My education offered me such a great array of knowledge intellectually and personally, with hands on development for my counseling expertise to be a success as well as my own personal growth. I continue my studies to further develop my knowledge and stay informed with the latest both statistical and theoretical information. 

 

I have been in the counseling field since 2001, starting as a residential and non-public school counselor for children and teens in a level 14 setting.  I have had the opportunity throughout the years to work with children, teenagers, and adults in various settings and diverse circumstances. Before receiving my Masters degree in 2008, I was privileged to work in many positions prior due to my qualifications and experience, including alcohol and drug treatment and sexual assault and domestic violence treatment. 

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I truly enjoy what I am doing and do not consider this a “job”, but a fortunate place and position that I have been called to. It is such an honor for me to be able to help individuals, families, children, and couples meet the goals that they want in their lives and help them see what great worth they have now. 

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You will encounter someone who has been said to be compassionate and humble with a good sense of humor and wisdom in many areas. I am motivated to help those in need receive their highest potential and demonstrate this in my personal involvements outside of counseling.

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I value holistic and natural remedies to help with symptoms and just overall continued well-being, but also see the need of medicine as well. I have received training from Dr. Michael Lara and learned about the healing properties of common foods and supplements while reviewing the current scientific literature in support of the medicinal properties of these and other foods that help to treat symptoms of anxiety and depression. I believe God has given us many tools here on earth. 

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I am currently married and have been journeying with him for the past 21 years, while sharing with him the joys and challenges of parenting and homeschooling our two tweens. I lead a mental health consultation group that helps facilitate professional growth, development, and improve decision-making abilities. I am Mexican, Nicaraguan, and Black. I have undergone and recovered from open heart surgery in my young adult years due to a heart anomaly. I lived in the urban area of Los Angeles in my youth and have worked through generational family challenges. I have a good spiritual and culturally aware foundation. I am Christian and attend a local church in Davis. I have received personal counseling as well.

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When I am not doing counseling, I enjoy spending time with my family, teaching, camping, reading books, playing & listening to music, swimming, & kickboxing.

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Are we a good fit?: I do not offer free consultation/'get to know you' hours. Similar to a hospital setting, there is a lot of work involved in creating and obtaining the first appointment. I suggest us talking over the phone and you asking me any important questions you may have during the phone intake. I allow up to 15 minutes for us to have this time. It's also important to note that there are some people I cannot help:

-I do not meet with individuals wanting to do individual counseling due to challenges they are having with their long-term partner. My goal is to see relationships thrive, and at times, individual counseling for these purposes could potentially create more strife in the relationship. I would be happy to see you and your partner for couple's counseling and/or refer you to a colleague willing to see you for individual counseling. If you and your partner are already receiving couple's counseling, at that time I would be willing to see you for individual counseling.

-My approach is solution focused and I value having seen so many people healed and transformed by this approach. If it appears that we are not trying to find and work on solutions to challenges coming up, counseling with me may not be sustainable. I understand that at times the solution is simply just being able to vent and process situations coming up and receive unconditional positive regard.

-I cannot provide crisis care. Crisis care requires 24/7 contact, as well as agreements for an individual to seek out medical and psychiatric treatment often. Individuals who are in crisis are contemplating killing themselves or others and/or have some type of psychosis occurring. I do not provide these services.

-If you are in the mental health field, I understand that it may be difficult to be vulnerable and open up about challenges to another mental health professional for many reasons. I want to meet you where you are at and take things at your pace of comfortability. I would like us to continue to check-in to make sure we are making some forward progress. Again, my approach is solution focused and it may be difficult for me to help you resolve any challenges if there is an ongoing unwillingness to admit and/or see and address those challenges.

-It can often times be counterproductive to receive counsel from several avenues, especially if the recommendations are conflicting. Having additional resources and support outside of our counseling time is very helpful and recommended. If I learn that we are either duplicating services and/or you're receiving conflicting information from another counselor, I would like to process this more with you, and may suggest we discontinue counseling and encourage you to continue with that other resource.

-I only do weekly sessions for new clients. It is not helpful to meet less frequently. Again, my approach is solution focused and it is important to me that I see that we are resolving your challenges adequately.

-Frequent cancellations, whether within the cancellation time-frame or not, will result in either me terminating services or suggesting we move to an 'on-call' basis where you will no longer have a set appointment time, but you can call me when you would like my help for that week and I can let you know if I have any openings.

-Though rare, ruptures in the therapeutic relationship come up. This can happen when, for example, authorities need to be contacted by the therapist when either the client or a known individual is in danger. This can at times create trust issues between the client and therapist. Also at times there might be an offense either the client and/or therapist have while working together. This may be actually beneficial to the healing process; however, if it appears that the offense continues to be an ongoing issue, it might be best to see another therapist. Ethically as therapists we need to consistently assess if we are being effective with the people we are meeting with. If not, it's important to receive counsel from someone else.