Speaker 1: Our field is actually about white, probably higher. I've gone
Speaker 1: through one to three. I'm on my fourth therapist and
Speaker 1: on my second life coach. It's very frustrating, you know,
Speaker 1: for folks in our community to find a therapist that
Speaker 1: speaks their language and understands these cultural notions. Hello, guys,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me for another episode
Speaker 1: of cheek Ease and Chill. I'm your host, Cheeks, and
Speaker 1: today we're going to be talking about a really big
Speaker 1: and important topic, therapy. I'm a huge out of a
Speaker 1: gift for therapy. I've been going to therapy since I
Speaker 1: was twelve years old. Now it's helped me understand and
Speaker 1: cope with all sorts of things in my life. So
Speaker 1: we have a lot to talk about today, so let's
Speaker 1: just get right to it. Welcome to another episode of
Speaker 1: cheek Ease and Chill. Today's guest is Arianna Alejandre. She's
Speaker 1: a licensed marriage and family therapist and she's also the
Speaker 1: founder of the website and podcast Latin X Therapy. You guys,
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to talk to her today and all
Speaker 1: things related to therapy, including why it's stigmatized especially in
Speaker 1: the Latin X community. Arian now welcome. How are you hey,
Speaker 1: I'm great, Thank you so much for having me. Of course, No,
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I'm excited because, like I said earlier, I'm
Speaker 1: a huge advocate for therapy. I started therapy when I
Speaker 1: was twelve years old. We were actually started as family therapy,
Speaker 1: and that was kind of crazy because my siblings were there,
Speaker 1: my mom was there, and we were talking about what
Speaker 1: had happened to me. I was sexually abused by my dad.
Speaker 1: So I was the first time I was introduced to
Speaker 1: therapy and what it did for my life. Then just
Speaker 1: talking about it, even it was very weird for me
Speaker 1: to talk about it in front of my mom, But
Speaker 1: once she left the room and my siblings did two
Speaker 1: and it was just me and the therapist, it helped
Speaker 1: me so much to just remove all those things and
Speaker 1: that I kind of felt like a shame, you know.
Speaker 1: I felt that shame that I felt over me, and
Speaker 1: it really did help me. So I'm so happy that
Speaker 1: you're here, that you're Latina that um. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of questions, so so just bear with me, okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so tell me you tell me a little bit about
Speaker 1: latin X therapy. Yes, thank you. So I launched latin
Speaker 1: X Therapy in two thousand eighteen. I came from a
Speaker 1: family that didn't know that. I don't know if they
Speaker 1: didn't know little We didn't talk about therapy or mental health.
Speaker 1: And I discovered it when I was in college, and
Speaker 1: that's when I became actually a single teen mom um
Speaker 1: and it was just a really intense time. I was
Speaker 1: all by myself. I used to Santa Barbara, you know,
Speaker 1: I experienced knowingly postpartum depression. And after I went to
Speaker 1: therapy because professor recommended it, I realized I can't stay
Speaker 1: in therapy because I heard my mom's voice and familia,
Speaker 1: you know, we fixed problems in the family. So I left.
Speaker 1: But I was so curious after my three sessions that
Speaker 1: I decided to major in psychology and then become a therapist.
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, I held onto that. You know,
Speaker 1: once you start talking, you really experience a lot of relief. Um.
Speaker 1: And so that really motivated me to start latin X
Speaker 1: Therapy when I was a therapist. Because our field is
Speaker 1: actually about white probably higher um. I'm being very moderate
Speaker 1: with my number there, but it's very frustrating, you know
Speaker 1: for folks in our community to find a therapist that
Speaker 1: speaks their language and understands these cultural notions that are
Speaker 1: not even taught to therapist when we go through our
Speaker 1: graduate training. So it's basically our lived experiences that guide
Speaker 1: us in session with our own people. And so I
Speaker 1: wanted to launch this for the community for my clients,
Speaker 1: but it ended up being a national and then a
Speaker 1: global sensation. So here we are now. Yeah, I love it. Honestly,
Speaker 1: thank you. I want to say thank you. I I
Speaker 1: love to see our people go to school and get
Speaker 1: their education and help others, help our community. And that's
Speaker 1: what you're doing. And like you said earlier, um, I
Speaker 1: think my mom because she wasn't raised with therapy. But
Speaker 1: when I think it was actually the cop that was
Speaker 1: doing all the investigations said, you know what, I think
Speaker 1: she might need some counseling, some type of therapy. And
Speaker 1: at first I remember my mom like, well, kind of
Speaker 1: what is that? You know what I mean? But she listened,
Speaker 1: and I'm so happy that she did, because again they
Speaker 1: see it as something I'm gonna is that's that's a
Speaker 1: sign of weakness what I've experienced in our culture exactly.
