Gema is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor with seven years of experience within the mental health world. After completing her Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Sonoma State, Gema began her associateship with teen girls in a dual-diagnosis residential program where she saw the importance of recovery through a trauma-informed, community-based lens.

She draws on that experience, as well as her time working with adults in a crisis residential unit to provide support to our clients in Pura Vida’s Outpatient Program.

In her clinical work, Gema utilizes a person-centered approach, meeting clients where they are with unconditional positive regard. She uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) techniques to help her clients identify their core values, find acceptance toward themselves, and make commitments to a life-long journey of recovery. With experience running Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) groups, she offers clients tools to cope with the challenges that life often brings.

Upon reflection, she states, “At the core of my work, I am a human sitting with another human, holding their experiences while they thread together their future.”