Welcome to my blog!

I’d like to share a bit about my hopes for this blog. Prior to thinking of topics or writing anything, I spent some time reflecting on my values and my interests, and what I hope you get from this space. I also asked around to see the types of topics people would want to learn from a therapist and I gathered some neat ideas. I have a long list of things I’m eager to write about and share with you all!

On my values

I pursued a degree in social work because I genuinely believe in our code of ethics. For those of you who are unfamiliar, social workers follow a national code of ethics. The National Association of Social Workers delineates six core values: 1) the importance of serving others and working to address social problems, 2) the importance of challenging social injustice on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed people, 3) the importance of respecting others and being mindful of diversity, 4) the value of human relationships, 5) the importance of being trustworthy and upholding our code of ethics, and 6) the importance of practicing only within areas of competence and continuing to develop our professional knowledge. Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to foster healthier communities and these values came to mind. And when I say healthier communities, I mean communities with strong ethics, social justice oriented values, and high emotional intelligence. Communities where we are in tune with our history and ancestral knowledge, our authentic selves, and each other because I believe that if we know our history and we heal ourselves, we heal our community.

Education has always been important to me because I had two immigrant Mexican parents who ingrained it in me with good reason. My parents and their family didn’t have the financial means to go to school, they had to drop out very early on to start working at a young age in order to support their families. As a young child, I had a keen understanding of the importance of seeking higher education, because as the saying goes, knowledge is power. My parents knew this and they wanted us to have the opportunity to seek higher education to open up a world of opportunities. For my parents, education meant that their children wouldn’t have to struggle or start working at age seven like my father did. Now I find myself reflecting on ways I can pay my parent’s sacrifice forward. My education and resources are more valuable to me only because I can pay it forward and share with communities who need it most. I don’t believe in hoarding resources and if I have the opportunity to put people up on game, I will do so.

Final thoughts

I must confess, I like writing and I actually enjoy the editing process, but I am not a writer and my grammar isn’t always on point. However, I simply enjoy being curious about the world, communicating, and learning new things! So with that being said, I’d like this space to be a reliable, educational, and fun source where you can come to learn about mental health, mental wellness, learn about the therapeutic process, and maybe even some reflections on pop culture like has anyone seen the show Maid on Netflix? I have so many thoughts about it! Maybe one day I’ll share them on here ;).

My first official blog post will come out tomorrow and it will focus on walking you through the process of finding a therapist, which is a common question I often get - how the heck do I find a therapist?!

I’m looking forward to sharing more with you on here. Thanks for reading!