Monica Attia

Language(s) Spoken: 

English

Relevant Experience: 

I am eternally grateful to the Center for Community Counseling and Engagement for providing me with ample opportunity to serve a richly diverse population of clients. It has been a true privilege to support couples, families, and adult individuals as they grow toward their desired change and healing. My therapeutic work is grounded in EFT, IFS, Brainspotting, and Narrative Therapy.

“Taking the spider to bed would not be loving it. The fact that you let the spider be a spider where spiders live shows that you love it: You let the other arise as a legitimate other in coexistence with yourself.” - Humberto Maturana

Madeline Brisceño

Language(s) Spoken: 

English

Relevant Experience: 

I had the privilege of working with children, youth and families at CRF’s Douglas Young Youth and Family Services. I utilized CBT, MI, EFT and Narrative Therapy techniques throughout my clinical experience. I am passionate about providing trauma-informed, culturally responsive care to my clients, while implementing a collaborative and relational approach.

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelou

S. Megan Brown

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Nueva Vista Family Services. I held the privilege of working with younger people and their families using CBT while incorporating Narrative interventions. I am passionate about using storytelling in the therapy room as a way to co-construct and heal.

“I want there to be a place in the world where people can engage in one another’s differences in a way that is redemptive, full of hope and possibility.” - Bell Hooks

Erin Chan

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish

Relevant Experience: 

I’ve had the privilege of completing my traineeship at UPAC Multicultural Community Counseling, working with Asian and Latinx youth and families. My current work is primarily informed by Narrative Therapy, EFT, and somatic practices. I am passionate about collaboratively finding and integrating alternative forms of expression for the body and mind with clients through play, physical movement, song, and more - bringing in different languages from experience as a music and trauma-sensitive yoga teacher.

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” - Peter Levine

Sierra de la Torre 

Language(s) Spoken: 

English

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my traineeship at Crossroads Family Center in El Cajon, where I worked alongside children, adolescents, and their families. Witnessing their stories through their words, art, and play has been an honor. I strive to invite agency, curiosity, and creativity by blending  Narrative Therapy, DBT, SFBT, and Play Therapy.

“It is our obligation as practitioners to bring reasonable hope, a believed-in-hope, or an embodied-hope to our relational work with clients.” - Vikki Reynolds

R. Nihan Eryonucu

Language(s) Spoken: 

Turkish, English 

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my training at San Diego State University’s Counseling & Psychological Services where I had the privilege of collaborating with youth adults as they navigated many transitions in their lives. In this role, I provided individual and couples therapy as well as co-facilitated groups. I approach therapy from a trauma- informed, client-centered, and culturally sensitive lens. My clinical work is influenced by Narrative Therapy ideas and values, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

Matthew Hein

Language(s) Spoken: 

English 

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Cherokee Point Elementary School through Project IMPACT as a school-based play therapist, supporting students, families, teachers, and staff to  strengthen relationships amongst the systems which are housed in public education. I integrated narrative play therapy alongside client-centered approaches which are developmentally appropriate.

“Friend if the only thing we have to gain in staying is each other, my god that’s plenty

my god that’s enough
my god that is so so much for the light to give
each of us at each other’s backs whispering over and over and over

“Live” “Live” “Live”

- Andrea Gibson, excerpt from “The Nutritionist”

Brayan Hernandez Angel

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Rady Children’s Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry, working with individuals, families and co-facilitating groups. I utilized a CBT approach while also incorporating elements of Narrative Therapy. I hope to be able to continue supporting and providing services to disadvantaged communities that don’t have access to mental health services.

“Never give up on someone with a mental illness. When “I” is replaced by “We”, illness becomes wellness.” - Shannon L. Alder

Nickole Livas 

Language(s) Spoken: 

Spanish, English, Greek

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Monte Vista High School as a school-based therapist, supporting students and their families. I enjoy practicing from a humanistic model and my areas of interest include aging, depression, emotions, resilience and working with underserved communities.

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Fátima López

Language(s) Spoken: 

Spanish, Spanglish, English, Love

Relevant Experience: 

My energy led me to completethe completion of my clinical training at the Center for Community Counseling and Engagement Center. I had the privilege of working with children, families, couples and individuals. I decided to temporarily practice my work through a narrative lens.  

