My name is Gonzalo (he/they/él/elle) and I’m a Puerto Rico transplant based in Pittsburgh. I’m a first-language Spanish speaker and can practice therapy in Spanish and English. I’m a social worker by trade, but I approach my work with clients collaboratively and holistically. I believe mental health work is inextricably linked to the social and historical conditions we live in and hope to create safe environments for clients to explore their experiences, challenges, identities, and place in the world.

My Therapy Style

My approach begins with recognizing that clients are the experts of their own experience. I might have a skillset that has offered me tools to support individuals in their emotional healing and growth, but clients know their lives, relationships, culture and context from firsthand experience. Because of this, my work centers collaboration, mutual exchange of knowledge, and a commitment to curiosity and flexibility in building the therapeutic relationship. I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all approaches and look forward to the process of person-centered relationship-building and support.

My experience so far has prepared me to support clients navigating gender and sexual identity, relationships with family, friends and community, neurodivergence, systemic oppression, substance use, anxiety, trauma among other subjects and lived experiences. I take an eclectic approach to therapy, which means that I borrow from different modalities to best meet my clients’ needs. I also believe in strengths-based approaches, recognizing that we live in a society where seeking help can often entail being pathologized, hurt, marginalized, and talked down to for not aligning with a prescribed way of being. I strive to get to know clients’ strengths, experiences, knowledge, and understanding of self in order to provide person-centered support for the challenges they might be experiencing. I’m trained in a variety of modalities, such as CBT, Emotionally Focused Therapy, The Gottman Method, and Internal Family Systems while grounding my work in decolonial, feminist, anti-oppressive frameworks. Clients describe me as approachable, grounded, and easy to talk to and I’m always open to feedback if there are ways that I can better support clients in their healing and growth.

Me When I’m Not a Therapist

I am an enjoyer of many things and am restless and energetic by nature. I do linocut printmaking as a contemplative and exploratory practice and use it to express political beliefs and playfully meditate on aspects of daily life. You might see me biking with Critical Mass, volunteering with the Autonomous Body Shop, or running around town visiting queer events. I have two cats that fill me with joy and love reading, poetry, and being outside. During summer, I’m often at one of many Pittsburgh public pools baking in the sun and spending time with dear friends.