My path to becoming a therapist was shaped by personal experience and a deep desire to help others navigate pain, trauma, and healing. I come from a hardworking family who has gone through adversity and trauma, where resilience was necessary for survival. While there was love and dedication, there was also a legacy of generational trauma, marked by poverty, substance use, abuse, and silence. Growing up, I witnessed the impact of this trauma firsthand. Violence, particularly within the home, was something we didn’t speak about—because confronting it felt uneasy. As a child and young adult, I internalized the message that abuse was something to endure, not address. This made it easier, even natural, for me to fall into a relationship in my early adulthood that mirrored the dysfunction I had seen growing up—one that was emotionally and physically abusive. At the time, I didn’t recognize the patterns. It took years of self-reflection, support, and education to untangle the roots of those experiences. But through that process, I realized how many people carry similar wounds—often in silence, often blaming themselves. I wanted to be someone who could help break that cycle.

My academic journey brought clarity and direction to this calling. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I immersed myself in work that deeply resonated with me. I co-facilitated grief groups for adults who had experienced profound loss—parents who lost children, spouses grieving partners, siblings mourning siblings. This work opened my eyes to the transformative power of support, deepening my desire to help people navigate pain and find healing.

Other work I did during my undergrad was working with sexual assault survivors and domestic abuse survivors through a program called Strengh United. During this program I was able to help those that were currently going through something I had once gone through. I was able to be a support system for those that had less resources or did not speak English.

Aligning myself with the survivors helped to empower them while they were in such a vulnerable state after the abuse. It reminded me how I wish someone would have supported me at a time when I was in an abusive relationship.