​Jessica Hernandez
she/her

https://www.empoweredmindca.com/ | ​[email protected] |  925-257-0205
Instagram: @empoweredmindtherapy @jessica.hernandez.lcsw

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Title: Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Languages Spoken: English
Affiliation: Empowered Mind Therapy Center, CAMFT-East Bay
Approach: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Ecotherapy, EMDR, Expressive Arts Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, Multicultural, Narrative Therapy, Relational Psychotherapy, Strength Based, Somatic Experiencing, Trauma-Informed Psychotherapy

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Healing occurs within the relationship, through cathartic action, and in community.
​In my experience of working with QTBIPOC youth, adults, and families, I have learned that showing up, living authentically, and centering in queer joy,

liberation, and celebration are sustainable ways to dismantle oppressive structures, systems, and the cishetero-patriarchy. I find that utilizing narrative processes, movement, art, and music are helpful tools in navigating, deconstructing, and processing through racialized trauma and experienced bigotry. My hope is to utilize my work and my position to support in decolonializing therapeutic spaces and uplifting QTBIPOC folx as we move through this healing journey together.

I support folx in recognizing their own resilience, exploring intersectional identities and sense of self, and navigating life's stressors and challenges. My experience includes working with folx experiencing depression, anxiety, grief/loss, and PTSD/CPTSD, as well as LGBTQIA+ and QTBIPOC youth and their families.

​Clients have told me that I have a grounding and soothing presence while still showing up in a relatable and humorous way. I can crack a joke and support in self-reflection, all at the same time! My style is relational, humanistic, culturally-humble, and trauma-centered. I’m not a blank slate therapist - I bring my whole self to the work and to building the therapeutic relationship. My identities as a mixed Filipinx/Latinx, bi, first-generation, Fat woman informs a therapeutic perspective of anti-oppression and celebration. My clinical training is in CBT, DBT, and Motivational Interviewing. I have also been trained in EMDR to support with brain-based trauma processing.

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What does "mental health" mean to you? Why is it important for us as Filipinxs/Filipinx Americans to normalize discussions around wellness and mental health in our community?

"Mental health" means experiencing healing, stabilization, and joy in our bodies and minds in order to strive for collective liberation and community. When I became a therapist and social worker, my extended family was surprised, noting that "Filipinos don't do therapy". This stigma informs my clinical lens as a Filipina-American therapist who works with Filipinx clients, that we are taught to ignore our mental health for the "betterment" of the family and community, that therapy is for White people and "we don't do that". Although therapy from a Western context was not built with us in mind, engaging with our mental health and recognizing that we need support is a practice that we can uplift as a community. By destigmatizing Filipinx/Filipinx-American mental health, we are able to process through cycles of intergenerational trauma, reconnect with ancestral resilience, and decolonize our minds and bodies.