From a calling at 13 to twenty years in the room.
My calling found me at 13, but the path to this work was anything but a straight line. It took two countries, rebuilding my credentials in the U.S., and one approach I could never let go of.
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13 Peru
It started as a calling.
My path into psychology started early, when I was 13 years old, and I never let go. Even back then, I was the friend people came to when something felt heavy or confusing, the person who could sit with it, listen closely, and keep company. By the time I finally took that psychology class in high school, it clicked. This wasn’t a passing interest; it was what I was meant to do. Being a therapist is more than a job for me; it’s a vocation.
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2006 Lima, Peru
Where I trained, and where I first met Gestalt.
I completed the five-and-a-half-year clinical psychology program at San Martín de Porres University and was licensed as a clinical psychologist in Peru in 2006. It gave me a solid theoretical foundation in psychology and the clinical tools that still shape how I work with clients today. In 2005, during my internship at a hospital, I shadowed a psychologist trained in Gestalt, and I was immediately drawn to the work. Until then, my training had been mostly in CBT, and the experiences I witnessed in those sessions were unlike anything I had seen before: people weren’t just talking about what they felt, they were living it in the room, and something shifted right in front of me. I knew this was the way I wanted to work.
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2007 to 2019 Florida
Moving countries meant earning my place again.
In 2007, I moved to the U.S. When I transferred my credentials, I was only awarded a bachelor’s degree, which meant I couldn’t provide therapy. I kept working in the mental health field as a program counselor at a psychosocial rehabilitation center, leading psychoeducation groups, close to the work I love but unable to provide therapy myself. After years of frustration, I decided to take control and do whatever it took to get back to it. I went back to school, completed my Master’s in Mental Health Counseling at Nova Southeastern University in 2014, and earned my Florida license as a Mental Health Counselor in 2019.
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2020 Private practice
A mission that started with a question.
At my last job before private practice, two interns kept choosing to shadow me. They became fascinated by what they witnessed, the same way I had been when I first saw Gestalt, and they were the first to encourage me to teach. In 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, I opened my private practice, and the idea stayed with me. Shortly after, during a few days of quarantine, I sat at my computer and asked a Facebook group of therapists whether anyone would be curious about learning Gestalt. I was flooded with responses. I gathered my books and materials and asked myself: what do clinicians need to know about Gestalt to start practicing it? The answer was a solid theoretical foundation, but most importantly, experiential learning. That became my first course, Introduction to Gestalt Therapy, which ran live for two years and built my connection with clinicians who were eager for this work. It also became my mission: to make Gestalt accessible through affordable, experiential training.
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2023 Hypnotherapy & Supervision
Deeper tools, and passing them on.
I have always been fascinated by hypnosis and its transformative nature, so when the chance came to train in it, I was excited. Along the way, I realized how much it shares with Gestalt, especially the depth of the work. Gestalt guided fantasies follow a similar process, while hypnosis uses a more structured protocol and a deeper state of relaxation. Becoming a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist added important tools to my practice, especially for clients who want to go deeper in 90-minute sessions. The same year, I became a Florida Qualified Supervisor, supporting registered mental health counselor interns as they grow into their clinical work.
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Now U.S. and abroad
Teaching what most therapists only hear about once.
Today, that mission continues through a free monthly Here & Now, experiential workshops, coaching and consulting, and monthly group consultation. Clinicians from across the U.S., England, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand have trained with me. Therapy stays in Florida. The teaching is open to clinicians in the U.S. and abroad.
Explore Gestalt trainings and workshops
