Jazmin Xiomara Barrera

LMFT

I am a bilingual (Spanish & English) marriage and family therapist licensed in California with over 13 years of experience working in clinical practice. I am born and raised in San Francisco's Mission District. I am Salvarodan and Nicaraguan; and a native Spanish speaker. I have served clients experiencing multiple occurring conditions requiring some form of crisis stabilization service or intervention. I have counseled individuals and families dealing with an array of issues such as immigration/deportation, domestic and community violence, teen pregnancy, work – readiness, homelessness, substance abuse, and more. I use a client-centered and strengths-based approach when I work with clients. I believe that it is critical to collaborate with cleints in identifying and attaining what they are seeking. I believe that clients are experts in their lives and I am an expert my field. I collaborate with clients to identify key people that make up their natural support systems to enhance clinical treatment goals, and objectives throughout their course of treatment. I understand the impact culturally informed, social justice, and relational approaches can have in defining health and wellness practices, as well as alleviating community violence and intergenerational trauma. I use a client's emotional language when possible to help create a safe space that allows clients to be their true authentic selves, and express their truth in ways that are therapeutic. My goal is to help clients build on their strengths and develop wellness practices that can help them overcome obstacles that prevent them from continuing in their healing journey.

I conceptualize health and wellness from traditional Mayan and Nahuatl perspectives. I believe that historically marginalized communities are experiencing significant intergenerational soul wounds that manifest in their symptoms and behaviors. I believe that issues of forced displacement, systemic & institutionalized oppression, discrimination cause historically marginalized communities to re-enact the violence caused by colonialism. Affirmation about cultural and ethnic identity is generally lacking at the present moment resulting in some communities experiencing traumatic, and humiliating experiences related to their ethnic pride and culture. It is within this framework of Liberation Psychology that I integrate evidenced-based techniques and interventions to empower clients on their healing journey and agents of change.