Founder, Owner of Girasol Counseling 

I am a daughter of immigrants; a daughter of the diaspora; a wounded healer; an intellectual, spiritual, and queer Chingon@. These are a few identities that influence how I interact / experience the world around me, and stories attached to them: past and present. In my therapeutic work, I continue to work towards decolonization of both my healing practices and myself.

My parents are El Salvadoran immigrants. They migrated to the U.S. during the El Salvadoran civil war and made their new home in "El Centro" of Los Angeles. I was fortunate enough to be born and raised here with a large Central American community. My formation there naturally led me to healing work for myself, family, and community.

My healing work is inherited; I come from a lineage of people seeking healing. Professionally, I started healing work with young people as a case manager, advocate, and mental health counselor in 2016. 

Education: 

• Bachelor in Psychology and minor in Law, Societies, and Justice from the University of Washington, Seattle (graduate of 2016) 

• Masters in Social Work from the University of Washington, Seattle (graduate of 2020)

Trainings and Certificates: 

• Curanderismo: Traditional Healing Using Plants, University of New Mexico (2022)

• Certificate in Somatic Embodiment and Regulation Strategies, from Collectively Rooted (2022)

• EMDR Therapy training for BIPOC Clinicians with Lisa Hayes from the Institute for Creative Mindfulness (2023)

• Family SoulPages from Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute (2023)

Specialties:

• Historical Trauma, Intergenerational Trauma, Developmental Trauma

• Emotional, Physical, Sexual Abuse & Trauma

• Oppression & Internalized Oppression

• Mother Wound

• Latinx Issues, Immigration, Assimilation, Acculturation, Identity

• Religious and Spiritual Trauma

• Activism Burnout/ Service Provider Burnout

• Familial Stress/ Caring for Family Stress

• Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, Complex Trauma

• Attachment Wound

Mental Health Coach & Healing Artist 

My name is Joy and I grew up on Puyallup Territory, also known as Tacoma, Washington. 

I am energized to continue my work with Girasol Counseling, now in the role of a Mental Health Coach and Healing Artist. 

Being a Black woman from America, being a person of the global majority, makes me aware of how interlinked our self and collective care is directly tied to our liberation. It is necessary for both things to be happening at once; for us to simultaneously access our internal freedom while building a world for ourselves and future generations to thrive in. 

I believe in the power of inner change at the tiniest level. I believe in the power of the tiniest shifts leading to our personal evolution. I believe in the power of now. I believe in the power of YOU. 

I love the symbolism of a phoenix and believe just like a phoenix, as long as we are alive - that we each have that same power, to rise and start again despite the rubble and ash beneath us. 

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” - Rumi 

This quote is by the poet Rumi and reminds me of the innate beauty that comes from remembering ourselves and remembering that goodness still exists here, goodness still exists within you and within us. When we remember that, we can reclaim our own meaning of self and be open to what that journey unfolds. Our lives are works of art filled with colors, hues, shadows, and light. Are you curious about how healing and creativity can interconnect? If so, I would be happy to be alongside you for your journey of self exploration and healing through writing, art, and coaching. 

Experiences and Education to highlight: 

• Literary Arts Teaching Artist since 2016, working with both youth and adults. 

• Graduate of Washington State Teaching Artist Training Lab (a 8-month long professional development training for arts educators and teaching artists, I graduated in 2019) 

• Former Spoken Word poet, I performed as a part of an art collective called Intellect Gang. Our performances were centered on social justice topics. Places we performed at included: the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration hosted by the City of Tacoma, the University of Puget Sound, and First Creek Middle School/the YMCA’s Seeds of Peace Youth Summit. We facilitated writing workshops at Baker Middle School and this was my first experience facilitating workshops while teaching on mindfulness citing Dr. Masuru Emoto’s water experiments.

• From 2023 - 2025, I facilitated weekly classes with the organization, Path with Art. With this organization, I worked with adults including veterans, folks navigating housing transitions, job transitions, and those navigating overcoming substance abuse. I also facilitated in person classes with this organization with one of their social service partners, Jubilee Women's Center which is a transitional home for women healing from crisis and domestic abuse. 

• Hospice Caregiver and Certified Nursing Assistant: I was the Primary Hospice Caregiver and Certified Nursing Assistant for my grandma whom I provided care and support to during the last months of her physical life and was able to be present with her during her physical transition from this plane to the next. In this experience, I experienced first hand what it means to be of service to someone you love. I completed my CNA training at Bates Technical College. 

• Youth Development and Educator: I have worked with youth in various capacities including in the realms of teaching, conducting afterschool programming, supervising a youth late night drop-in program, tutoring, as a poetry slam coach, and as a paraeducator. I worked as a paraeducator for two years working with Indigenous youth including Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 4th graders at a local tribal school. In this experience, I learned what it means to foster compassion, listening, and to work alongside youth when it came to conflict. 

• Certified in Adult Mental Health First Aid training. This training is to provide initial help to someone experiencing a mental health or substance use challenge. This training was provided by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. 

• In 2022, I co-organized 4 BIPOC healing events with this healing collective I co-founded called Healers Connect. We had two events online and 2 in person. Our events offered a mix of healing services including AcuDetox, meditation, yoga, painting, writing, sound healing, and tarot readings.