Speaker 1: So thank you because I love that you're doing is
Speaker 1: I love that it's called Latin X or Latin X therapy.
Speaker 1: I think that that's important. I think that even just
Speaker 1: having that word Latin in there, I feel like it
Speaker 1: just gives you that comfortability of like, Okay, it's going
Speaker 1: to be someone that understands me. Because, like you said,
Speaker 1: there's so much relief in speaking to someone that's not
Speaker 1: your family that you could just ah, like literally there's
Speaker 1: in other words, you know, and just say emotionally exactly
Speaker 1: and say hey, here, here it is, I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: it all hang out. And yes, you get liberated. Dude.
Speaker 1: It's like this liberty, this like liberation that you feel
Speaker 1: of I let it out, and I mean, I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: it's it's helped me so much, guys. And you guys
Speaker 1: know I've been through quite a bit. Like what do
Speaker 1: you think is the stigma? Like what's the stick the
Speaker 1: stigma with therapy and and our culture. Well, I think
Speaker 1: there's different layers here, but one that we have to
Speaker 1: acknowledge is the lack of education that we have and
Speaker 1: that is available about mental health itself and how it
Speaker 1: hasn't been accessible for decades, if not longer. Right, I
Speaker 1: think mental health because it isn't talked about in the public.
Speaker 1: I it's something that's very hush hush um. We end
Speaker 1: up stigmatizing emotions. So talking about feelings, I think is
Speaker 1: rooted in um or not talking about feelings rather is
Speaker 1: rooted in machista Machismore values. Machismore refers to the role
Speaker 1: of men and how men are expected to reserve emotions
Speaker 1: and if they are to express emotions, only certain ones
Speaker 1: are accepted, like being angry, um, being uh, you know,
Speaker 1: actions like sexism and all of that. So I think
Speaker 1: that definitely because that's more accepted than being vulnerable with
Speaker 1: all range of emotions. It harms us. It creates this cycle,
Speaker 1: this like collective way of thinking and how to accept,
Speaker 1: how to behave in our own worlds um. And that
Speaker 1: is actually also a learned behavior. And so we we
Speaker 1: learn from the people that raise us, whether they are
Speaker 1: your biological folks or not. We learn from people that
Speaker 1: are raising us how to accept, how to behave, how
Speaker 1: to think. Essentially, it's when we leave those communities when
Speaker 1: we start realizing, ah, you know, I didn't know about that.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that it was okay, I didn't know
Speaker 1: you know that therapy existed that you know, mental health
Speaker 1: isn't just for crazy people. I didn't know medication could
Speaker 1: help me in that way, right, And so all of
Speaker 1: those notions are lack of knowledge about those topics because
Speaker 1: they're just not talked about enough. Um, we also have
Speaker 1: Maria Nismore in which that's the role and expectations of
Speaker 1: women and how women are expected to be pillars of
Speaker 1: the family and self sacrificial, so you know, stay together
Speaker 1: for the sake of the family familia, right, that comes first.
Speaker 1: There's like this very silent role in our community that
Speaker 1: we shouldn't talk about our problems because then that would
Speaker 1: burden someone else. And we don't want to burden others
Speaker 1: with our stuff because we also tend to compare, right, like,
Speaker 1: they're probably going through worse things than what we're going through.
Speaker 1: Their traumas are are worse. It affected them more than
Speaker 1: what it's affected me. I can persevere, I can keep going,
Speaker 1: I can I can swallow this. So I think there's
Speaker 1: there's all of this that contributes to the stigma. I
Speaker 1: couldn't even agree more. And and it's that, like you said,
Speaker 1: talking about men in the machismo, it's and it's like
Speaker 1: it's okay for a man to cry, it's okay for
Speaker 1: a man to ask for help, to ask for directions.
