Our Team

As a therapist, my framework reflects the lessons I’ve learned through my own journey of marginalization and living in oppressive systems. On that foundation, I’ll support you in recognizing your experiences of marginalization and oppression as facets of the systems we live in rather than personal failures.

I’m proudly from Los Angeles, CA (in the Long Beach area) and have lived in Chicago for four years. I’m a black and Mexican nonbinary person with over 9 years of mental health practice experience, mostly with other black and brown queer and trans young people. Initially, I was told by supervisors to never reveal any part of myself to clients because it would make the therapy session too much about me. But over time, I’ve learned that if I treat the therapeutic relationship like a true relationship, it’s important to show up authentically. This means I express my feelings and thoughts about what you’re experiencing in addition to inviting you to do the same. Therapy can be scary for people new to it, and my goal is to be relatable and approachable.

I use an anti-racist and anti-oppressive framework to guide my practice. This means recognizing that racism, homophobia, transphobia, poverty, and more impact our mental health and translate into trauma, stress, anxiety, and depression. In my work, I’ve learned that therapy is not THE answer to these problems, but rather one tool of support. No amount of therapy we do together can undo oppression, unfortunately. But I truly believe in the transformative power of relationships, and I trust in therapeutic space to introduce new ways to work through problems and give you support to face them.

In terms of what we do in the therapeutic space, I focus mainly on relationships and stories. I use a narrative and family systems approach, which means I’m interested in how we as individuals are a combination of the relationships, larger social systems, and social narratives we grow up in. It is through storytelling, creating counternarratives, showing care, and identifying safe and trusting relationships that I help you understand yourself.