Trini Vergara, RCC

(Services English and Spanish)

Healing individually:

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

— Carl Gustav Jung

My conception of therapy is a safe space where you can talk about absolutely anything: your fears, your dreams, the parts of you that you like, and the ones that you don’t like to accept as much. In this space, you can cry, you can laugh, you can be angry. I want us to embrace every part of you with compassion.

I believe therapy should be a collaborative process, in which we can agree on a treatment plan that suits you, and work together towards your goals: we are equal partners in the therapeutic process. From my side, I promise to remain curious, transparent, respectful, accepting, receptive, caring and thankful with you for trusting me and sharing your life story with me.

My work is from a feminist/anti-oppression framework, which means that I recognize the psychological impact of power, privilege, and oppression, and that I support an empowerment-centred therapy process.

I consider myself an integrative therapist, which means I combine ideas and techniques from different therapeutic schools of thought in order to tailor our sessions to your needs. After working with individuals from varied backgrounds and identities, I’ve learned that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Many of the patients that come to see me identify as 2SLGBTQIA+, immigrants/refugees, and/or neurodivergent with ADHD or autism. I want you to feel included, and that your uniqueness and differences are welcomed and treasured.

Among the treatment modalities that I utilize is psychedelic integration therapy. The recent advances made toward the destigmatization of these powerful medicines has helped to prove that they can act as a catalyst for inner healing and teach us life lessons when applied with proper guidance. Unlike other medicines, psychedelics can help us get to the root causes of our mental health problems and confront them. They have the ability to help lower the barriers that stand between us and true healing to feel more whole and connected with ourselves, with others, and with the world around us. Psychedelic integration therapy can support you in making meaning of your psychedelic experiences, and integrating the insights into your life, to ensure that you can create meaningful and long-term change.

Whether our sessions involve psychedelic-integration therapy or other forms of therapy, my intention of our work together is that you will become more aware of yourself: Your wants, your needs, your thoughts, your emotions, and your body, which will make it easier to make decisions that are more aligned with your values and intentions. I also trust that you will incorporate healthy habits and develop new skills for your toolbox that you can use whenever you need.

“As long as you keep secrets and suppress information, you are fundamentally at war with yourself…The critical issue is allowing yourself to know what you know. That takes an enormous amount of courage.”

―Bessel Van Der Kolk

Healing Relationally & Sexually:

“Acknowledge and embrace your emotional needs. Don´t pretend you are anything other than who you are (...). Most people are only as needy as their unmet needs.”

― Amir Levine

Human brains are wired to connect with others. Just like babies, who need to remain in contact with their caretakers in order to feel safe to explore, adults feel more confident and calm when they build strong, nurturing bonds with their romantic partner(s). The word “build” is operative, as love is more of a decision or an action than it is an accident. Even if we all relish the fantasy of not needing other people to be happy, we can instead embrace our emotional needs and work towards a more secure attachment style, allowing space for the possibility of interdependence in our relationships.

Social connections have a great incidence in our well-being; for that reason, it is worth gaining skills to build more positive/healthy relationships, such as skills for managing conflict, skills for increasing the level of intimacy and friendship, and skills for creating shared meaning with our partner(s).

I find that there is significant importance in learning to pay mindful attention to what we feel, want and need, and learning assertive ways to communicate those discoveries with our loved ones. These skills can allow us to design the type of relationships we want or need, making it easier to create romantic and sexual agreements that work for everyone involved.

There are many factors, biological, psychological, relational, intergenerational, and societal, that can be influencing how we are experiencing sex. If left unaddressed, these internal and external elements can prevent us from enjoying the present moment of our sexual experiences. For example, it is understandable why someone would internalize societal ideas about how sex should supposedly work and focus only on achieving performance-objectives, such as having a certain type or amount of orgasms. Let’s explore what factors might be involved in your case, and let’s work towards your own idea of success!

“Treat cultural messages about sex and your body like a salad bar. Take only the things that appeal to you and ignore the rest. We'll all end up with a different collection of stuff on our plates, but that's how it's supposed to work.”

― Emily Nagoski