well as feel and name them. During our time together, we will strive to interrupt generation trauma, unhealthy behaviors, and patterns, find autonomy in ourselves as the “adult-child” of a Black or Brown parent, relationship exploration, and codependency/cultural codependency experiences. 

If you resonate with this, I would be honored to be part of this journey with you. You won’t have to be alone in this anymore. We got this together.

BONUS:

To break some of the ice, I would love to know a fun fact about you or something you love to do! This can be something you love to do as self-care, a favorite TV show or movie, a hobby you have, or a book/series. My self-care involves painting in traditional and digital mediums, going to the gym (after years of avoiding it - big win!), and shopping. My favorite TV show is Arcane at the moment, my favorite underrated anime is Revolutionary Girl Utena, and I love metal and bachata music. Also, pineapple does not belong on pizza but feel free to convince me otherwise. I look forward to learning more about you!

Licensure

As a Clinical Fellow, I am gaining the necessary experience and supervision to obtain my clinical license (LCPC). I am working under the supervision of Brooke Blankenship, LCPC.