Services

I am bilingual in Spanish and specialize with children, adolescents, and adults with depression, anxiety, divorce (blended families), stress, family dynamics issues, and relationship difficulties. Change is most possible when working with clients in a collaborative way. Thus, through acceptance and positive regard, clients don't feel so alone in their experience.

Therapy/counseling is nothing to be afraid of. Think about it. You get advice from your parents, your friends, other family members -- the only difference here is that you will be talking to a non-judgmental person; someone who has nothing vested in the decisions you make only with great passion and conviction my aspiration is to help you feel better and make better decisions.

If you are a victim of child abuse, domestic violence, molestation, assault, rape, a family member of a murdered loved one, among many other violent crimes, you may qualify for free therapy through California's Victims of Crime Program. You may contact me for further infomation. Some of the requirements which must be met in order to qualify for the VOC program are: you have to be a victim, or a family member of the victim and
a police report must have been filed. You must be willing to cooperate with law enforcement regarding your case. www.VCGCB.CA.GOV

Anxiety

Has this ever happen to you. Suddenly you are somewhere, the mall, the store, a friends home, even at you own home and you begin feeling your heart beating faster, you start sweating uncontrollable, you have a hard time breathing. The worst part is you don’t know why this is happening. Anxiety is something that we have all experienced at one time or another and a little anxiety never hurt anyone. But too much anxiety can interfere with your ability to function in the everyday world, and may have harmful consequences on your body.

Through therapy you will learn to recognize the signs of anxiety before they get worse. You will learn how to control your breathing and will be able to calm down and relax before your anxiety gets the best of you.

Depression

Feeling sad and don’t know why? Having a hard time waking up in the morning? Not feeling motivated to go to work or school? Are your friends inviting you to go places and you just don’t feel like going every time they ask? Do your moods fluctuate? If you answered yes to most of these questions then you might be depressed. Depression is more than just suffering from a bad mood. It can affect just about everything you do, from how you sleep at night to how well you perform your job or school work. It can affect your relationships with others and it can make you isolate from others.

Through therapy you will learn how to cope with your depression. The cause of depression can vary for each person. It could be your job, family, or sometimes people are just not happy with themselves. Learning to love yourself, becoming physically active, eating healthy, and sleeping regularly can help in combating depression. Sometimes medication is needed to assist a person in improving their mood and help them feel better. Every person is different and will require different treatment methods to assist them in combating their depression.

Relationships/Couples

Problems with your spouse, girlfriend/boyfriend, lover, or friend can cause many problems in your day to day life. You find yourself going to work or school and all you can think about is what happen the night before when you had that blow out or the conversation that you had on the phone. You start thinking “Oh, I should have said….” or “What does it mean when they said ….”. A lot of times relationship problems are simple created through miscommunication and not listening to each other. The two of you are talking or yelling and you say you hear each other’s point but you get so caught up on what you want out of the argument or discussion that you are really not hearing what the other person wants or needs.

Doing this only creates more tension and leads to more arguments. A lot of times the same issue seems to rear its ugly head. The reason this happens is because it’s an issue that has not been resolved and it is something that one or both of you are still concerned about. By coming to therapy the two of you will learn to communicate with each other better and both of you will improve on your listening skills. The issue/problem will be discussed in a healthy and safe manner with me mediating, so that both of you will be heard, until a compromise and agreement is made.        

Teens/Adolescence

Adolescence is a time of discovery, rebellion, and growth. Mistakes (or learning experiences as I call it) are often made at this time, relationships with parents distance, and friends take precedent over everything. Parents have a hard time controlling and understanding their adolescent and adolescents have a hard time understanding their parents. They want their independence and freedom but still need boundaries and rules. Parents struggle with whether they should be their friend or their biggest enemy. All these things can cause hurt and confusion for both the adolescent and parents.  

In counseling the adolescent is free to express their feelings of everything that they are going through at the time. They will have someone they can confide in regarding the issues between their friends, parents, and personal issues or questions they may have. Depending on each situation and the needs of each family the adolescent’s parents can be included. An adolescent and their parent do not necessarily need to understand each other but at least need to come to an understanding of how to communicate with one another in appropriate and respectful way.