Meet Rosa M. Santoyo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosa M. Santoyo.

Hi Rosa, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a second-generation Mexican American born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mexico on February 8, 1954. I am the only child of my parent’s marriage. I was brought to the United States when I was three months old. I grew up in Watts, California. My parents were very hard workers (mother Elvira, was a seamstress, and father, Herbert, was a welder). My parents instilled a strong love for my culture, and learning Spanish. My father also instilled a love of education and travel. I attended both a Catholic grammar school (St. Malachy’s in Watts) and an all-girls high school (St. Matthias in Huntington Park). I attended California State University, Fullerton for both my Bachelor’s in Human Services and my Master’s degree in Counseling/Psychology. Once I selected my major in counseling, I participated in various internships to practice/hone my counseling skills. Since I was raised an only child and grew up basically with adults, I felt like the “odd person out” with most of my peers. I was also much more comfortable being an introvert and working independently. Through these various internships, I discovered a love for working with young children, especially preschool-age children (ages 0-5 years olds). I was also able to utilize my bilingual/bicultural ability in all my work. The last internship offered me my first employment. I worked at the Child Guidance Center in Fullerton, California for five years. When I graduated with my Master’s degree, I obtained my state license as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). I wanted to be recognized and paid for my bilingual skills. Unfortunately, this didn’t occur. I soon left and ventured out on my own.

I set up my own private practice and worked with a variety of individuals/couples/ children in various cities in Orange County. There were times I worked with other licensed clinicians and other times, I was working as an independent clinician. I didn’t realize at the time that this was a unique and daring feat for a bilingual woman. Through this work, I was offered the opportunity to be a Special Needs/Mental Health Consultant (able to finally utilize my Spanish skills) with Orange County Head Start. I suddenly found myself to be an independent contractor with Head Start and other school districts in Orange County. I was also offered a contract as a mental health consultant with the Migrant Farm Workers program. This work holds a special place in my heart, given that my father was a migrant farm worker when young in Oxnard, California.

I continued the balancing act of maintaining my private practice and various independent contracts. Despite the fact of being a clear introvert, I became quite adept in public speaking. I found myself writing various topics to present (special issues such as discipline, child abuse, domestic violence, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, self-care, etc.). These workshops were presented in both English and Spanish, either in one-time presentations or specialized training for teachers and parents.

I took every opportunity to obtain specialized seminars/training as I could to expand my knowledge base. Thus, I’ve been trained in various curriculums and my focus was always upon being able to offer these topics in both English and Spanish.

In my professional journey, I was trained and worked with the University of California, Irvine with a then, new program working with teaching parenting classes called Cuidar. This program changed name over to Child Behavior Pathways. I was able to teach 95 classes (9-10 week courses) throughout Orange County. I taught 65 classes in monolingual Spanish and 30 in English.

My father died in 1997 at the age of 75 years. He was happily able to witness all my higher educational goals and my work with the Migrant program. He never truly understood my work as a therapist, yet was highly proud of my accomplishments. I took care of my mother throughout this time. She developed Alzheimer’s in 2009, and I had to make the very difficult decision to place her in an assisted living facility until her death at age 91 years in 2020. These facilities can be quite costly and I was my mother’s sole support, both emotional and financial. In order to pay for her care, I found myself working up to seven jobs (the various independent contracts, private practice) for close to 11 years. As I look back at these years, it was a crazy making time, yet I bit the bullet and would do anything for my parents who had given me so much in life.

Another area of expertise came while working with a reproductive endocrinologist. I began to conduct mental health services for the potential ovum donors, emotional support for the intended parents, and conduct psychological assessments for potential surrogates. The doctor retired and I continued to be recommended to continue my work with various agencies conducting these psychological assessments. Spanish-speaking surrogates are a growing field. Thus, I continue to be able to utilize my Spanish-speaking skills to the present day.

Upon my mother’s death, I could finally slow down and currently consider myself to be “semi-retired.” It is interesting to note that this fact doesn’t seem to be quite true. I continue to maintain a small private practice where I still charge a sliding scale fee. I have independent contracts with Orange County Head Start, Santa Ana Unified School District, La Habra School District, and the Migrant program. My work with the Migrant program has now shifted to offering mental health services to families in Ventura County (100% Spanish-speaking families) via Zoom/telehealth. I continue to conduct psychological assessments with various agencies and conduct one-time workshops and a series of workshops (curriculums offered bilingually).

Since the pandemic, I elected to close down my brick-and-mortar office in the city of Orange and now conduct much of my work via Zoom and telehealth. This fits my personality of an introvert well.

I love to work with minority populations and be able to utilize my Spanish within this community. As long as God gives me the ability and health, I shall continue to offer my services. I thank God daily for all the blessings He has bestowed upon me. I love my work, and having the special ability to listen to others and assist/guide them through counseling. I will often times say, “It is my drug of choice.”

