Hi, Iām Adrian.
I'm so glad you found your way here! Seeking therapy is a major step in the process of healing. It is my honor and privilege to be a part of your journey.
I believe that the purpose of therapy is to realize yourself as a whole person. It is a basic human need to see and to be seen. You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing. No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be there. We are all just trying to find our way back to that love. By integrating who we are with how we want to be, we can find peace and fulfillment through the continuous experiencing of personal truth. Together, we will work towards empowering you to live a more complete, balanced, and meaningful life. I will meet you where you are and walk alongside you. Navigating this path asks of us honesty, openness, bravery, and self-compassion. This is what we will practice together in the process of learning to hold safety and trust within ourselves.
My approach is collaborative, person-centered, and strengths-based. My work is explicitly LGBTQIA+ affirming, relationship-diverse, trauma-informed, sex-positive, kink-knowledgeable, and from a harm-reduction perspective. As a therapist who is queer, transgender, and a first-generation immigrant, I am committed to supporting my communities and working with Gender, Relationship, and Sexually Diverse (GRSD) populations. While my lived experience is a central reason for entering this vocation and holding it sacred, it is my responsibility to remain attuned to you and your context. Though we may share aspects of identity, I take a non-assumptive stance in our work. I am committed to the life-long process of learning and growing.
Our work together will be tailored to your needs in a language and style that works best for you. I use a primarily Psychodynamic approach which incorporates tools and techniques from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Narrative Therapy. Our work will be focused on identifying persistent patterns, understanding them deeply, dispersing with illusions, and moving towards a more meaningful reality. This work requires a willingness to bear witness to that internal vastness, to be moved by it deeply, and to allow a fresh imprint to be made upon the self.
The therapy space we collaboratively create is a place to share your experiences safely and have them received empathetically. You are the expert on your own life, and your lived experiences are valuable. I take very seriously the trust that you place in our work together, and I will honor your needs. I welcome discussion of privilege, power, and identity as it intersects with the experience of therapy and our navigation through the world.
Outside of therapy, I am also a person. My interests are wide-ranging but all in the spirit of creativity. I enjoy crafting and painting, collecting vintage clothes, beautifying my home with thrifted tchotchkes, writing poetry and producing zines/chapbooks, and roleplaying and medieval re-enactment, armored combat and costume-craft included. I live with my partner in a house with an orchard, a cat, several fish, a hamster, and friends.
My AMFT license is #143745. I am practicing on unceded Kumeyaay/Kumiais land, also known as San Diego, CA. I am taking on new clients via telehealth only through my group practice, Diaspora Therapy Group, where I am working under Dr. Kiley Dunne Lizama, DSW LMFT #96218.
If you are in need of immediate assistance, please utilize the resources available here.
EDUCATION
Master of the Arts in Clinical Counseling, Point Loma Nazarene University, August 2023
Certificate of Mental Health Work, San Diego City College, May 2021
Bachelor of the Arts in English, Minor in Psychology, San Diego State University, May 2019
AffiliationS
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
Psychedelic Support Provider Community
Graduate Student Association for Psychedelic Studies
TRAININGS & CERTIFICATES
TRAININGS & CERTIFICATES
LGBTQ+ Centered Emotionally Focused Therapy Externship (Robert Allan, PhD, and Sandra Taylor, PhD, 2023)
Psychodynamic Therapy with Transgender & Nonbinary Teens (Melissa Dellens, MA, 2023)
Refusing Adulthood: Working with LGBTQIA+ Youth (Melissa Dellens, MA, LMFT, 2024)
Working Alliance with Transgender & Nonbinary Clients (Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, 2023)
Identity Development around Sexuality, Gender, and Relationships (Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, 2023)
WPATH Standards of Care for Mental Health Professionals (Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, 2023)
Changes in WPATH: Working With and Assessing Nonbinary & Eunuch People (Gender Health Training, 2024)
Changes in WPATH: Surgical & Post-Operative Gender Affirming Care (Gender Health Training, 2024)
The Psychological Impact of Suppressing Kink Identity (Elyssa Helfer, MA, LMFT, 2023)
Fundamentals of LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy (Cadyn Cathers, PsyD, 2023)
Riding The Wave: Principles of Psychedelic Harm Reduction (Psychedelic Support, 2023)
Effective Psychoeducation for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness (Community Research Foundation, 2023)
Trauma-Informed Care (Community Research Foundation, 2023)
Harm Reduction in Substance Use (Community Research Foundation, 2023)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (Community Research Foundation, 2024)
Medication Management: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders (Relias, 2023)
Certificate in Psychological First Aid and Skills for Psychological Recovery (NCTSN, 2022)
Focus on Depression with Mixed Features (Neuroscience Education Institute, 2022)
Patient Communication in Schizophrenia (Neuroscience Education Institute, 2022)