Approach

The relationship between therapist and patient is such a key aspect of therapy. It’s actually been found to be the most important piece of therapy.

In the room I am genuine, relational, warm, and weave in humor and lightness. My goal is to collaboratively make space for your feelings, wants, needs, and goals. I will bring my full self into the room which hopefully allows you to bring your full self into the room.

In my work as a psychologist, I look at how broader contexts and early experiences/relationships impact the present. I also work with individuals on looking at the parts of themselves that they feel frustrated with, and approaching those parts with curiosity, sensitivity, and compassion. And typically my work with my patients involves looking at what they want to leave behind (that they learned along the way) and what they want to take with them moving forward. I integrate different evidence based treatment modalities, such as:

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy 

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

  • Psychodynamic Therapy

  • Biopsychosocial Approach

  • Narrative Therapy

I look forward to creating a space with you, in which you feel supported and empowered as you navigate this period of your life. I'm honored that you're considering entering this relationship with me.

Experience

I earned my Masters of Science and my Doctorate of Clinical Psychology at PGSP-Stanford Psy.D. Consortium. My research focused on burnout and stress within psychology graduate students and stress within the general population. I completed my postdoctoral fellowship at a private practice in the Bay Area. Before that, I completed my predoctoral internship at University of Texas Health Science, San Antonio, during which I worked at different sites including an outpatient clinic and an inpatient unit for a state hospital. I also ate a lot of BBQ.

I have trained in other settings including a university counseling center, Stanford's Division of Child and Adolescents, and a community mental health clinic centered on providing bilingual/bicultural care to Latinos. Working with Latinos feels especially close to my heart given that my parents are from Central America. Before graduate school, I studied art and psychology at San Francisco State University (SFSU). It was there that I learned by way of volunteering with Clínica Martín Baró, a free primary health clinic for the underserved in the Mission, that mental health is not an individual state. My experience helped ground me in that the social and political contexts in which we find ourselves in impact us personally.

I taught at SFSU (Latino Community Mental Health and Latino Family Narratives) for about 3 years and am now working as a Latino focused psychologist at USF.