Speaker 1: And it's just like, dude, if we could just remove
Speaker 1: all of those things, all of those things that yes,
Speaker 1: that we learned, you know that they're passed on generation
Speaker 1: to generation, it's just like we would have less anxiety,
Speaker 1: less depression, less so many things. You know. Um, and
Speaker 1: I'm the this way. I'm so happy that I'm having
Speaker 1: this conversation with you because there are going to be
Speaker 1: people that are listening to us and that hopefully will
Speaker 1: look for a therapist, you know, after this conversation, because
Speaker 1: I think we all it doesn't matter the race, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter the gender, where you come from, what level
Speaker 1: in life you were in. We all need therapy or
Speaker 1: life coaching. That's one thing that's it's like every day
Speaker 1: I need I have a mentor that I speak to
Speaker 1: because you know, I mean, you're going through through life
Speaker 1: and it's it's like, yes, I I also like to
Speaker 1: help and motivate, motivate other people and empower them, but
Speaker 1: I also need that myself. Do you get therapy, Adriana?
Speaker 1: Do you is there someone that you speak to? My
Speaker 1: I mean it's just out of curiosity. Absolutely, yes, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, especially as a trauma therapist and all therapists
Speaker 1: people that come into this profession should you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's ethical to start therapy. Um. So, I really
Speaker 1: restarted my journey when I was in graduate school, but
Speaker 1: I had like a somewhat negative experience because the therapist
Speaker 1: didn't understand my culture. And I mean there were moments
Speaker 1: where I you know, situations and things that I definitely
Speaker 1: healed from. But there was one thing that really rubbed
Speaker 1: me the wrong way, and it was when she said
Speaker 1: that I should stop helping my family in all senses
Speaker 1: because that's the boundary I need to set in place.
Speaker 1: And I didn't want to do that. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to financially stop helping my family, um because I didn't
Speaker 1: think that their actions. You know, it wasn't to that
Speaker 1: level where I needed to stop financially helping my family.
Speaker 1: And I was still like twenty two, you know, I
Speaker 1: needed my parents still, they were helping me with my son.
Speaker 1: Um So Anyways, there was just that cultural notion where
Speaker 1: it's like I understand maybe if people from other cultures
Speaker 1: could just easily do that, but I probably get in
Speaker 1: more trouble if I stopped doing that, and it would
Speaker 1: be more harmful for my mental health. But um, because um,
Speaker 1: my husband and I got married right before the pandemic.
Speaker 1: We started couples therapy during the pandemic, and that was
Speaker 1: my first time actually in couples therapy. So I had
Speaker 1: done like inner child individual healing, and then the couple's
Speaker 1: therapy really opened me up in many different ways and
Speaker 1: from situations that I thought we're you know, processed, but
Speaker 1: in the eyes of you know, someone that I'm living
Speaker 1: with every day, my partner, it was just sliced in
Speaker 1: different ways. So I'm so glad for that experience, and
Speaker 1: it's definitely also something that I'm I'm an advocate for
Speaker 1: and my son has been in therapy as well. The
Speaker 1: pandemic was really really hard on all of us. Now
Speaker 1: that we're talking about we're on this subject, like what
Speaker 1: do you think that for those that are listening, what
Speaker 1: do you think is important? Do you think it's important
Speaker 1: to find same sex therapist, Like what do you think
Speaker 1: I personally feel that, yes, it would be great to
Speaker 1: find someone that's like you, you know, that understands me.
Speaker 1: That's a part of my culture that understands my culture.
Speaker 1: What do you think? Like, what's what's your opinion? My
Speaker 1: opinion is that before looking for a therapist, people need
Speaker 1: to do some self reflection about this question a little
Speaker 1: bit more and really ask what am I going to
Speaker 1: therapy for? Because just like how there's doctors that specialized
Speaker 1: in hearts and brains and feet, you know, therapists also
Speaker 1: specialized in different types of life situations. So if you're
Speaker 1: seeking therapy, for example, for your child, you want to
Speaker 1: find a child therapist. Um, not a general therapist necessarily,
Speaker 1: but one that focuses on and and has advanced trainings
Speaker 1: in different things that could help children process what they're
Speaker 1: going through. Also, um, so you you kind of want
Speaker 1: to create that filter, like I'm looking for a child
Speaker 1: therapist that specializes in divorce or that specializes in trauma,
Speaker 1: because trauma is a whole other type of advanced training too.
