In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we are introducing you to a badass Latina who is killing it in the mental health space. If you follow me, you probably follow Jackie, too. Whether it's through her hilarious memes or her helpful mental health facts, Jackie is succeeding at destigmatizing mental health in the Latine community. 

Jackie Garcia is a bilingual Spanish-speaking Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over seven years of experience working with children, teens, adults, and families. Jackie grew up in Tijuana, Baja California until she was 12 years old. Her parents migrated to the U.S. to pursue a better life for her and her siblings. As many know, middle school years can be challenging. As a teen, Jackie struggled to adjust to a new culture, language, friends, and trends. However, these transformative years significantly impacted her life and led her to become a therapist.

Jackie encountered her first therapist during this phase of her life, experiencing therapy from the other side of the couch. Her therapist helped her navigate life transitions, adjustments, and hardships at the time. This experience solidified her belief in the broad array of benefits therapy offers, regardless of one’s circumstances, conditions, or concerns. Jackie's extensive clinical experience spans mental health outpatient programs, non-profit organizations, field-based community mental health, and private practice. 

In this week’s episode, Jackie and Erika talk about the stigma around mental health in the Latine community. We as a community have very specific traumas that we are very commonly finding ourselves addressing in therapy - including cycle-breaking, difficult relationships with our parents, and seeking mental health support. During their conversation, Jackie addresses all these topics and more so that you and your loved ones do not have to suffer in silence. Listen to the full episode to hear all about it!

Connect with Jackie:
Instagram: @therapylux

Website: https://therapylux.org/ 

Website:
www.theerikacruz.com

Follow Erika on:
Instagram @‌theerikacruz
TikTok @‌theerikacruz
LinkedIn

How to work with Erika:
Join the waitlist for Courage Driven Latina here.

Podcast production for this episode was provided by CCST.