About Me
I am a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist who believes in every person's capacity to heal and grow. In my practice, I have been a companion to children, teens, and adults who have powerful stories to tell. Sometimes these stories are rooted in histories of complex trauma and emotional pain, experiences of physical, sexual, psychological abuse, new inquiries into Self and identity, or the ever-shifting journey of being in relationship with one’s own dynamic body. Practicing from relational, psychodynamic, and body-centered frameworks, I am passionate about providing conscious and affirming care to people across a vast spectrum of age, identity, and experience. Throughout my career, I have intentionally studied and specialize in the treatment of complex trauma and dissociation, emphasizing approaches that seek to reunite mind and body—psyche and soma. At the heart of my work, I believe in listening to and learning from the unique wisdom of every person’s experience, expressed through their body, psyche, and inner emotional world, as they work to uncover new pathways to healing and wholeness. I love to make music, work in my garden, and wander in nature with loved ones. I am a person of Mexican-American heritage who is bilingual in Spanish.
Education and Training
SPECIALIZED TRAINING
The Body and Trauma
Traumatic Stress and The Breath: The Murmuration Model of Adaptive Behaviors, Jennifer Snowdon and Laura Beth Wenger, 2023
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 2 Certification: Emotional Processing, Meaning Making, and Attachment Repair, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 2020
Foundations of Dance Movement Therapy, Embodied Education Institute of Chicago, 2019
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Level 1 Certification: Affect Dysregulation, Survival Defenses, and Traumatic Memory, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, 2018
Experiential Anatomy and Kinesiology, Embodied Education Institute of Chicago, 2018
Trauma and the Relationship
2-year seminar in the treatment of Dissociative Identity Disorder, Janet Migdow, PhD, 2023-ongoing
Advanced Trauma Consultation Training Program, Year 6, Womencare Counseling Center, 2024-ongoing
Advanced Trauma Consultation Training Program, Years 3-5 Womencare Counseling Center, 2021-2024
Trauma Consultation Training Program, Years 1 & 2, Womencare Counseling Center, 2019-2021
EDUCATION
State of Illinois Clinical License : 149.017358
Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis Fellow, 2013-2018
Master of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2013
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, DePaul University, 2009
