Olivia Valdés, M.A.

· Supporting the process of exploring and deciding who they are and want to be (identity and values work)

· Expanding emotional awareness and developing emotional intelligence skills

· Processing and getting through life transitions

· Processing immigration experiences and concerns

· Processing, managing, navigating, and integrating biculturalism

· Processing discrimination and navigating micro/macroaggressions

· Processing trauma (PTSD, complex, cultural, political, etc.)

· Processing and navigating relationship concerns/conflicts

· Developing strategies to balance academic and parenting life

· All-things-women’s health

· English

· Spanish

Working with me looks like diving deep into understanding our emotional experience, exploring and questioning our values, and understanding our worldviews while co-creating space with people to encourage living an authentic life, striving for self-discovery, self-regulation, self-advocacy, self-agency, while being in relationship with others living in community. I put a lot of emphasis on integrating the mind with the body, as our bodies are a vehicle fueled by our minds, and vice versa.

I use Adlerian theory as my framework, understanding that feelings, thoughts, and behaviors serve a purpose to achieve our life goals, where sometimes our goals are misaligned with who we are today or who we want to become, needing guidance realigining. I focus a lot of the work on our sense of belonging rooted in the reciprocal relationship with our communities. I understand wellness from a feminist, Adlerian, and systems perspective, highlighting that we are immersed in a sociopolitical context that we can’t overlook and it has impacts on our everyday life, health, and wellness. I pay attention to the culture and subcultures people come from including family structure and dynamics that have shaped their understanding of relationships with themselves and others.

I grew up in Chile and migrated to the Unites States almost ten years ago. I come from a big family within a collectivist culture. Homemade food is my love language and Fall is my favorite season in Chicago. I am a crafty-creative- double-cat mom and have two human babies. I am also a career-changer, coming from the graphic design and marketing industries into clinical psychology. On my free time, you can find me cooking Chilean food, trying to play the piano, and boxing!