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Welcome! My name is Paul, and I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor with 20 years of experience in mental health. My background includes working in specialized inpatient care, which gave me the skills to handle any crisis while keeping your treatment safe and grounded. I have a strong passion with working with families, couples, and providing one on one care; aimed at equipping you with the tools to improve communication and build stronger, healthier home dynamics.

I bring more than 20 years of experience supporting children, adolescents, young adults, and families from diverse cultural backgrounds. I received my Master of Social Welfare from UCLA, and my work in group homes, schools, and community-based nonprofits has shaped my understanding of how emotional, academic, cultural, and environmental factors influence well-being.

I specialize in working with Latino and bilingual families, and I strive to create a space where clients feel seen, respected, and understood.

I am so glad that you are here seeking the wellness that you desire and deserve. I have worked in this field a long time. Having received my MSW from Cal Poly Humboldt, the course of study focused on rural and Indigenous communities and was both solution-focused and strength based.

My main treatment method is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy which is aimed at helping people live as full a life as possible regardless of the their circumstances. I also use other method based on the needs of the individual I'm working with. I've been a symphony musician, Navy and hospital chaplain, and began my psychology career at a state hospital. My psychology degree emphasized addiction. Due to my chaplaincy experience, I am naturally open to spiritual and religious pathways to recovery and healing, but only in accordamce with the wishes of the client.

I am the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, a first-generation doctoral student, a sister, an aunt, and a proud dog mom to my 10-year-old German Shepherd, Ivy. My academic path has taken me from Santa Monica College to Loyola Marymount University, where I earned my B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Dance, and later to Pepperdine University’s Aliento Program, where I completed my master’s in Clinical Psychology.

My passion is to expand mental health accessibility and bridge gaps through a Multicultural and Attachment-based framework. Grounded in a community-centered approach, my therapeutic philosophy prioritizes healing and wellness by integrating the arts, education, and culturally attuned practices.

You made it, welcome! I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who came to this work with nearly a decade of crisis intervention experience - the kind of work that teaches you crisis and chaos isn't always an emergency, but often a transformation that needs space to unfold. I earned my degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Depth Psychology, and I've spent my career specializing in the places where high-stakes work meets human breaking points: occupational trauma, moral injury, burnout, and the complex territory of identity and transition.

I work particularly well with people in helping professions -first responders, military, healthcare workers, teachers, therapists, and LGBTQIA+ folks - anyone who's spent years being the capable one, the reliable one, the one who shows up no matter what. My training includes Brainspotting, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), and somatic approaches that work with how trauma actually lives in your body and nervous system, not just in your thoughts.

Here's what matters: I get that asking for help doesn't come naturally when you're supposed to be the strong one. I understand that the hypervigilance that once kept you safe might now be keeping you isolated. And I know that sometimes the hardest part is figuring out who you are when you're not performing competence for everyone else. You don't have to translate your experience into therapy-speak with me, and you definitely don't have to pretend you're more okay than you are.

If you are looking to become a better, happier, and healthier person and would like to gain a deeper understanding and love for yourself and others, I can help you. Psychotherapy can improve the quality of your life and/or manage more serious issues such as depression, anxiety, and grief. The process focuses on comfortably connecting with you in a confidential and empathetic, therapeutic setting.