“STAY” - Fatima

Jannet Lopez

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish

Relevant Experience: 

I had the privilege of collaborating with children, youth and families at UPAC Children & Adolescent Mental Health. My clinical work was influenced by narrative therapy, SFT and CBT while incorporating play and art therapy techniques. I am passionate about working from a trauma informed lens and taking individual narratives into perspective to meet people where they are. 

“If your child marches to a different beat, a different drummer, you might just have to go along with that music. Help them achieve what’s important to them.” - Sonia Sotomayor

Iliana Lopez Yanez

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my traineeship at Nueva Vista Family Services, where I enjoyed working with young children (ages 6 to 12) and their families. My preferred modalities are CBT and Play Therapy, but I've been known to incorporate Narrative and talk Therapy interventions into my work. I hope to continue working with communities that need access to quality, affordable mental health care.

“You are enough. You are so enough. It is unbelievable how enough you are!” - Sierra Boggess

Yasamin Manesh

Language(s) Spoken: 

English

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Cherokee Point Elementary School through Project IMPACT as a school-based play therapist. I supported students, families, teachers, and other staff to help young people navigate their school and relational systems. I utilized narrative play therapy and client-centered approaches prioritizing a strength-based, collaborative stance to de-stigmatize and increase access to mental health services in marginalized communities.

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you go; they merely determine where you start.” - Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

Jama Mohamed

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Somali 

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Union of Pan Asian Communities, Children and Adolescent Mental Health (CMH). My clinical work is influenced by Cognitive Behavioral and Narrative Therapy, while also incorporating Play and Art Therapy strategies. My passion lies in working with adolescent and transitional-age youth from underserved serve communities using trauma-informed practices.

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” - John Green

Flo Oliveria

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Portugese, Spanglish 

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at the Center for Community Counseling and Engagement as an intimacy and sexual health therapist, supporting a diverse client pool of couples, families, and individuals. I enjoy working from a Narrative and EFT approach with transformative justice influences. I have ample training in sexual health, non-monogamy, and LGBTQIA+ counseling.

“I touch my own skin, and it tells me that before there was harm, there was a miracle.” - Adrienne Maree Brown

Isabel Palmer 

Language(s) Spoken: 

English

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my traineeship at UPAC Children’s Mental Health serving children, families and co-facilitating groups. My work is influenced by a strengths-based lens, utilizing narrative therapy with the incorporation of art and play techniques. I’m passionate about taking a collaborative stance that empowers the children and families I work with.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” - Maya Angelou

Zabreen Shaikh

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Hindi, Urdu

Relevant Experience: 

I was honored to serve young adults through individual and couples therapy, along with co-facilitating groups at San Diego State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services. I incorporate EFT, SFBT, and Structural Family Therapy to shape my culturally responsive approach. My areas of interest include life transitions, familial conflict, and attachment injuries.

“We must recognize that we are more than ‘homo sapiens’. We are ‘homo vinculum’ - the one who bonds with others. And these bonds are what will save us. They always have.” - Sue Johnson

Maimuna Tareq

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Bangla 

Relevant Experience: 

For my clinical training, I supported students and their families at Monte Vista High School as a school-based therapist. I prefer working from a narrative perspective and incorporating individuals’ cultural practices into their therapeutic work. I hope to support marginalized communities, especially Muslim teens and their families. 

“Stories are powerful…but gather too many of the words of others in your heart, and they will drown out your own.” - Zeyn Joukhadar, The Map of Salt and Stars

Dennise Torres-Alfaro

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish 

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training in the San Diego Unified School District Mental Health Resource Center, working with children, adolescents, and families from various backgrounds at Morse High School and School Link. While working in these settings, I had the opportunity to advocate for individuals and provide services that would otherwise not be accessible to them. I had the privilege of conducting group therapy sessions on subjects including interpersonal relationships, social anxiety, and communication. I approach my work with individuals through the lens of CBT and SFT while adapting to meet the needs of the diverse individuals I served.

“The Latina in me is an ember that blazes forever.”  - Sonia Sotomayor

Yasmine Willis Fernandez

Language(s) Spoken: 

English, Spanish, Spanglish

Relevant Experience: 

I completed my clinical training at Monte Vista High School as a school-based therapist where I supported diverse and bilingual teens and their families in managing their mental health. I prioritize providing culturally-sensitive care, and I appreciate working with narrative, emotion-focused, and solution-focused approaches.

“Where you are, is not who you are. —circumstances”  Nayyirah Waheed, Salt