If you are navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, family conflict, parenting challenges, relationship difficulties, or a major life transition, therapy can provide a safe place to understand what you are experiencing and begin moving forward.

As your therapist, my purpose is to create a caring and nonjudgmental space where you feel comfortable sharing your story. Together, we can explore the experiences and patterns affecting your emotional well-being while developing practical tools to help you feel more grounded, supported, and confident in your daily life.

I am a bilingual, first-generation Mexican American therapist who was born and raised in Los Angeles. With more than 15 years of experience in social work and mental health, I have worked with children, adults, older adults, and families in community mental health, medical, school, and private-practice settings.

I understand that every person enters therapy with different experiences, strengths, relationships, cultural influences, and goals. My role is to meet you where you are and personalize therapy around what you need.

My Approach to Therapy

My approach to therapy is strength-based, client-centered, and trauma-informed. I draw from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and psychodynamic approaches to help clients better understand themselves and create meaningful change.

My therapeutic style is caring, inviting, positive, and nonjudgmental. I believe that therapy should feel collaborative and supportive while also helping you recognize patterns, explore difficult emotions, and develop healthier ways of coping.

I work with clients experiencing concerns such as:

• Trauma and distressing past experiences
• Anxiety and excessive worry
• Depression and low motivation
• Grief, bereavement, and loss
• Family conflict
• Parenting challenges
• Relationship and interpersonal difficulties
• Emotional triggers
• Difficulty managing intense emotions
• Low self-esteem or self-worth
• Stress related to major life transitions
• Challenges connected to aging or changing family roles
• Feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or emotionally stuck

Together, we can explore how your past experiences may be influencing your present thoughts, emotions, relationships, and behaviors. We will also identify your strengths and build practical coping skills that support your individual goals.

My goal is not to tell you who you should become. It is to help you recognize your own strengths, understand yourself more deeply, and feel empowered to make decisions that support the life you want to create.

Trauma-Informed and Culturally Responsive Therapy

Trauma can affect the way you view yourself, relate to others, respond to stress, and experience safety in your everyday life. You may notice anxiety, sadness, emotional triggers, relationship difficulties, negative beliefs about yourself, or a sense that you are constantly trying to protect yourself.

Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that these responses may have developed as ways of surviving difficult experiences. Rather than asking, “What is wrong with you?” we begin by understanding what happened, how you learned to cope, and what you may need now to feel safer and more supported.

Trauma therapy may be helpful for individuals experiencing:

• Childhood trauma
• Family or relationship trauma
• Distressing or painful memories
• Emotional neglect
• Grief and significant loss
• Anxiety or depression connected to past experiences
• Difficulty trusting others
• Emotional triggers
• Persistent feelings of guilt or shame
• Difficulty setting or maintaining boundaries
• Patterns that continue to affect relationships
• Feeling stuck in survival mode

You will not be pressured to share every detail of a painful experience before you feel ready. We will move at a pace that respects your comfort, needs, and emotional safety.

As a bilingual, first-generation Mexican American therapist, I also understand that mental health can be influenced by culture, family expectations, generational experiences, identity, language, and community. Therapy provides space to honor those parts of your story while exploring what healing and personal growth mean to you.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy

Different therapeutic approaches can support different parts of the healing process. You do not need to know which type of therapy you need before beginning.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help you recognize how your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors influence one another. Through CBT, we can identify unhelpful thought patterns and develop healthier ways of thinking, responding, and coping.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) emphasizes your strengths, resources, and ability to create change. This approach helps us identify what is already working, establish realistic goals, and develop practical steps that can help you move forward.

Psychodynamic therapy creates space to explore how earlier experiences, family relationships, and unconscious patterns may be influencing your present emotions, choices, and relationships. Developing this insight can help you better understand yourself and begin changing patterns that no longer serve you.

Depending on your needs, therapy may include elements of each approach. Treatment is personalized rather than based on a one-size-fits-all method.

Is Therapy Right for You?

You do not have to wait until you are in crisis to begin therapy. People seek support for many reasons, including wanting to understand themselves better, process difficult experiences, improve their relationships, cope with loss, manage stress, or feel more emotionally balanced.

Therapy may be helpful if you:

• Feel overwhelmed by anxiety, sadness, or stress
• Are struggling to move forward after a painful experience
• Notice the same conflicts or patterns repeating in relationships
• Are grieving a death, separation, or major life change
• Need support with parenting or family relationships
• Have difficulty expressing or managing your emotions
• Want to strengthen your boundaries
• Feel disconnected from yourself or others
• Want to understand how your past is affecting your present
• Are ready to create meaningful and lasting change

Together, we can discuss what you are experiencing, what you would like to change, and how therapy may support your individual needs and goals.

Start Therapy with Sonia at Paloma Therapy

You do not have to navigate everything on your own. Whether you are experiencing trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, family conflict, parenting challenges, relationship difficulties, or a major life transition, therapy can provide a supportive place to begin healing.

Paloma Therapy provides culturally responsive and trauma-informed mental health services, with options for in-person and virtual therapy depending on clinician availability.

Sonia provides bilingual therapy in English and Spanish and works with clients across different ages and stages of life.

Book a consultation with Paloma Therapy to learn more about working with Sonia and determine whether her therapeutic approach is a good fit for your needs. 

Email: hello@palomatherapy.com

Paloma Therapy — Where Healing Begins.