Monique's Lore
The Extended Version
Through my own experiences of healing from past trauma, I visualized my process as an “unearthing” –getting my hands and fingers deep into the soil, down to my roots. What I uncovered was a lot that was buried and tucked away. I had pushed it all down and locked it behind caverns, vine-covered trap doors, and secret tunnels. I found what needed to be healed. I want to support others in finding their own voice, intuition, and authentic truth.
I believe our bodies, spirits, and minds at their core are full of pure love and are so protective over us –we innately know how much we can physically, spiritually, and emotionally handle. This holistic approach views our body’s symptoms as messages that sometimes scream at us to listen. I perceive distress and symptoms, such as anxiety, as resilient coping strategies that may have helped keep us safe in the past but may no longer be needed. There are compassionate ways to honor our systems and change our relationship with them. I also love inner child and parts work where we delve into different parts of ourselves that may have felt rejected or disregarded, and we work to heal, accept, and integrate them back into our whole selves.
I believe that therapeutic healing can integrate care for mind, body, and spirit, and that physical manifestations relate to our psychology and spirituality. As your therapist, I use my intuition, creativity, sensitivities, and my bubbly spirit to facilitate a space where you can find and connect to your own inner knowing. Yet, healing is not linear, so I also help uncover how our environments, communities, and larger systems at play significantly impact our psyche that can feel impossible to change at times.
All of our journeys are so unique, and our means of healing are no different. There is no set course or timeline for our lives –yet sometimes, social expectations can make it feel like that. I believe it is an honor to witness and join clients on this journey. It is sacred work to create safe space for others to explore their own profound unearthing.
Intersecting Identities
I am 38-years-old, biracial, fourth generation Mexican American, and white, (I have Spanish, Portuguese, and Mexican Indigenous ancestral lineage). I am cisgender and newly acknowledged bisexual woman.
I work deeply with intergenerational trauma and how that arises in our survival mechanisms, defenses, patterns, and cycles within ourselves and how we relate to our families, partners, and communities. I have personally felt so disconnected from my culture due to past generations needing to stay safe and protect our culture from the oppressive and violent actions taken by white supremacy and colonialism to erase and eradicate us. As a result of these protective behaviors, there is such a disconnect and unawareness of my own Mexican and Indigenous roots. In order for my family to protect us from racism and discrimination, I was never taught to speak Spanish and I haven't been able to learn.
I hold white privilege as I am white appearing, from a middle-class family, and I am a highly educated professional with a background in psychology, and women and gender studies. I hold privilege as a white presenting woman, while at the same time, I have experienced racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
I embrace myself as a deep feeler, an empath, an HSP (highly sensitive person), neurodivergent person, and an INFJ. I am genuine and very open-minded, and I feel that I have blossomed into this authentic being by addressing my healing work. I have experienced sexual trauma and emotional abuse and I have lived with lifelong major depression, generalized anxiety, agoraphobia, and other CPTSD-related symptoms.
I am significantly influenced by my feminist values and I am a strong advocate for sex-positivity and believe in embracing and exploring sexuality through safe, transparent, and enthusiastically consensual experiences. I intentionally continue learning how to be actively anti-racist, body-positive, LGBTQ+ affirming, and trauma-informed.
I am witchy, spiritual, clairsensitive, an artist, a tarot and astrology enthusiast, a chronic Netflixer, I get immersed in learning about neurobiology, historical fiction books, and am an avid PC gamer and Switch gamer.
Some of my favorite games:
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World of Warcraft
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Overwatch
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What Remains of Edith Finch
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Stardew Valley
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Animal Crossing
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The Sims
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Wylde Flowers
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Good Pizza, Great Pizza
Some of my favorite books:
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The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
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The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria E. Schwab
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The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray
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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Prologue
It took me quite some time to figure out who I am and what I wanted to do with my life, but I've always been drawn to psychology and learning how to understand others and myself. After high school, I went to community college and took any and all classes that interested me to find my "thing." With the 2009 recession, I quit school and became a high-end retail manager, and then worked in administrative office jobs. I experienced significant pay inequity, discrimination, blatant racism, and microaggressions which ignited me to get back into school so I could make a difference.
It had been so long since I was in school that the university had actually rejected my undergrad application for transferring. Due to my previous jobs, I felt so much more organized and prepared for school this time around. As a comparison, when I had initially began community college, I had a 2.5 GPA, and when I came back, I earned a 4.0 and was on the Dean's list every semester. I connected with incredible professors and mentors that lit my path.
