About Me

Hello! I am Melissa Pérez, and I am a Bilingual (Spanish and English), Queer Bisexual Xicana. I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, who provides individual therapy services for youth and adults in my psychotherapy private practice. I am also beginning my journey as a Doula. I will provide full spectrum reproductive, death, and gender affirming services. Through this journey, I am also learning the importance of centering reproductive justice.

I have resided most of my life in Kumeyaay Territory, in Southern California. Growing up and living in the border town of San Diego and Tijuana has shaped my identity as a Xicana fronteriza and Mexican-American. I was also a first generation college student.

I believe that the "personal is political," and I makes a conscious effort to be mindful of how I show up as an individual in my personal and professional life, and in the world. For me, this also means continuing to educate myself and advocate about Palestine 🇵🇸, Sudan, and Congo.

In my therapy work, I specialize in working with 2SLGBTQIA+, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations, particularly Latine. My areas of expertise include multicultural counseling, grief and life transitions, family and relationship issues, identity development and exploration, and immigration and acculturation experiences.

Much of my early professional training and experience focused on providing individual, family, and group counseling for youth (5 - 18 years old) and their families. In more recent years, and also due to providing primarily telehealth services, my professional experience has focused on providing individual counseling for Transitional Age Youth (18-25 years old) and adults. I also have experience providing case management and care coordination for individuals with higher support needs. This has included working with youth who were at risk of losing placement, some of whom were involved with the foster care and probation systems, and also adults experiencing severe mental illness and substance use.

My therapeutic approach centers practicing cultural humility, intersectionality, and being trauma-informed. Some of my therapeutic orientations include social justice, abolition, and liberation frameworks. I am also 2SLGBTQIA+ identify affirming, Poly-friendly, and sex positive and kink aware. 

When supporting any individual as a therapist, I make an effort to validate and non-judgmentally hold space for their process. When working with youth who are minors, I engage individuals in age appropriate discussions. In our discussions, I am mindful of being culturally sensitive to their unique worldview, while also considering how their perspectives are similar and different from their guardian(s)/family's cultural perspectives and world views.

My counseling style is eclectic and draws from therapeutic orientations, such as Feminist therapy, Family Systems, and Attachment based therapy, with formal training in: Emotion Focused, Motivational Interviewing, Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Strength Based, Person Centered, and Play Therapy.

Education

Master of Science, Counseling, Concentration in Multicultural Community Counseling

San Diego State University - Community-Based Block Multicultural Community Counseling LPCC program

San Diego, CA

Bachelor of Arts, Spanish Literature and Critical Gender Studies

University of California, San Diego

San Diego, CA

Areas of Expertise

Anxiety & depression, Mood disorders

Grief and Life transitions

Multicultural counseling & social justice

Family & Relationship issues

Identity development & exploration

Immigration and acculturation experiences

Populations:

LGBTQIA+ Communities, & Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC), particularly Latine

Youth (5 -18 years old) and families

Transitional Age Youth (18-25 years old), & adults

Therapeutic Orientations

Eclectic

Feminist therapy

Family Systems

Attachment based therapy

Formally trained in: Emotion Focused, Motivational Interviewing, Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Strength Based, Person Centered, and Play Therapy

Therapeutic Approaches 

Social Justice, Abolition and Liberation Orientations

Cultural humility and Trauma-informed

LGBTQIA+ identify affirming

When a client brings up any of the topics below, the discussion in therapy is facilitated in an age appropriate manner:

Poly friendly, Sex positive, Kink aware