Speaker 1: So asking yourself as well, like what I feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with one that is non binary, that someone that is
Speaker 1: male female, All of that is is definitely valid and
Speaker 1: important for you because you're ultimately going to be the
Speaker 1: one divulging and opening up to someone that you know
Speaker 1: it may be your first time. It may not be,
Speaker 1: but it's still very difficult each time. Although you know
Speaker 1: yourself and I experience positive things from therapy, it took
Speaker 1: us a long time at the beginning of stages were
Speaker 1: not like going to a spa, right Like processing is hard,
Speaker 1: it's it's painful as well. So it's a whole journey.
Speaker 1: It's a roller coaster of a journey. And I think
Speaker 1: everybody deserves to really think about the choice that they
Speaker 1: get to make one selecting a therapist, you know, I
Speaker 1: think everybody should also use that consultation time that is
Speaker 1: free to ask the therapist what they specialize in. I
Speaker 1: don't know for sure. And one thing that I want
Speaker 1: to tell you guys from personal experience, it might take
Speaker 1: a little while for you to find that perfect person
Speaker 1: that you feel comfortable with, because it took me a
Speaker 1: while to find someone and it was kind of like
Speaker 1: I tried it, you know what I mean, Like I
Speaker 1: one thing I want to tell you guys is go
Speaker 1: one session and see how you feel until you find
Speaker 1: that perfect fit for you. So you might get it
Speaker 1: the first time or you know, like or you might not.
Speaker 1: It took me. I'm telling you, I've gone through one,
Speaker 1: two three. I'm on my fourth therapist and on my
Speaker 1: second life coach, so like and again it's somewherehere. I'm like, now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I can talk to them like they're
Speaker 1: my friends. Like you know what I mean. It takes
Speaker 1: a little while, so be patient with yourself. Um, while
Speaker 1: finding one, do your research, and like Adriana said, it's
Speaker 1: really important to know what type of therapy counseling that
Speaker 1: you're looking for. I went to trauma therapy for a
Speaker 1: long time and it did help me so much, especially
Speaker 1: to understand that what happened to me was not my fault,
Speaker 1: you know, the sexual abuse. Um, because I did think
Speaker 1: as it did I do something wrong. There's so many
Speaker 1: questions and that's a whole other episode. But guys, just
Speaker 1: be patient. Another thing a lot of I've heard many people,
Speaker 1: like a lot of my friends, I'm like, hey, go
Speaker 1: to therapy. I'm always suggesting that, but they think, oh,
Speaker 1: it's too expensive. It definitely could be, I mean, the
Speaker 1: profession is expensive. So I love her answer. Yes, yeah, Um, however,
Speaker 1: a lot of us reserve reduced rates. So maybe what
Speaker 1: you see on the website looks scary and frightening you know,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it might be out of your budget. For
Speaker 1: a lot of people, it's not. Also, which is you know, um,
Speaker 1: that's like probably my money wounds when I say that,
Speaker 1: where it's like a lot of people can afford that,
Speaker 1: and I get shocked sometimes, But um, I think that's
Speaker 1: great because you know, people do see it as an investment. Now,
Speaker 1: if you're looking and you're seeing on the directories, like, wow,
Speaker 1: these rates are high, genuinely cannot afford that. During the consultation,
Speaker 1: talk to the therapist, tell them your financial situation and
Speaker 1: what you can afford, and ask about their sliding scale eligibility,
Speaker 1: you know, who qualifies, if they have any other reduced
Speaker 1: rates available, and and go from there, because you know,
Speaker 1: I think that that's that's something that that should be normalized.
