Imagine a room that is chaotic, the floor is covered with books, paper, clothes, trash, toys, equipment, and you forgot what the rug underneath looks like. Then you get a last second notice that someone is coming over to visit you. So, what do you do? You stuff everything in the closet and hope that it doesn’t open. After the visit, the closet, which is filled to the brim, explodes sending everything back on the floor into the same chaos. What would preparations for the guest be like if you had taken the time to put the toys in their toy box, trash in the trash can, filed books and papers, and properly stowed the equipment? Easier I bet. Imagine that this is a metaphor for the chaos in your mind caused by your mental health disorder and the avoidance that you practice to not cope. What would life be like if you processed the chaos?
Fearless Anxiety Bully Chaser During the Day + User of Evidence-Based Treatment = Facilitator of Peace of Mind
That’s me, the therapist that treats anxiety-related disorders by day, and mother and wife by night. I am passionate about what I do, and I love guiding people through their therapeutic journey. Yes, I love my job, and I love seeing clients have that “Aha” moment when it all clicks.
Early on I learned that all the training in the world didn’t mean a thing if I didn’t have a solid relationship with my clients. What’s the point? There is no trust, comfort, and feelings of safety with a bad therapeutic relationship. That’s why the relationship is my priority. Therapy is not meant to be a permanent solution in most cases, and I believe that with a lot of work, albeit challenging work, we can achieve the peace and the growth that my clients seek.
My practice is predominantly focused on anxiety-based disorders such as PTSD, OCD, General Anxiety and Social Anxiety, but I work with other afflictions such as mood disorders, personality disorders, and simple and complex cases successfully.
Practicing since 2017, I knew early on that I wanted to work with PTSD and started working with active-duty military with combat and non-combat PTSD. I learned Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), which are evidence-based, and which are two of the first-line treatments used by the Department of Veteran Affairs, Department of Defense, and the civilian community to treat PTSD. I have been treating PTSD and other afflictions since those days with the active-duty military with a combination of PE or CPT and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).
Then I had an epiphany that I wanted to broaden my scope to anxiety-based disorders, so I learned how to treat OCD, and general and social anxiety. I attended training for Pediatric and Adult OCD treatment through BTTI, the training arm of the International OCD Foundation. My repertoire expanded to include CBT-based treatments to include exposure treatment for anxiety-based disorders such as Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), the gold standard for treating OCD.
My Master’s in Guidance and Counseling is from Texas A&M San Antonio, and I have an undergrad in Spanish from Florida State University. Go Noles!! I gained my initial experience in 2016, with a practicum at San Antonio College in their counseling department where I worked with complex and simple cases.
My theoretical orientation is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), but I draw from Solution Focused (SF) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).
All this time, I have been practicing at a private practice group, AMA Behavioral Therapy, which consists of like-minded therapists with the same passions. Now I practice in English and Spanish to treat individuals and groups focusing mainly on children, adolescents, and adults.
This is what my office looks like when you come in!
