I'm someone who finds joy in dancing until my soul feels free, hiking mountain trails that ground me in something bigger than myself, and collecting languages like treasures—each one revealing new ways humans experience emotion and meaning. Speaking English, Spanish, Swedish, and Dutch isn't just professional; it's pure curiosity about how different cultures hold pain and create healing. Travel feeds my spirit, though now it's about genuine exploration rather than escape, and every country teaches me something new about human resilience. This love for movement, languages, and cultural exploration deeply informs my work with complex PTSD. Having lived in four countries myself—Ecuador, Sweden, the Netherlands, and now Spain—I understand the exhaustion of constantly translating yourself, the loneliness of being "between worlds," and the beautiful complexity of carrying multiple cultural identities. My professional journey has become a fascinating exploration of how trauma manifests across cultures. Starting in Ecuador's forensic psychology system, I worked at the intersection of trauma and justice, seeing how unhealed wounds perpetuate cycles of harm. In the Netherlands, youth crisis intervention and addiction treatment showed me how early wounds manifest in teenagers and adults desperately seeking relief. Each role revealed something new about resilience and recovery. Working in Dutch youth clinics with teenagers in crisis, I was struck by their fierce vulnerability—simultaneously pushing everyone away while desperately needing connection. The addiction treatment centres taught me how substances become bridges between unbearable feelings and temporary relief. Moving to Spanish trauma centres, I finally found my calling working specifically with complex PTSD, recognising the intricate patterns I'd studied both professionally and personally. I genuinely understand complex PTSD because I've lived it—growing up with domestic chaos and emotional dysregulation, I learned early that survival meant constant adaptation and hypervigilance. Like many with complex trauma, my pattern became fleeing to new places whenever staying felt too overwhelming. What I discovered across four countries is that wherever you go, your nervous system comes with you—but so does your capacity for healing. What drives my work is witnessing transformation—that incredible moment when someone realises they're not broken, just beautifully adaptive. When hypervigilance transforms into awareness, when people-pleasing gives way to authentic connection, and when survival mode gives way to genuine thriving. I've seen it happen countless times, and it never gets old. My training reflects this integrated approach: I hold EMDR certification from the London Centre of EMDR for processing stuck memories, EFT for attachment healing, and ACT for psychological flexibility, as well as ongoing Somatic Experiencing certification, because our bodies hold wisdom that our minds often miss. Three master's degrees in Clinical Psychology, Legal and Forensic Psychology, and Victimology provide the academic foundation, but lived experience adds the depth that makes a real connection possible. My multicultural background gives me unique insight into identity formation and cultural adaptation. This linguistic curiosity deeply informs my work with multicultural clients navigating identity across borders, as I understand how certain feelings can only be expressed in specific languages and how each culture carries a distinct emotional landscape. What motivates me daily is curiosity about human resilience. How do we heal? What helps nervous systems feel safe again? How do we transform survival strategies into thriving skills? These questions drive both my clinical work and personal growth, creating this beautiful feedback loop where every client teaches me something new about recovery. I chose this work because transformation fascinates me—not just individual healing, but how that ripples out to relationships, families, communities. There's something profound about helping someone reclaim their authentic self after years of survival mode. Every breakthrough reminds me why this matters: we're not just healing individuals, we're breaking generational cycles and creating more compassionate ways of being human. This integration of professional expertise, multicultural perspective, and genuine curiosity about healing creates the foundation for my trauma-informed approach. I bring both clinical skills and authentic understanding to every therapeutic relationship, because real healing happens in genuine connection.
I'm the therapist who'll meet you exactly where you are—no judgment, just real talk and more profound healing. My approach blends evidence-based trauma therapies with the wisdom that your body holds the answers your mind is searching for. We start with nervous system regulation because trying to think your way out of trauma is like trying to reason with a smoke alarm while the house is on fire—your body needs to feel safe before your mind can process anything. My Holistic Approach - Making You Whole Again A holistic approach means to "make whole." When you come to me exhausted from being perpetually "on guard," disconnected from yourself, stuck in survival mode, we don't just look at "the problem." We explore all of you—your body holding trauma, relationships mirroring old patterns, environment triggering you, culture that shaped you, and worldview framing everything. You're not broken—you're fragmented. Complex trauma splits us into parts: the people-pleaser who can't say no, the part that shuts down when overwhelmed, the hypervigilant scanner always looking for danger, the part yearning for connection but fearing abandonment. My role is helping you integrate these aspects, making your internal system "whole" again. My Integrative Approach: I blend EMDR to process trapped memories and calm anxious brains, Somatic Experiencing to rebuild your body's capacity for safety and aliveness, Emotion-Focused Therapy to transform overwhelming feelings into understood needs, and ACT to help you take meaningful action even when depression whispers "why bother?" Each modality serves a specific purpose in your healing journey. The Power of Resourcing (Somatic Experiencing): Before diving into difficult memories, we build resources—felt experiences of safety that your nervous system has forgotten. This isn't just relaxation techniques; it's rewiring your capacity for regulation: For anxiety: We find calm islands in your body where anxiety doesn't live, discovering what genuine settling feels like versus fake calm. For depression: We reconnect with micro-moments of pleasure when everything feels numb, teaching your system to recognise aliveness again. For trauma: We build your capacity to hold complex sensations without complete overwhelm, creating a larger "container" for healing. We discover what feels genuinely good in your body, create embodied anchors for when panic rises, and teach your nervous system to pendulate between activation and settling. We go slow to go fast—rushing trauma healing usually backfires. The Power of Emotions (Emotion-Focused Therapy): Your emotions aren't the problem—they're messengers about unmet needs. Through EFT, we decode what they're really telling you: Anxiety: That racing heart might be unexpressed anger about violated boundaries or grief about the safety you never had. We locate where anxiety lives in your body and discover what it's protecting. Depression: Under that numbness often lies rage with nowhere to go, unwitnessed grief, or dangerous disappointment from childhood. We gently awaken buried emotions to restore your natural aliveness. Trauma responses: We differentiate between defensive emotions (anger that pushes people away) and primary emotions that need healing (the hurt underneath the rage). EMDR for Memory Processing: When your nervous system is well-resourced and emotions are accessible, EMDR helps process the stuck memories that fuel current symptoms. Unlike talk therapy, EMDR allows your brain's natural healing mechanism to work, often bringing rapid relief from intrusive thoughts, nightmares, and emotional reactivity. ACT for Living Your Values: All this inner work serves one purpose—helping you live authentically. ACT teaches psychological flexibility: how to have complex thoughts and feelings without being controlled by them, how to take meaningful action aligned with your values even when anxiety screams "danger." I'm funny, blunt, and will call out your patterns with love—because sometimes we need someone to lovingly say, "Hey, you're doing that thing again where you abandon yourself to keep others comfortable." Sessions are collaborative; your body's wisdom guides us, not some rigid treatment manual. This isn't about "fixing" you—it's about remembering who you were before trauma taught you that being yourself was dangerous. We're not just healing symptoms; we're helping you reclaim your authentic self and relearn to trust your inner compass.