Speaker 1: We should be talking about that. Um. Not every therapist
Speaker 1: also accepts insurance. If you do wanna go through your insurance,
Speaker 1: it is best to contact the insurance directly and then
Speaker 1: have the representative filter. So tell them that you're looking
Speaker 1: for a Latin X or Hispanic therapist and they should
Speaker 1: be able to filter that for you, and then from
Speaker 1: there you're going to do your research. They could probably
Speaker 1: filter like you know that if they specialize in anxiety
Speaker 1: and depression and very general broad things. So those are
Speaker 1: some recommendations for the high rates and using insurance. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's it's something I was gonna tell everyone that
Speaker 1: I was. This is demosteno, you know, and it's it's
Speaker 1: really an investment for your mental emotional health. You guys that. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna be I don't know, you know, a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars an hour. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you have to go, you know. It all just depends
Speaker 1: on your situation. Yes, it would be great if you
Speaker 1: can go once a week or once a month, just
Speaker 1: try it. I do think that I, like I said,
Speaker 1: you can stop doing certain things in your life in
Speaker 1: order to prioritize your mental and emotional health. For a
Speaker 1: long time, I stopped doing my nails. I was one
Speaker 1: that would go every two weeks to get my manicure
Speaker 1: and pedicure, and I stopped doing that for a little
Speaker 1: bit so that I can pay for my therapy sessions
Speaker 1: because my insurance wouldn't cover it. But that was something
Speaker 1: that was so important to me that I said, you
Speaker 1: know what, Yes, I like to get my nails I'm
Speaker 1: not going to give my pedicures for three months so
Speaker 1: that i can have extra money for my sessions. So
Speaker 1: I'm just putting that out there guys. Okay, UM, I
Speaker 1: think that on your website, which is UM what's your
Speaker 1: website again, Latin x Therapy dot com perfect and what
Speaker 1: can they find there? Our listeners, what can they find?
Speaker 1: Lots of resources, so when could go on there? Uh.
Speaker 1: One of the main things that you you're going to
Speaker 1: see as find a therapist or find a speaker, and
Speaker 1: so UM you want to use to find a therapist
Speaker 1: if you're looking for a therapist for yourself, and then
Speaker 1: filter through so put your state because you can. Although
Speaker 1: you know we're in living in the pandemic and everything's virtual,
Speaker 1: we are we have therapists are only allowed to see
Speaker 1: people that live in the state that we are licensed
Speaker 1: in or the states UM. So for myself, I'm only
Speaker 1: licensed in California, so I could only see people that
Speaker 1: live in California unfortunately. UM. So that's really important to consider.
Speaker 1: And then what you can also find is our shop
Speaker 1: where we have de stigmatizing gear. We have resources such
Speaker 1: as UM Mental Health UM YouTube YouTube channels. We have
Speaker 1: other podcasters you know their channels. We also UM have
Speaker 1: self help books in English and in Spanish for children
Speaker 1: and for adults. And you can also find the frequently
Speaker 1: asked questions that we recommend UM for therapists and other
Speaker 1: questions that you might be asking yourself about starting the
Speaker 1: therapy process. You guys, I love this, Adriana. That's awesome. Honestly,
Speaker 1: this is a way of a perfect way for to start,
Speaker 1: you guys, A perfect way for you to start. If
Speaker 1: you still haven't, you just do not sure, go to
Speaker 1: Latino x therapy dot com is so that you guys
Speaker 1: can start just getting information and getting your feet wet
Speaker 1: in this area. UM wow, honestly, I love that. I
Speaker 1: think that's amazing. And you're so young, you guys. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at her right now and she's so young, and
Speaker 1: it just makes me so proud of that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: she's a mom, she went to school, therapist, she has
Speaker 1: her own website, she has her own podcast, very very baby.
Speaker 1: I love it, like you know, on the website everybody.
Speaker 1: We also have support groups. I forgot to mention that
Speaker 1: that's one of our biggest things. We have national support
Speaker 1: groups UM for folks to join we'll be launching more.
Speaker 1: I took a break during last UM winter, but they'll
Speaker 1: they'll be coming out as well this year. For children
Speaker 1: that grew up parentified, you know, so if you were
Speaker 1: given roles from a very young age that we're not
Speaker 1: you know that shouldn't have been given to you at
Speaker 1: that age. You know, they were a little bit made
Speaker 1: for adults. UM we have we have support groups for
Speaker 1: just about anything that relates to our culture. For those
Speaker 1: that are listening, when do you feel that we should
Speaker 1: seek therapy? Like when when is that moment you're like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know what, maybe this is the next thing I
Speaker 1: have to do. So I think if you're asking yourself
Speaker 1: that question already, I think that's a big green flag,
Speaker 1: an indication that says there's something you probably want to
Speaker 1: talk about. If you have experienced any hardship and haven't
Speaker 1: talked about it, if you don't have a UM definitely,
Speaker 1: if you don't have a support circle so people that
Speaker 1: you can just talk to. I think it's really important
Speaker 1: to UM have somebody uh and therapy can be that
Speaker 1: and by the way, everybody, it doesn't always just have
Speaker 1: to be individual therapy. If that's too intimidating. You can
Speaker 1: also do support groups therapeutic support groups that exists as well.
