My name is Eliza Angelica Gonzalez, and I am an Associate Social Worker with almost three decades of experience in social services. I’ve had the honor of working with, and alongside many diverse and marginalized persons which include persons affected with HIV/AIDS, Latinx teens, monolingual Spanish-speaking women, homeless families, children in the DCFS system, young adults, older adults, young children and their families, and survivors of trafficking. I am a mother of three adult children and the grandmother of a one-year-old puppy. I consider myself a life-long learner and am fascinated with the benefits of yoga on the mind and body. As a person of color, first generation, and the first to attend and graduate college in my family, I understand the challenges associated with being bicultural.My journey to becoming a therapist began in elementary school. Then, I focused on helping others and volunteered for any and every school job available because I spent a lot of time in school. As I grew into a moody misunderstood teenager, I knew I wanted to work with kids who felt like me. Because of my experiences along the way, I am compassionate, understanding, and a natural motivatorA chunk of my years of experience is with children and their families, and three things I think clients need to know about parenting is that feeling like you don’t know what you are doing is normal, your active participation in therapy is important for change, and that adults need support and encouragement to be able to provide those to the children in their careThree myths that clients need to know about family therapy: children may or may not “outgrow” certain behaviors; when a child exhibits extreme behaviors, it is not only “their” problem; family therapy is for white people.Diversity, to me, signifies how uniquely a person chooses to express themselves. On the surface, diversity can seem to include race, ethnicity, body features, expression in clothing, mannerisms, and speech, and underneath, diversity can encompass spirituality/beliefs, values, preferences in culture, books, art, and our histories. Because we get to choose how we want to be represented, it is important, especially for therapists to ask and not assume.
Education:
Area of Expertise:
Preferred Pronoun:
She/Her
