Inspiring Conversations with Gabriela Pulido-Dymond

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriela Pulido-Dymond.

Hi Gabriela, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My title is Associate Marriage and Family therapist and I work under direct supervision of Sahar Martinez Psy.D, LMFT. For as long as I can remember, I have always been a helper of sorts. My heart has always chosen kindness and compassion, however, my decision to work in Mental Health was driven more by my own personal struggles. I had played competitive soccer throughout my childhood and quit around age thirteen. I remember feeling an immense loss, grieving this identity as “the soccer player”. What was my purpose now? I struggled with that a lot. Shortly after, my parents went through a pretty brutal divorce. I experienced a numbness I can still sometimes feel till this day. I felt unaffected by the absence of my father. I had completely dissociated from my emotions. The world was moving so fast. Everyone was going about their days normally, as mine fell apart. I lost two purposes so suddenly, being the soccer player and being my father’s daughter. At least, that’s how it felt to my younger self. So, I did want most teenagers do best, bottle it all up, projected it all out and engaged in every bad habit my parents warned me about.

Conversations surrounding mental health were almost nonexistent during my adolescence. Today we are seeing a shift in perspective and an inclusion of mental health topics, conversations and educational information. We get to have open conversations in and out of the therapeutic space regarding similar struggles and ways to cope with our symptoms.

Today, I am so grateful to be working in a field that normalizes mental health struggles rather than minimizing and victimizing others. Truthfully, my initial desire in becoming a therapist was to help younger versions of myself. Luckily, going through my own healing journey, I was provided the space to attend to those parts of myself and achieved an overwhelming sense of peace.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I faced adversity from family and friends when I first began my journey into the therapeutic space. I heard a lot of, “Why would you want to hear people complain all day”, “I would never want to do that” and “Are you sure you’re going to be able to do it?”. Even six years ago, mental health was not trending as much as it is today. There were many moments I wanted to give up. There was a time in grad school I was working two jobs and seeing clients (unpaid). Grad school was difficult. There was a lack of clinical training and an expectation to be fully committed to the program. As a trainee, you are unpaid earning hours towards licensure. It was difficult trying to afford a lifestyle in California and do the work I loved. I was fortunate enough to have a supportive family and great friends I had made during grad school and work that have not only supported me throughout this journey but have become close family and friends.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I initially began my journey as a therapist in community mental health. Fees were based upon income making therapeutic services more readily available for all populations. Most recently, I worked as a clinical therapist in an outpatient treatment setting, serving young adults and adults struggling with mental health diagnosis’, physical, sexual and relational trauma and addiction. Currently, I am running mental health advocacy groups and working in a private practice setting. I strive to be the kind of therapist I needed when I was younger but struggled to find someone relatable, trusting and non-judgmental.

I work with Adults, Young adults, Families and Couples struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD (trauma), addiction, behavioral & relational issues and borderline personality disorder. I specialize in healing through relational, sexual and physical abuse traumas that have occurred throughout childhood and/or adulthood. Abusive or dysfunctional relationships with family and loved ones create deep wounds within ourselves. These wounds result in parts of ourselves feeling hurt, abandoned and dismissed. I use a combination of Internal Family Systems, Attachment and EMDR interventions/therapeutic approaches.

Trauma focused treatment has most certainly become a passion of mine, more specifically Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy better known as EMDR. The processing and healing that occurs in the therapeutic space is something words can not describe. EMDR is an effective trauma treatment that “alleviates distress from traumatic memories” allowing a reprocessing of maladaptively stored memories. The client is able to reduce or eliminate symptoms of PTSD using bilateral stimulation and processing emotionally distressing material in small doses. After successful treatment with EMDR therapy, distress is reduced, negative beliefs are reconstructed and emotional relief can be achieved. Most importantly, EMDR can be done in fewer sessions than traditional talk therapy reducing costs and improving quality of life.

Healing, relief and freedom can be achieved. Freedom from the weight of past experiences, shame and guilt and the mental clarity to rewrite our stories. I am currently earning consultation hours towards EMDR certification and hope to become fully certified following licensure.

What does success mean to you?
If you would have asked me this question five years ago, I would have said having a career and a family. Today, I understand success to be this ever-moving construct that is forever unattainable. By this, I mean there is always some goal to hit, some dream to attain or some impossible task to complete. As a society, we define our self-worth through our successes, “What type of career do you have? Where did you go to school? Are you married? How many children do you have?”. There is no end in sight if we look at success as this attainable thing. Success to me is experiencing a calmness and fulfillment within myself. Success can change from day to day. Maybe you were able to get out of bed today, success. Maybe you made a difficult phone call you have been dreading, success. Maybe you finished all your goals for the week, success. Maybe you feel good in your body for the first time in a long time, success! Therefore, I can’t define success in one singular definition as it presents differently for each individual. However, I hope there is a shift in the way we view success as a western culture because it should not need to dictate anyone’s self-worth.

Pricing:

• Individuals $135
• Couples & Families $150
• EMDR $150

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapywithgabriela
• Website: therapywithgabriela.com

Image Credits:
Sabina Jacqueline