I felt pulled by a string through undergrad that led me directly into my graduate program. I put my all into school and felt like I was right where I needed to be. I started my own personal therapy at the same time and intentionally and purposefully chose to explore, introspect, and heal with every opportunity -every personal paper in school was a deep dive into my own stuff. I learned SO much about myself and began to heal from trauma that I had been unaware of before, which put a lot in perspective and was a significant part in learning and embracing who I am and how I can be of service to others.
School & Training
I attained my education from California State University, Fullerton, with my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies, and my Master of Science in Counseling with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy.
I completed my practicum with individuals from varied and diverse identities and lived experiences at Orange Coast College, Student Health Center in Costa Mesa.
I am a lifelong student and have a genuine desire for knowledge and understanding. I am passionate about my Master’s thesis, Therapeutic Advocacy with Individuals Who Have Experienced Unacknowledged Rape within a Feminist and Socioecological Framework. I researched the high prevalence of unacknowledged rape and the importance for therapists to deconstruct rape culture through sex-positive, person-centered advocacy and activism. Any individual change within therapy will unfailingly be impeded if the larger systems and culture remain the same; thus, I value my commitment to continued advocacy.
Certifications, Trainings, & Affiliations:
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QTAP (Queer and Trans Affirming Professional) Certification since 2022
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Understanding Anxiety: Strength Based Perspective with Dr. Neff from Neurodivergent Insights
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Intersectional Authenticity w/LGBTQ+ Clients with Moe Brown, LMFT, May 2024, 2 hour CE
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Working w/Trans Youth &Their Families with Lotus Do, LCSW, May 2024, 1 hour CE
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What to Know About Gender Affirming Surgeries with Lotus Do, LCSW, May 2024, 1.5 hour CE
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Referral Letter for Gender Affirming Medical Care with Moe Brown, LMFT, May 2024, 2 hour CE
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The Art of Self-Healing Center training in Nervous System Regulation Therapy for ADHD & Autistic Clients, Oct 2023
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California Association of Marriage & Family Therapist (CAMFT Member) since 2019.
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Insured through CPH Insurance.
My Therapeutic Approach
My role is to create a sacred, non-judgmental, and compassionate space and therapeutic relationship for your healing to blossom. I am committed to lifelong education and to continue learning as much as I can from my supervisors and colleagues so I may provide sex-positive, anti-racist, LGBTQ+ affirming, culturally competent/ humble, and trauma-informed care.
I work within an intersectional feminist approach with a culturally informed, humanistic, attachment lens and I utilize my intuition and my sensitivities to emphasize empowerment, patience, and empathy.
I specialize in trauma-informed care, identify exploration, resiliency work, relational work, and LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent folx.
I believe we are all made up of stories –ones others have told us, ones we’ve told ourselves, and some that we can get stuck in.
You are the expert on yourself, and it is my privilege and expertise to facilitate a space for your healing and growth to flourish.
I believe that the personal is political, and every lived experience is full of a multitude of identities that are impacted by the social and cultural contexts in which they occur. As such, I integrate discussion and acknowledgment of the significant and traumatic effects of insidious, systemic marginalization and oppression as these factors cannot be overlooked.
I believe that my role as a therapist must extend into active participation through therapeutic advocacy that includes learning and listening to others, providing resources, facilitating psychoeducation workshops, challenging the -isms, and being congruent across all spheres of my life.
Integrating My Passion Into My Healing Work
I strive to integrate my interests and topics that I am passionate about into my work:
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I am an artist and love including creative and artistic interventions in the therapeutic process.
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I am a strong advocate for sex-positivity and believe in embracing and exploring sexuality through safe, transparent, and enthusiastically consensual experiences.
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I strive to de-stigmatize sexual and reproductive health and comprehensive sexual education that involves discussions of deconstructing rape culture, the effects of rape myths and sexism, harmful societal and gender roles, and the longstanding historical narratives present today.
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I am thoroughly familiar with the exploration of oneself and ones’ interests through college and academia.
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I am knowledgeable about navigating academia structures to find support and accommodations for differences in learning and neurodivergence.
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I acknowledge relational patterns that have ties in intergenerational trauma and ancestral roots.
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I perceive communication and relationships through an attachment-based lens that explores early bonding and attachment experiences with primary caregivers and family of origin.
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I love inner child/parts work where we delve into different parts of ourselves that may have felt rejected or disregarded, and we work to heal, accept, and integrate them back into our whole.
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I experience anxiety, so I have a lifetime knowledge of management tools that I have personally tried –some that worked and others that didn’t.
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I emphasize working with the body and bringing awareness to our emotions, bodily sensations, and where our feelings may arise in the body.
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I also love holistically incorporating tarot cards to broaden one’s perspective and understanding and provide a bird’s eye view of their experience through intuition.
In the Works
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Neurodivergent Affirming Trainings by neurodivergent educators