Name pronunciation: S-te-van [Click here to listen]

I believe it’s important you know a bit about me and how I started this therapy journey so we’re not full strangers when we work together!

I became a therapist because I knew I wanted to provide space for others, but I was not sure in what way just yet. I started going to therapy for the first time back in my undergrad at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, as it was a time where I felt overwhelmed by my own experiences of self-worth (if you’re first-gen, you might understand this), was physically distant from my familial and platonic relationships from moving, and truly began exploring my queer identity. It took me some time to find the groove of what I wanted from my own therapy experience to be, but the concept of being with a person that expressed their empathy to me and held space for others was fascinating. My therapy experience shaped the way in what I wanted to become, and that is when I started studying more on how I could make my therapist dreams a reality.

During grad school and post-grad life, I began discovering how important relational work was for me, especially as I began to unpack how my identities and cultures shaped the ways I felt disconnected from community. I also began playing around with the idea of inner parts that make me who I am. Through IFS work, I met my perfectionistic part- the part that believes failure is not an option. My anticipatory grief part- the one that constantly fears losing loved ones. And my 8 year old child part, who felt out of place in the world and found comfort playing Pokémon alone. I still speak to my parts regularly, and I’ve made it a part of my practice to help others build their outer and inner relationships too.

We all go through different struggles in our journeys. Sometimes they’re brought to us by system forces in our community, systems in our political climate, people in our familial and close relationships, and within our own inner parts waiting to fully work as a team. We are all working pieces, and through therapy we will grow something more whole, together!