Born in Miami to a large Latin family, I grew up in an environment where we didn’t talk about bad feelings, guilt, or shame—we were taught that crying didn't solve anything and talking about hard or vulnerable things just made everyone straight-up uncomfortable. My parents and many family members struggled with addiction and mental illness, and when I became a teenager, I succumbed to the family disease of addiction. I became particularly addicted to the chaotic cycle of dysfunctional relationships and self-inflicted turmoil, even after achieving sobriety. I truly dreamed I would find someone, and then I would be "fixed".

Throughout my life, despite having been in therapy on and off since I was 6 years old, I felt stuck and stunted. I was baffled by why relationships started passionately but only lasted a year or so. I left jobs in fiery explosions and felt a pervasive undercurrent of shame and guilt. I started suffering from chronic medical issues, which I now know to be physical manifestations of stuck anger, shame, and yes–grief. I powered through loss events like a champ. I had learned to "white knuckle" through life, pretending everything was fine.

Here's what I know: grief, like trauma, is cumulative. Sometimes, just one loss has the power to change our world. Other times, many moments of micro-grief add up until the burden becomes too heavy. Life becomes unrecognizable, though we’ve gotten by for so long. We wonder how we even got here.

I'm here to tell you, there is ABSOLUTELY another way to live. YOU can get there, and YOU deserve it!

I now live in Atlanta, Georgia, where I help people remember who they are and discover who they're meant to be, reclaim their power, transform their relationships with themselves and their loved ones, including their parents. Over the past four years, I’ve worked with many men and women using a combination of ACA (Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families), Nonviolent Communication, and Conscious Communication. I have worked the 12 Steps multiple times in various programs and have taken many through the steps. And now, I am so grateful to be able to add the Grief Recovery Method to my arsenal. By working through loss and resolving emotionally incomplete relationships and situations, YOU can drop the heavy backpack of chronic shame, guilt, grief, and isolation and live your absolute. BEST. life.