About Emily

A young woman with dark curly hair, wearing a dark blue sweater, standing outdoors in front of green foliage, smiling at the camera.

I recognize that shared identit(ies) might be an important factor in choosing a therapist. I am a gender non-conforming, white Latine of the Honduran diaspora who has lived with chronic illness. I am an activist and take particular interest in abolition and immigration/migration justice.

With seven years of experience in the social work field, I am a strong advocate and feel passionately about uplifting voices that are often repressed. I became a therapist because I find so much meaning in human connection and the creative ways we heal ourselves and our communities. I know from personal experience how life changing embodied healing can be. Facilitating and witnessing this transformation in others is incredibly rewarding.

I’ve lived in Austin for over a decade enjoying the hill country and large bodies of water. Outside of the therapy room, you might find me gabbing with my friends, thrifting, politically organizing with other healers, reading and writing, practicing tarot, or watching horror movies with my spouse and our cats!

Headshots and nature photos are credited to my husband, Mark. ♡

Sea with birds flying over the water and a distant island under a clear blue sky.

Education & Licenses

  • BA in Sociology, University of Texas at Austin

    MSW, University of Houston

  • LMSW #110394

    Supervised by Vanessa Newton, LCSW-S

  • Intro to Parts Work Through an IFS Lens

    Parts Work for Memory Reconsolidation

    Trust Based Relational Interventions (TBRI)

    EMDR Trained

  • I’m Human Too Podcast - Episode 7

About Invisible Steel Counseling

Young girl in a green and white basketball uniform holding an orange Wilson basketball, smiling, against a gray textured background.

Invisible steel has been a mantra for me since I was 13 years old.

This was when I first read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a coming-of-age novel by Betty Smith about the Nolan family living in a Williamsburg tenement in the 1900’s from the perspective of the daughter, Francie. We follow Francie throughout her childhood as she lives in poverty, faces intergenerational trauma, and contends with gender violence and gender roles. She relies on reading and her imagination as her temporary escape.

Smith describes the Nolan women as being made of “thin invisible steel”—while these women appear to be fragile, they are strong and are the glue that holds the family together. Francie is faced with hardship, but she has the ability to find the tools within and around her to live a fulfilling life full of magic, whimsy, and wonder (hence the title).

Like Francie, I was also figuring out how to navigate a world filled with cruel and difficult obstacles; and, like Francie, I was able to use books, story-telling, and my self-protective invisible steel as aids to help me get through it all. Francie’s character and her story helped me perceive myself as resourceful and make sense of my own experiences as an adolescent, unraveling the truths of my inner world and the realities of the real world.

Trauma leaves us feeling out of touch with ourselves and our innate wisdom. I hope to guide you in discovering your own invisible steel; your own resilience and compassion for yourself and the many parts of you that deserve to be nurtured, held, and celebrated.