You don’t have to choose between your family and yourself.
You’ve probably been told to cut them off. I actually want to understand your family first.
Therapy for family expectations, guilt, and breaking generational cycles. Online in California and Idaho.
You’re trying to figure out who YOU are and it’s complicated.
Your family matters to you. Your culture matters to you. And you also want to make choices that actually feel right for your own life. But every time you start moving in that direction, family guilt shows up right on schedule. Like clockwork.
You worry your family won’t understand. That you’ll disappoint them just for wanting something different. That choosing yourself somehow means losing them. So instead you stay quiet, go along with it, and wonder why you feel so stuck.
You’ve probably heard you need to set boundaries with your family. But nobody explains how to do that when boundaries can feel disrespectful, or just don’t translate the way that advice assumes they will. The people giving that advice have clearly never had to explain a “boundary” to their abuela.
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
How I Work
Therapy that doesn’t always ask you to choose.
A lot of the advice out there will tell you to cut off your family, set hard limits, and prioritize yourself above everything else. And look, sometimes that’s the right call. But a lot of the time that advice leaves people feeling more alone than when they started.
That’s not how I work.
I’ve navigated my own family expectations. I’ve sat with the guilt that comes with wanting something different. And I’ve done my own therapeutic work around identity, family, and what it means to make choices that actually feel right for me. So when you bring that into our sessions, I’m not just drawing from my clinical training. I’m drawing from something I actually know.
Family guilt therapy sounds clinical. What it actually looks like is someone finally feeling like they don’t have to explain why this is hard. You won’t have to justify your family to me, defend your culture, or pretend it’s simple. I already know it’s not.
When we work together you won’t just get a trained therapist. You’ll get someone who has been there, done the work, and genuinely understands what you’re carrying.
How We Work Together
A roadmap for people who were never given one.
I’m Yvonne, and this is exactly the kind of work I do.
I help adults who are done people pleasing, exhausted by family expectations, and ready to stop repeating cycles that were never theirs to begin with. Not by asking you to walk away from your family, but by helping you figure out how to show up for yourself without losing the relationships that matter to you.
Being a cycle breaker is hard. Nobody hands you a roadmap for how to do it without blowing up your relationships in the process. That’s where I come in.
In our work together, you’ll learn how to:
Stop second-guessing yourself every time you want something different
Set boundaries that actually work in your family dynamic
Understand how your cultural expectations have shaped you
Build an identity that feels true to you, without leaving your roots behind
This work is personal to me.
Here’s what I actually believe.
I believe you don’t have to choose between your family and yourself. Anyone who tells you that you do is oversimplifying something deeply complex.
I believe guilt isn't a reliable guide for your life. It's something you've learned, not something you have to keep obeying.
I believe a lot of boundary advice was not made for you. It ignores culture, family dynamics, and the reality of staying connected.
I believe cutting your family off isn't the only way to heal. And for many people it's not the right way at all.
I believe your culture isn't the problem. The work is learning how to live within it without losing yourself.
I believe you're allowed to outgrow roles, expectations, and patterns, even if no one around you understands it yet.
I believe this work is hard. And you shouldn't have to do it alone.
Here’s what we can work on together.
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I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. Honestly, that sounds exhausting for everyone involved. I pull from several approaches based on what you actually need, not just what’s trendy.
Here’s what that can look like in our work together:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – helps you recognize and shift the thought patterns that keep you stuck in guilt and self-doubt
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) – helps you get clear on your own values so you can make choices that actually feel right for you, not just for everyone around you
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) – builds practical skills for managing emotions and navigating hard conversations with your family
Internal Family Systems (IFS) – helps you understand the different parts of yourself, including the ones that are still trying to keep the peace
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – supports healing from past experiences that are still showing up in your relationships and choices todayDesensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – supports the processing of past experiences so they feel less overwhelming
Motivational Interviewing-Helps you work through the ambivalence of wanting change but feeling pulled in different directions. Because wanting something different and actually going for it are two very different things.
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University of San Francisco: M.A.-Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and family Therapy
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Certified Perinatal Mental Health Clinician (PMH-C)