Rate Denise Garcia

I've unknowingly been developing my passion for this dream career. I often thought, What would it be? Who would I work with? What service will I provide?

Then, my first daughter was born, and I became obsessed with all things related to being an intentional/conscious/respectful parent. Drawing on years of postgraduate education, clinical experience, and training, I created an outline of my signature parenting mindset. After my second daughter was born her from us one month and ten days after she was born. The pain that came with my Lulu’s loss was torture and led me down a path that felt familiar, but one that was very unique at the same time. I went on a journey where I felt intense pain, but it did not consume me like the losses I had experienced in the past. I wondered why, and it was because I had done EMDR for my past losses that created a space for me to grieve and mourn without the intense anxiety and depression I had experienced in the past. At the end of 2023, I returned to work and decided to get trained in EMDR. The implementation of EMDR allows me to have a unique perspective on grief and loss that I want to use to help others experiencing grief and loss across the spectrum of what grieving the loss of someone or something can mean. For example, the grief that comes with the loss of a pregnancy, infertility, loss of a relationship, and the loss of a loved one.

Experience

I became an associate therapist in 2017 after receiving a master's in Marriage and Family Therapy.

After graduating, I began working as a DIR Floortime Specialist, focusing on treating children on the Autism spectrum and their families. Here, I learned about sensory processing and how it can help children with diverse brain capacities. I understood that we ALL have different capabilities in how we relate to others, regulate, and experience the world. I learned how a specialized sensory diet could help with overstimulation, sensation seeking, irritability, and other sensitivities children experience.

During my master's, I specialized in the understanding of trauma and trauma-informed care. I became an associate therapist in 2015 and spent 7 years at 3 different community mental health organizations. One of the perks of being in community mental health was having access to the best conferences and training you can attend in Los Angeles. For example, I attended top-tier conferences on treating trauma and trauma-informed care. In these conferences, we learned about the brain and how it is impacted by trauma. Not to mention the countless individuals I treated with a trauma-informed lens over the course of seven years.

During COVID, I had extra time and was on maternity leave, so I was motivated to receive my Doctorate. I gained confidence in my therapeutic skills by relearning and solidifying my confidence to treat trauma.

At the end of 2023, I returned to work and decided to get trained in EMDR. The implementation of EMDR allows me to have a unique perspective on mental health that I want to use to help others experiencing grief and loss across the spectrum of what grieving the loss of someone or something can mean. For example, the loss of a relationship, the grief of being a single parent, or the loss of a loved one.

I also learned how our psychological needs affect learning and information processing. For children (even small children), it could be bullying, unbalanced parenting styles, or things changing at home that cause learning, memory, and focus challenges. I also gained the knowledge needed to teach, which is another of my passions. There is a lot of development in therapy, and I gained the awareness necessary to assist others in the learning process.