• Recipient of Design Thinking Applied Project Badge awarded by UW Tacoma Global Innovation and Design Lab. This credential demonstrates that I have completed training in human-centered design which is a creative problem solving design process that centers people.  

• Graduate of Tacoma Climate Leadership Cohort. I learned about climate solutions and civic engagement to build a stronger future for our planet. This culminated in a capstone project where I published an article about the concept of complete neighborhoods as a method for fostering equity and building healthy, community centered neighborhoods. This training was organized by Tacoma Tree Foundation and the City of Tacoma. Claudia and I co-facilitated a somatic writing workshop with Tacoma Tree Foundation in 2025 called Reciprocal Relations which was about sustaining a healthy relationship with both the earth, each other, and ourselves - one that is reciprocal and mutually beneficial. 

• Graduate of Introduction to Traditional Medicine & Ecological Knowledge program facilitated by Naa káani Native Program (graduated in 2023)

• Mentorship (that is ongoing) provided by Claudia, Founder and Owner of Girasol Counseling

• A.A. in Arts and Sciences from Tacoma Community College 

Background of my work and connection with Girasol:

My background with Girasol is rooted in collaboration. Beginning in 2024, Claudia (the founder) and I co-facilitated group healing gatherings called somatic writing workshops. These gatherings incorporated somatic therapy practices, intentional breathing, time for writing, reading, sharing, and being in community with others in nature. In 2024 and 2025, we held these gatherings together at various places including a monthly BIPOC gathering at the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory, a workshop with the City of Tacoma Arts and Cultural Vitality Division, Union Cultural Center, JSOL Studios, Tacoma Tree Foundation, Blue Cactus Press, Common Good Tacoma, and Healing Connections: Nature and Wellness Symposium organized by Strategic Nature. Participants in these gatherings included working parents, community members, artists, youth, and elders. These healing gatherings focused on a specific theme whether it was courage, connecting with nature, transformation, ancestral connection, cultivating gratitude, and more. 

General Outline of what work will look like together: 

• Our first session will look like setting goal(s) of the work you would like to do together! I may offer some writing prompts here as well to unpack different themes or topics that come up. 

• 2nd and through 4th sessions: confirm if we’d like to continue working together. I’ll offer writing prompts, music, or something we can read together whether that’s a quote or a poem that is in alignment with the areas you’re seeking to grow in or heal from. This could also look like making a list, writing a letter that you can choose to keep or not keep, answering a few questions, exploring a literary device such as personification or one of the senses, drawing, or a mixture of several of these depending on what’s resonating with you in the moment! 

• Sessions going forward: reviewing what we have learned, perhaps finalizing some type of art whether that’s a poem, some affirmations you’d like to record for yourself to listen to, a visual art piece whether that’s a collage, drawing, painting, etc. We’ll make goals for future sessions and/or come back to a theme(s) or topic(s) that you’d like to revisit. 

Mental Health Coach, Masters of Arts in Teaching

I am the embodiment of our plant, animal, and human ancestors.

I am a human being made of water, sun, soil, and air.

I am a living miracle—my wellbeing deeply interconnected with all life that exists.

I am the child of parents who dedicated their lives to serving youth living on the streets of downtown Seattle. I grew up in the South End of Seattle, where I went to school, attended church, played sports, and served my neighborhood. My childhood was shaped by moving between many different worlds—from the countryside with my immigrant grandmother to the white, upper-class suburbs of Washington and Arizona.

This upbringing taught me that life is sacred and worthy of care. It also gave me an early understanding of the intersectionality of identity—including ethnicity, nationality, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, and ability. I developed a deep curiosity about power, oppression, suffering, healing, wellness, and collective liberation.

This led me to ask:

How can we be healed, well, and collectively liberated—in mind, body, soul, and spirit—within an existence that includes suffering and oppression?

I’ve been exploring that question ever since—through independent study, formal education (earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree), mentorship, and eight years of mental health therapy. For the past ten years, I’ve worked in schools—as a middle school math assistant, English teacher, and elementary PE teacher. In PE, I created a program that used play to teach social-emotional learning. The importance of these foundational skills became even clearer during the pandemic.

My Core Belief

If we are to be healed, well, and collectively liberated, we must develop essential skills for understanding ourselves and the environments we live in.

What you will get from Mental Health Coaching

Awareness of Self

1. Emotions and thoughts

2. Identity: Knowing your story, developing your principles, defining your success

3. Aligning mind, body, soul, and spirit

Awareness of Environment

1. Interpersonal

2. Communal

3. Systemic

Supporting Skills 

To deepen our understanding and grow in these areas.

• Reflection

• Meditation

• Visualization

My Coaching Philosophy

My coaching begins with building a loving relationship, rooted in:

• Respect

• Responsibility

• Compassion

• Dedication

• Kindness

• Gratitude

• Honesty

• Courage

• Humility

Humility calls us into a learning partnership—where both coach and client are committed to lifelong learning. From this foundation, we can create space for true mentorship: a relationship that both encourages, educates, and supports growth.

Spaces for Skill Development

• Dialogue

• Play

• Reflection

• Meditation

• Visualization

Education

• Bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from the Central Washington University (August 2010)

• Master's in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University (June 2018)