Speaker 1: But other other indications could be, you know, if you're
Speaker 1: experiencing nightmares, or if you experience body aches that medical
Speaker 1: professionals can't find answers to. Sometimes that can be due
Speaker 1: to psychological stress. Um, if you're experiencing rumination so thoughts
Speaker 1: that just cycle, difficulty with decision making, or you know,
Speaker 1: comparing yourself to other people so much the way that
Speaker 1: you speak to yourself is very negative or like creticona right,
Speaker 1: these can be indications that maybe there's there's things to process. Um.
Speaker 1: You can help yourself by understanding why you're unkind to
Speaker 1: yourself or why you know you can't speak in any
Speaker 1: other way. Maybe someone else's narrative of you is making
Speaker 1: you define yourself. You're living by the standards of someone
Speaker 1: else's narrative of you. Things that you went through in
Speaker 1: childhood that maybe you thought, like, you know, no, I
Speaker 1: don't need to talk about it. I got spanked and
Speaker 1: I'm fine. Let's just give yourself that opportunity to talk
Speaker 1: about it. Because our inner child, you know, our experiences
Speaker 1: as children really do affect us. Even if we're not
Speaker 1: talking about them. They're manifested in different ways as adults. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then sometimes they surface, they resurface like later on
Speaker 1: in life, Like there's certain things that I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm already over that. And then I found like in
Speaker 1: my thirties it started coming out. I was like, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, maybe I'm not. Maybe I do have daddy
Speaker 1: issues little things like that and mommy issues. And then
Speaker 1: I was like all these new things. As you evolve,
Speaker 1: things start surfacing, and this is why, you know. And
Speaker 1: sometimes like you can be with a therapist for five
Speaker 1: years and then you find yourself like saying, you know what,
Speaker 1: maybe I need to switch it up a little bit.
Speaker 1: Maybe now I'm starting to figure out I have these
Speaker 1: other questions and I need answers for and you you
Speaker 1: change your therapist or you tell your therapist this is
Speaker 1: what I'm thinking, is what I'm feeling. It's just it's
Speaker 1: a process, you guys, It's a journey, and I think
Speaker 1: that we have to be patient. When I first talked
Speaker 1: to the first therapists, I just felt like they were
Speaker 1: just sitting there like just listening to me, and Okay,
Speaker 1: and literally the first one I'll never forget after the
Speaker 1: one when I was twelve, I was I think I
Speaker 1: got therapy when I was like nineteen, and he was
Speaker 1: just looking at his watch like okay, all right, oh
Speaker 1: well it's time to go, and I'm like, oh well, um,
Speaker 1: and then I was like, oh yeah, okay, we'll see
Speaker 1: you next session. And I'm like, you didn't tell me anything.
Speaker 1: That's when I was like, I'm never going back to
Speaker 1: this guy. And since then, I feel more comfortable with females.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait a second, they're going to understand a
Speaker 1: little bit more, even if it's like five minutes over
Speaker 1: the clock, you know what I mean. Because that's that's
Speaker 1: why I was like, oh no, this isn't good for me.
Speaker 1: Me to change this guy. No, No. And that's that's
Speaker 1: the thing. Like there's also different therapy approaches, and so
Speaker 1: you have to really be reflective, like do you want
Speaker 1: someone that's more direct with you or more indirect? You
Speaker 1: got to think about what kind of therapists you're going
Speaker 1: to respond to as well, because that affects, you know,
Speaker 1: your time as well. Yeah. Absolutely, Living in the society
Speaker 1: that we live in now with Instagram and all these
Speaker 1: things that are happening around us and how there's there
Speaker 1: are a lot of facades should I say okay? And
Speaker 1: when we're going and we're scrolling so much through Instagram,
Speaker 1: through social media, it causes a lot of anxiety because
Speaker 1: you're like, I wish I had that, I wish my
Speaker 1: life was like I wish I looked like that. So
Speaker 1: going back to what you were saying, as far as
Speaker 1: far as like when to find a therapist, it's like,
Speaker 1: of course, when you're asking yourself that, like I have
Speaker 1: no one to talk to her. I'm too shy to
Speaker 1: tell my friends this because there are certain things that
Speaker 1: we want to go out there and be like we're strong,
Speaker 1: I got this, I don't cry and all this stuff.
