More About Me
I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #155216) who probably doesn't fit the image that comes to mind when you think of traditional therapy, and that's intentional.
I don't believe therapy works best when one person sits quietly behind a notebook pretending they exist outside the human experience. I'm just a human sitting at my computer across from another human, offering a guiding hand. Just like my clients, I am the culmination of my relationships, experiences, identities, values, and the countless moments that have shaped how I move through the world. Those experiences don't disappear when I step into the therapy room, nor should they. They influence my curiosity, the way I listen, and the compassion I bring into every session.
That doesn't mean therapy becomes about me. The opposite is true.
I believe that bringing my humanity into the room allows us to build something more genuine than the traditional therapist-client dynamic. Therapy isn't about me having all the answers or pretending to be an objective observer looking in on your life. How could I possibly pretend to be the expert on your life? I see therapy as a collaborative relationship between two people. Sure, I bring my training, clinical experience, and perspective, but you bring your lived experience, your strengths, your values, and your expertise on you. I'll meet you there, and we can start building something meaningful together.
Also, there is no one correct way to be.
Much of the pain people carry doesn't come from who they are, it comes from being told, explicitly or implicitly, that they should be someone else. Whether that's your identity, your relationships, your brain, your body, or the way you experience the world, my goal isn't to help you be what your brain thinks you "should be." It's to help you understand yourself more deeply, connect with what matters to you, and build a life that actually feels like yours.
I also believe therapy is inherently political, which may sound scary at first. It's not because sessions are about debating politics. It's because our mental health doesn't exist in a vacuum. The systems we live in, the communities we're part of, and the ways our identities interact with the world all shape how we experience that world. Ignoring those realities doesn't make them disappear. I want therapy to be a place where all of those pieces are welcome, because they're part of your story, and in the space I hold for you, they will not be pushed aside.
Education & Career
My journey into the world of therapy wasn't a straight line. Oddly enough, I started my college career at Cal Poly Pomona as a Fine Arts major. Unfortunately, I lacked any semblance of motivation to go to school at that time, as I was in the beginning of my own mental health journey. I left Cal Poly to go to Citrus Community College and work full time as a physical therapy aid and pediatric caregiver. I didn't know exactly what my future held, but I knew I wanted to help people, and I got a job working with children and teens with neuromotor impairments. I took my time at Citrus College, trying to figure out what exactly I wanted to get a degree in. When I took my first psychology class, I knew therapy was what I wanted to do. That level of motivation was rare for me at the time, so I took it and ran with it.
I worked as a physical therapy aid and caregiver for ten years until I got my BA in psychology after transferring back to Cal Poly Pomona. I then entered the world of behavioral therapy and learned about the nuances of neurodivergence, and how neurodivergent-affirming care was one of the approaches I wanted to take in my future practice. I decided to go back to Cal Poly Pomona, which is where I got my MS in Psychology. During that time, I had my clinical training at the LGBTQ Center of Orange County, and I have done crisis intervention work with the neurodivergent community in the Inland Empire since then as well. These experiences have uniquely equipped me with the tools and passions I have to work with these communities now!
Identity
Most therapists spend years developing their own therapeutic style and presence. Along the way, many of us are taught that therapy works best when the therapist remains something of a "blank slate" for the client. While I think that idea has value in certain contexts, I don't believe it's the only or even the best way to build a meaningful therapeutic relationship. I also believe that sharing a little about myself helps create the kind of relationship where openness feels a little safer. If I'm asking you to show up honestly, it feels only fair that I do the same. So, before asking you to be vulnerable with me, I wanted to share a little about myself first.
I am a mixed Latino and White, neurodivergent (ADHD/Dyslexia), queer, gender-weird man(?), with several "invisible" physical disabilities. My lived experience as someone who has simultaneously experienced marginalization and profound privilege in various ways has given me a unique perspective on the world and how it can be experienced in different ways. My own identity has shaped the communities I'm most passionate about working with. When I think back to earlier versions of myself, I often wonder how different things might have felt if I'd had someone who not only accepted me, but genuinely understood parts of my experience without needing them explained first. I can't rewrite my own story, but I can try to be that person, or at least one of those people, for someone else.
Values
I believe people deserve the freedom to make informed decisions about their own bodies, identities, relationships, and lives. I believe that disability, neurodivergence, body size, race, gender, sexuality, and other parts of who we are should never determine our worth or whether we deserve dignity, respect, or access to care.
I believe our systems are imperfect, and that many of the struggles people bring into therapy are shaped not just by individual experiences, but by the world they have to navigate every day. That includes barriers to healthcare, discrimination, poverty, ableism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and countless other forms of oppression that don't disappear when someone walks into a therapy session.
I also believe that people deserve agency. Whether that's making decisions about their healthcare, finding community through a diagnosis (or self-diagnosis), reducing harm instead of chasing perfection, or defining what a meaningful life looks like for themselves, I trust people to know their own lives better than anyone else.
I don't expect my clients to share all of my beliefs. Curiosity goes both ways. If you ever have questions about where I stand or how my values influence my work, I'm always happy to have that conversation.
The Good Stuff
This is the section where I share some things about myself that nobody asked for!
The two dogs that run my home (see picture) are named Thea (brown) and Recky (white). They love to stage the occasional cameo during sessions, especially Thea. They are both mixed husky rescues with some health challenges. They love walkies, pools/beaches, and digging through my trash when they catch me slipping.
My biggest hobby is playing video games (PS5). I'm a big fan of fantasy RPGs, my favorites being: Kingdom Hearts (2 is the best), Dragon Age, and Baldur's Gate. When I feel like things are going particularly well for me, I sometimes like to ruin it with a good souls-borne game.
I love to travel but have not traveled enough (will it ever be enough?). I value opportunities to experience other cultures, and I am trying (failing) to lean more into nature recently, so that kind of travel is on the agenda!
More often than traveling, but less often than video games, I like to go to festivals or concerts where I can connect with people and dance with strangers and loved ones. My particular brand of neurospicy calls for a lot of movement to meet my sensory needs, even when I have to allow my body to slow me down.