About Lalo Rivera
Hi. I’m Lalo.
I help teens and adults heal hurts, overcome trauma, find light in dark places, and emerge with more clarity, peace, and wholeness.
Truth or Dare?
From a very young age, I have always been a seeker of why and how. When I found myself in a game of Truth or Dare, I was more interested in Truth over Dare. I loved being in the middle of a deep soul-baring truth-telling conversation even if the truths were relatively tame and there weren’t many souls being laid bare back then. It still made me feel alive and set down the groundwork for the person I became.
As someone who had their own dark places to venture into and hurts to heal, I spent time in my early adult years on unearthing the why and how of me.
One of the paths I took to get reconnected to myself was therapy. I found that the type of therapists who offered me the most in the way of change and self-growth were therapists who either integrated a body-based or creative approach. Up until then, I’d spent a lot of my time living in my head or in books (so many books) instead of really addressing my problems. But then I discovered how much I was missing out on by being disconnected from my body. And when I got reconnected, I found that my body is where all my hurts were hiding, where all the truths were waiting, and where the key to healing resided.
My Background
Wanting to deepen my understanding of the mind-body connection, I opted to pursue and obtain a Master’s degree in Counseling with a concentration in Somatic Body Psychotherapy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Naropa provided a unique learning environment where Eastern wisdom studies and mindfulness practices were deeply embedded in our coursework and curriculum. To this day, I practice meditation regularly, attend meditation retreats when I’m able, and find it enormously beneficial both for myself and for my clients.
Now, years later, I really love helping people befriend their bodies and discover how transformative it can be to relate to issues such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief through creative expressive and body-centered therapy.
The Wisdom Of The Body
Expressive and body-centered therapy is incredibly beneficial for healing and recovery. Clients participating in this type of therapy often find solace in learning their symptoms are normal and that there’s a clear and well-traveled path towards healing.
Embodiment means having greater awareness and self-understanding of the discomforts, sensations, and emotions that are reflected in the body. So often our body is sending out smoke signals of distress but we don’t know how to decode the messages it’s trying to convey. For example, anxiety can show up as feeling constant tension and being on edge. Depression can bring up feelings of heaviness and lethargy. Grief can feel like pressure in your chest. And trauma can cause the body to feel like a landmine of intolerable sensations.
One of my goals as your therapist is to help you form a harmonious relationship with you mind and body by becoming fluent in the “language” of your body. This embodied experience will allow you to feel capable and confident in managing your emotional stress and any challenges you’re currently facing.
Are you ready to let go of the life you have and discover the life you want?
My clients are mostly deep thinkers, seekers, and sensitive souls who seem to have it altogether to everyone else but deep down are worried they’re broken and unfixable.
I’m here to not only tell you you’re not but also to help *you* know this to be true for yourself as well.
I believe it is absolutely possible to overcome the hard things that have happened to you, to break free of the things that are holding you back, and to attain the fullest healthiest version of yourself.
I understand that opening your story to another is a deeply vulnerable thing to do and I truly hold our time together with reverence and care.
My mission is to help you overcome fear, squash negative thoughts, transform hurts, get comfortable feeling your emotions fully, experience your body as a safe place, find your voice, have fulfilling relationships, believe in yourself, get okay, get better than okay, experience life in new and inspiring ways, step into your full self, grow, grow, grow, and grow some more.
If any part of you is saying a full-bodied yes to this, reach out and let’s get started!
Credentials And Education
ﻬ Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), Texas, #77665
ﻬ Licensed Addiction Counselor (LAC), Colorado
ﻬ Master’s in Counseling with a concentration in Somatic Body Psychotherapy, Naropa University
ﻬ Bachelor’s of Arts in Creative Writing, Oberlin College