Areas of Specialty

I primarily take a collaborative approach to counseling because I believe that true healing comes from within people – I am there to help you find your path and the means to become who you are meant to be. I use an IFS (internal family systems) framework, which views people as consisting of many parts, and we’ll work together to identify, heal, and align those parts. I also try to meet my clients wherever they are. Working with kids usually involves play therapy, building trust, and some advice and coping skills, while working with adults is more cognitive, values-based, and future-oriented.

I wish people understood that therapy is a tool to become a better version of yourself, and it is not a prescription to “fix you.” In other words, you do not need a diagnosis or a missing part to go to therapy. Anyone looking for a concrete improvement in communication skills, emotional processing, cognitive processing, or adjusting to a new stage of life can benefit from counseling. An analogy is going to the gym: many people are afraid to go to the gym because they may be overweight or too weak to impress other people, but in reality, other people are impressed simply because you’re going and wanting to improve yourself. Therapy can be an extremely important step in helping yourself.

The thing I enjoy most about being a therapist is when a client has a realization and something “clicks” in their head. Sometimes this happens when I ask a really good question they’ve never considered but gets at the heart of a matter, or sometimes it happens when a client is processing something that happened in the past or talking to one of their parts and realizing something from the past was hurt and swept under the rug. There’s a spark in the eyes and a snapping-to in the posture, which I think shows someone eager for change, and now well-equipped to do it.

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and four children. We go camping, visiting many of the state parks and national parks in Texas (Dinosaur Valley and Big Bend are our favorites so far). My wife and I love to dance salsa, bachata, and merengue. In my own free time, I enjoy playing basketball, biking, reading, and playing board games. I have too many favorite books to pick one, but The Lord of the Rings, Till We Have Faces, and Fahrenheit 451 are three that I’ve read multiple times.

I work with people of all ages and backgrounds. I can help two particular populations that are underserved: men and Spanish-speakers. Part of my inspiration for becoming a counselor is to help men with men’s issues, and I am fluent in Spanish. For my whole adult life, I’ve worked with children in education. I’d be honored to help anyone looking to improve their life and learn about themselves.

I offer individual, adult, child, and couples counseling services. I am trained in IFS (Internal family systems) therapy, EMDR, ADHD, and CBT therapy. IFS is a therapeutic lens to view the self and investigate hurt parts of yourself, then to heal and integrate those parts. EMDR is a trauma- focused therapy that incorporates bilateral movement as the means to aid trauma processing. With children, I take a play-therapy approach and often apply my work in education with students of many various learning differences.