Hi, I’m Luisa.
I grew up Mexican American, moving between London, Mexico City, and suburban Cincinnati: too American in Mexico, too foreign everywhere else. Add being queer, and I've spent most of my life at the edges of categories. People always wanted to pin me down to one story, and even "Where are you from?" set off a cascade of follow-ups. It taught me to adapt, to hold more than one truth at once, and to notice when the "normal" way of doing something doesn't fit someone's actual life.
I love working with people who are ready to look at what's underneath, even when it's uncomfortable. It's usually where things start to change.
If it sounds like a fit, book a free consultation.
I became a therapist because (cue the drumroll…) therapy worked for me.
For years I had one nagging question: what is wrong with me? I had a dissatisfaction I couldn't name, anxiety and depression that colored everything, and a dating life circling the drain. My solution was to run, literally—a new country every two years, big weekend nights blurring into big weeknights, relationships that were exciting right up until they weren't good for me…I figured if I kept moving, I'd outrun it.
I didn't.
Eventually I caved and went to therapy, and it did what all that moving never could. It helped me understand what I was actually running from and how to build a life I didn't need to escape. These days, those hard feelings are part of the ebb and flow, not the thing running the show.
My story
My approach to therapyI'm not a nod-and-"tell me more" kind of therapist. I bring myself into the room: my perspective, my honest reactions, some humor, my full attention. I blend talk therapy, mindfulness, and somatic practices with practical tools, and I'm especially interested in the connection between what we carry in our bodies and what we carry in our stories. I work with individuals and couples, in English and Spanish.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent 12 years as a product designer in Mexico City and Silicon Valley. I learned to listen for what's actually being asked underneath what's being said, and to care how an experience feels to the person having it. Those instincts didn't leave me. I trained at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where I earned my master's in clinical psychology, and I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist in California (LMFT No. 164992).
Outside of work, I might be exploring the Oakland Hills with my dog, training for my first triathlon, attending my meditation group, and over-watering my plants.
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