Speaker 1: But it's like, wait, you have to find someone in
Speaker 1: your life to be vulnerable with, to remove to ask
Speaker 1: all these questions, to say, hey, I have this secret,
Speaker 1: I have this thing that I've been caring because once
Speaker 1: you speak to someone that has a non biased opinion,
Speaker 1: I think that just releases you and relieves you and
Speaker 1: liberates you to just be able to say, Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna walk forward and keep going with my life. But
Speaker 1: if you guys or having all these different questions or
Speaker 1: things that causes anxiety because I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes
Speaker 1: things on Instagram cause me anxiety where I'm like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I got to minimize my screen time and
Speaker 1: say I'm going only for this week. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: post and get out. I'm not gonna be scrolling because
Speaker 1: it causes you these things. So if you're feeling that
Speaker 1: type of stuff, you guys, that's when you know, hey,
Speaker 1: I need to talk to someone that's not a family member,
Speaker 1: that's not my best friend, that's not my husband, and
Speaker 1: that's okay, you guys. It does not make you weak.
Speaker 1: It's there's a beautiful thing and being vulnerable. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of strength in that, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't don't applaud that. I will be the first one
Speaker 1: cheering for you. If you're like, you know what I
Speaker 1: listen to today and I think I need to go
Speaker 1: to latin X Therapy dot com and figure out what
Speaker 1: the heck is going on my life, because I tell
Speaker 1: I'm telling you is going to change everything. You're gonna
Speaker 1: feel like you can think different, like you have more
Speaker 1: mental energy, more physical energy. Also when you are keeping
Speaker 1: things inside and I'm telling you guys, like when you said,
Speaker 1: like you start feeling body eggs. For a long time,
Speaker 1: my lower back would hurt so much, my knees would hurt,
Speaker 1: and I started looking it up on the internet, like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know what emotions are related to this physical pain?
Speaker 1: And it's like, oh, you're you're staying quiet about things,
Speaker 1: you feel insecure, things like that, and it's crazy. Once
Speaker 1: you just let it out, you feel better. It's like magic, right,
Speaker 1: I'm not or do I'm not crazy? That's yeah, no, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 1: I think we hold so much in our body that
Speaker 1: and we use our body like a vessel to go
Speaker 1: through life, and we just put it into and through
Speaker 1: so many different scenarios and situations that we most of
Speaker 1: the time ignore the aches until the ages say no, mass,
Speaker 1: I can't, you know, please pay attention to me, And
Speaker 1: so we really have to. I think it in the
Speaker 1: habit also of learning how to tune into our bodies
Speaker 1: daily so that we're able to help ourselves and we
Speaker 1: do have more energy, more potential. We stop holding ourselves
Speaker 1: back from a lot of things when we tend to ourselves,
Speaker 1: because you're right, there is strength and vulnerability. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And just taking that time in the morning to just
Speaker 1: really have I don't know, even fifteen thirty minutes to
Speaker 1: yourself reading a book or doing whatever your therapy, whatever
Speaker 1: it may be, it's going. It's a game changer, you guys.
Speaker 1: It's a game changer. And really prioritizing yourself before you
Speaker 1: can give yourself to your children, to your husband, to
Speaker 1: your friends, to your job. It's something that I highly recommend.
Speaker 1: And I wanted to ask you other day. I like,
Speaker 1: you've been doing therapy for how long? Now? How many years?
Speaker 1: You said, as in practicing or in it myself? Yes,
Speaker 1: as in practicing UM as a trainee, I would say
Speaker 1: since two tho fourteen. Okay, And do you find that
Speaker 1: your clients are younger? Do you feel like this generation
Speaker 1: is looking more for therapy or what? What is your experience?
Speaker 1: I currently only work with adults, biddle, UM. You know,
Speaker 1: I do have other clinicians on my team that do
Speaker 1: work with children. UM. Thinking about social media and the
Speaker 1: community in general, we are noticing that the younger generation
Speaker 1: is carrying all of us like they are trying to
Speaker 1: do UM, all the advocating and it's amazing because you know,
Speaker 1: they're making statements like my therapist said in public right
Speaker 1: which for older generation you that would be so difficult
Speaker 1: because there was such a higher stigma than with somebody
Speaker 1: being in therapy. So I do find that the younger
Speaker 1: generation is normalizing it and they're doing such a great job.
