Having my degree in counseling, a license, advanced training in trauma, and other credentials can only do so much - it makes it possible for me to work as a professional and help clients just like you. However, the amount of understanding, patience, compassion, and guidance I bring to my work is greatly increased by having gone through my fair share of life experiences and undergone my own healing first.
I was born and raised in a small mountain town in Madrid, Spain, and immigrated to the United States when I was 17 years old. As I started healing from my own wounds in therapy, I felt moved to pass on the gift and used my spare time volunteering in multiple support groups to help individuals heal from abusive and traumatic experiences, eating disorders and addictions. Working in corporate at the time, I felt drawn to counseling by the impact healing had on individuals moving from a life of isolation and stress to purposeful and meaningful.
I decided to pursue a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Colorado Denver. As I was completing my studies, I served as the Director of the Auraria Recovery Community, an organization dedicated to supporting individual recover from substance and behavioral addictions. My involvement with the recovery community instilled in me a “meet you where you are'' approach and highlighted the importance of flexibility in my work with others. Additional training at the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute on Trauma taught me to work holistically, considering mind, body and spirit in context and relationship, rather than work with these elements in isolation.
I find it important that my therapeutic interventions are influenced by approaches that I have seen work on myself and others - but more importantly - that are backed up by research. I pursued further training on Prolonged Exposure, an evidence-based treatment that has years of proven results producing symptom improvement.
As a member and leader of the support group called Adult Children of Alcoholics, I was involved in the creation of the Loving Parent Guidebook. This book encourages readers to nurture their inner child and recover dissociated parts of themselves long lost to trauma in the format of a workbook. This work was done as an invested donation therefore I do not profit from the sales of this book. Some clients opt to work through this workbook as part of their treatment plan during our time together as a powerful change agent.
I am a wife, daughter, and mom to a furry 90lb dog, and spend most of my free time entertaining, hiking, skiing, and most importantly - nourishing my relationships with family and friends. But my own work is not done! Having close relationships in my life provide an abundance of opportunities for continued healing. I prioritize my mental health to ensure I am showing up for the people I love, myself and my clients.
