Thank you for taking time to learn more about me!

As the daughter of Salvadoreño immigrants, I always understood the complexities of trauma and its effects on individuals and families. There is opportunity for change in every generation and in every human interaction - that is information that I carry with me in my professional life and personal life, as I am also the co-leader of a multicultural family.

Throughout my life, I have belonged everywhere and nowhere, and I learned to appreciate all of me, to live life on my own terms and help others do the same. In 2009, I began working with children and families who experienced trauma. After obtaining a Master in Social Work in 2013, and helping families reunify as a social worker in South Los Angeles, I recognized the lack of quality mental health services available for people of color and decided to get trained in evidence based practices.

Today, I am trained in: Managing and Adapting Practice (children and adolescents), Incredible Years (children), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (adults), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (skills group for adolescents). I have been in private practice since 2022.

I’m fluent in Spanish and I enjoy traveling and learning languages (French, Portuguese, German, Hebrew). In my free time, I like hiking, dancing, reading the news (especially good news), learning about history and cultures, trying to play instruments, and finding humor wherever I can.

I love learning! Here are my most recent trainings:

• Othering & Belonging Institute - Trainings on Bridging, Othering & Belonging

• Alma - Culturally Responsive Mental Health Care in Immigrant Communities

• Mental Health Technology Transfer Center Network - Healing School Communities in the Context of Faith-Based Bullying

Organizations I where I have volunteered, worked, or had affiliation in last 15 years:

• Advisory Board Chair, Olamim (current)

• Fellow, Jewtina (current)

• Child & Adolescent Therapist Peer Consultation Group Lead, Alma (current)

• Member, Therapists of Color (Bay Area) (current)

• School Based Therapist, Children’s Institute, Inc.

• Advisory Board Member, Intro to Judaism, American Jewish University

• Program Coordinator, Alliance for Children’s Rights

• Jeremiah Fellow & Affordable Housing Committee Member, Bend the Arc

• Volunteer, Minyan Tzedek Ikar & LA Voice

• Student, UCLA Extension Nonprofit Management

• Children’s Social Worker, Lead Facilitator for Pregnant & Parenting Teen trainings, & Intern, Department of Children & Family Services

• Co-Chair, Latin Social Work Caucus, USC

• Principal Investigator, Evaluation of the Effectiveness of MSW Public Child Welfare Training

• Youth Development Services Intern, Para Los Niños

• Guardianship Clinic Assistant, Children Rights Project of Public Counsel