Speaker 1: And I think that's also making other people like you know,
Speaker 1: in our generation and older generations more comfortable to talk
Speaker 1: about out their stories. Um, everybody's stories includes pieces of
Speaker 1: mental health, but it's all about the connections, you know,
Speaker 1: that we make towards that. So I'm noticing that that's
Speaker 1: good and that makes me so happy. It's just like
Speaker 1: I said, there's so much pressure right now in just
Speaker 1: in our society, and like I said, like what you
Speaker 1: gotta look look like and what kind of life you
Speaker 1: have to have. And I've noticed, like even in in
Speaker 1: my in my relationship now, that he goes to therapy
Speaker 1: weekly and when he doesn't go, I can tell the difference,
Speaker 1: not that he's crazy or whatever, like I'm saying, like
Speaker 1: that he gets violent or anything like that is what
Speaker 1: I mean, but I can tell that he's just Our
Speaker 1: problem solving is so much better. And this is the
Speaker 1: first guy that I date that actually makes it a
Speaker 1: priority to go to therapy and he's younger than I am.
Speaker 1: So just I'm like, dude, this is awesome. Like more
Speaker 1: many to do this because it really does help us
Speaker 1: because I've gone, like I said, to therapy for a
Speaker 1: long time, but now to be dating someone that's doing therapy,
Speaker 1: that does it weekly on a weekly basis, like our
Speaker 1: conversation satitions. Even when we have a discussion our arguments,
Speaker 1: we resolve them so much faster. It's a game changer
Speaker 1: in your relationships. So men, if you're listening, for those
Speaker 1: of you that are listening or women, you know what
Speaker 1: it's it's not like I said, it's not a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It's not you know. If anything, it's going to help
Speaker 1: every area of your life. Yes, I think it's super
Speaker 1: sexy that a guy could be like, hey, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I just I want to talk to someone that's not
Speaker 1: you, you you know. And at first I was like, what
Speaker 1: do you What do you talk to her about? Like
Speaker 1: things that and here's me okay being like this crazy girl. Um,
Speaker 1: I was like, what do you talk to her about?
Speaker 1: Um that you can't talk to me about. It's like
Speaker 1: it's just things. And I'm like, you know what, You're right,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't have to talk to me about everything, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, like, yeah, we're good friends and everything,
Speaker 1: and we get along very well. But I get and
Speaker 1: then you come back refreshed because I can tell the
Speaker 1: difference when he does his therapy when I do my therapy.
Speaker 1: So and it was that's just like my little personal
Speaker 1: you know, thing that I wanted to share their guys.
Speaker 1: But but Adriana, honestly, I I thank you so much,
Speaker 1: thank you. I really enjoyed this conversation. I think it is. Um,
Speaker 1: it's beautiful what you're doing. Keep doing it. I will
Speaker 1: definitely share you on my Instagram as well so that
Speaker 1: people can go to your website to tell everyone where
Speaker 1: they can find you your social You already gave us
Speaker 1: a website, but do it again, please, um let them
Speaker 1: know when. Uh. Well, you can find the podcast, which
Speaker 1: is bilingual, on all major podcatchers, and you can you know,
Speaker 1: visit us on Latin x therapy dot com to find
Speaker 1: the support groups, to find the therapist directory. Our channels
Speaker 1: are on Instagram and TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Latin X Therapy
Speaker 1: And then we just launched a new small nonprofit called
Speaker 1: the Alejandra Foundation, where we're gonna be fundraising forum to
Speaker 1: give money to folks to be able to afford specialized
Speaker 1: you know, mental health treatment, treatment that our community deserves.
Speaker 1: So that's through Alejandra Foundation dot org. Oh my goodness, girl,
Speaker 1: I'm so honestly, so happy, so proud of you. This
Speaker 1: is great. Like um, I always that we are empowering
Speaker 1: and inspiring each other, and this is what Adrianna is doing.
Speaker 1: So and everyone else everyone. I always like to end
Speaker 1: my episodes with a quote, and I thought, since we're
Speaker 1: talking about therapy, I wanted to go ahead and read
Speaker 1: this one. It's okay. It's okay to make mistakes, to
Speaker 1: have bad days, to be less than perfect, to do
Speaker 1: what's best for you, to be yourself. It's okay to
Speaker 1: ask for help. This is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Michael podcast Network. Follow us on Instagram at
Speaker 1: Michael da Podcasts and follow me cheek ease that's c
Speaker 1: h i q u I s. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: My Heart, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That many
Speaker 1: a t