About me
I'm always engaged in ongoing exploration and study of what allows us to heal, evolve, and feel more alive. I firmly believe in the human potential to change and grow. Our ability to gain awareness and understand, to take risks and stretch our limits, and to connect to ourselves and others to give and receive love, is all we need to evolve and become more authentic versions of ourselves. This does not mean achieving happiness without pain, but rather to be able to feel the pain of life in a way that allows more space to feel the joy that is available in life. It's up to us to be abe to feel more joy...if we allow ourselves to feel IT ALL. ​
​
My determination in growing as a person and as a professional has led me through a variety of paths. I graduated in clinical psychology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid where I specialized in sexuality and adolescence. Throughout my college years, I studied abroad in Tilburg, The Netherlands, as well as in Bloomington, IL, Chicago, IL, and Albany, NY, in the USA. I completed my doctorate in counseling psychology at the State University of New York at Albany, specializing in family-systems therapy, the therapeutic alliance, attachment, adolescence, cultural conscience, and trauma. My research led me to study and work at the Unidad de Investigación en Intervención y Cuidado Familiar at the Universidad de A Coruña, in Spain, where I learned the clinical and empirical foundations of a strong therapeutic alliance, a crucial element in the outcome of therapy. All of this in the context of the systems we are part of, including our family, our culture, our race/ethnicity, our gender and sexuality, our religion, our diverse capacities, our community, and society as a whole.
​
Once back in the USA, I worked for about 8 years at the Center for Child Health and Resiliency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York, with a holistic focus, offering coordinated medical, mental health, and social services to meet the complex needs of underserved children and families. During my time there, I co-founded the Terra Firma program with pediatrician Dr. Alan Shapiro and lawyer Mr. Brett Stark to offer coordinated medical, mental health and legal services to unaccompanied migrant children. During my years working here, I witnessed the greatest levels of human suffering, as well as the greatest levels of human resilience.
Through the years of therapeutic work with people from all origins, culural backgrounds, socio-economic status, and identities, I increasingly felt the limitations of talk-based therapy. I got involved more and more in trainings on somatic-body psychotherapy and eventually enrolled in 5 years of intensive training at the Institute of Core Energetics in New York. The Core Energetics approach expands on conventional therapy models by integrating the body as a tool and channel for processing emotions, and widening consciousness, energy and spirituality.
​
If you are looking for a change in your experience of life and you are interested in a therapeutic process where all parts of you are allowed, where you can take risks, where you can feel, say, and explore everything you need with unconditional support, contact me.