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I often times feel I have lived a “charmed life” of sorts. There have been glitches along the way. I went through early menopause and had to have a total hysterectomy by the age of 32 years. I never had children. I had a wonderful relationship with my significant other for 26 years. We never married, yet had a fantastic life together. He died suddenly in 2010. I was blessed with fantastic parents who were extremely supportive of whatever I chose to do with my life. As I look back to the entirety of my life thus far, I have been both blessed and guided into various educational and professional roads. No, it hasn’t all been easy and I have oftentimes found myself to be the “trailblazer” for working with underprivileged, low-income families and being able to always push for working with the Spanish-speaking population. My father taught me to “always speak English to perfection.” He encountered much prejudice in his life and military service in WWII. I have no accent and have been told that I speak like I’ve taken diction classes.

One of the very first challenges I encountered was attending a Catholic high school. I knew I wanted to attend college after graduating. I had a 3.9 GPA. I had been taking college preparation courses. I remember being called for a meeting for educational guidance by a nun. She reviewed my academic records and without hesitation, strongly encouraged me to choose to work as a secretary, or better yet, get married and have children. I recalled being instructed by my parents to respect our elders, let alone a nun. I thanked her and simply walked out of her office. I recall thinking, “I’ll show her.” This is when I went on to attend the university and graduate with my BS in Human Services and my MS in Counseling/Psychology.

My high school was quite small (I graduated from a class of 64 girls). It was a culture shock to attend the university. My first class was 105 students! And I was and continue to be quite the introvert and nonassertive. I was also one of the few Hispanic students attending CSUF. Again, I was beginning my role as that trailblazer.

When I graduated with my MS, I was only one of possibly five female students who were Hispanic. I was already pushing for more services for the Spanish-speaking community and encountering many roadblocks.

As stated previously, my first employment was mostly with the Anglo community. I was advocating for more services to be offered to the Spanish-speaking community. I often times found myself being a unique person, let alone that I am a woman with unique talents/skills.

It wasn’t until my work as an independent contractor where I able to hone my professional skills and gradually come into my own as being a bilingual/bicultural counselor who worked for myself. I never realized how different/unique this was and continues to be. My father told me I would likely be a “late bloomer.” He was truly correct!

I continue to encounter prejudice or challenges to this day. I simply don’t allow these to bother me and I view them as opportunities to better my professional skills and strive to work with the Hispanic community.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I love being a clinician/therapist. Since Spanish is my first language, I strive to provide services in Spanish, whenever I can. I love working with minorities and low-income families. I enjoy working with early childhood (0-5 years olds) and their families. I feel I am impacting/teaching future generations. Given that I have been in the field for over 45 years, I am able to mentor future clinicians. I love teaching (despite the fact that I’m an introvert…I can be a “ham” when “on stage.” I have the gift/ability to impart information in an interesting, creative, humorous, and straight forward manner. I’ve been told that I can be a dynamic public speaker. I’ve also been told that I’m more animated when I present my topics in Spanish. Again, I get a natural “high” when I’m imparting knowledge to others. Over the years, I have developed templates on teaching workshops, parenting classes, and now, specialize in conducting psychological assessments for potential surrogates. Since Zoom has come into its own, it’s wonderful to work from home and still be quite busy conducting these types of interviews. I am quite adept in doing my paperwork. I suppose I’m obsessive-compulsive in that I like to keep order and on top of any documentation I need to maintain. My writing style is easy to read and quite down to earth. I’m constantly educating others and have a strong ability to address people at their level, never talking down to them.

I am extremely proud of all of my abilities, utilizing many of the skills that God gave me. I’ve taken risks and opportunities to push myself to learn new skills/things, even when these skills don’t come easily/naturally to me. I’ve been told by my family and friends that I am quite unique. Being raised by parents who loved me dearly and always encouraged to strive for more has assisted me in my quest of knowledge. I want to continue to impart/pass on these special skills to future generations.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
It is certainly unfortunate that the world had to encounter a pandemic such as Covid-19. When the world stopped to deal with the ravages of this pandemic, I had to make the difficult decision to close down my private practice. It actually turned out to be the best thing I’ve ever done. Keep in mind that I’m a true introvert and love being alone. I work best independently. My mother was in assisted living at this time and had been placed in hospice care. She was a trooper and was in hospice for close to 2 1/2 years. As I dealt with her slow and inevitable decline and ultimate death in 2020, I was finally able to slow down and focus upon her, and reassess my life as a clinician.

Happily, I was able to maintain my work via Zoom and telehealth. I actually have been busier since my mother’s death. Thankfully, I’ve not been working like a “crazy woman with seven jobs to pay for her care.” I’ve always been a multi-tasker, able to maintain so many different contracts and keep my professional work straight/compartmentalized. I term myself as “multi-talented.” I can certainly keep myself busy and love being alone. When at home, I love my hobby of doing counted cross stitchery (especially Art Deco designs). I love viewing cartoons and still do so daily. I love things associated with Disney. And, I love cats. While at home, I can spend quality time doing my stitchery and being with my cat, Luna.

I’ve learned to be flexible and “go with the flow.” Again, I take every opportunity to utilize my clinical skills and offer services in both English and Spanish.