Gabe Cortez

Therapy is hard to define. We each carry our own singular experience into the process: our unique histories, our complex tapestry of relationships, our love, our pain, our wounds, and our scars. Therapy is as unique and complex as each of us, thus we each experience it in our own way. I believe our complexity is a gift, although at times our lives can feel like a mystery, especially to ourselves. We feel stuck and confused, unsure of how to heal or grow, and we wonder if we can ever truly thrive. Many of us wonder if there’s a recipe for our healing and growth, or if perhaps there’s a map we could follow, if only we could find it. H. Rheingold wrote, “Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.” My goal is to help people discover and follow the map of their lives. Over the course of our work, we will collaboratively build a unique therapeutic setting where you can put words to what it’s like to be you. By doing so, we will begin to make meaning out of things you’re attending to. We will also work to grow your self-knowledge and your ability to be honest with yourself. We can’t change our pasts, but we can discover peace—with who we are and where we’ve come from. My goal as a therapist is to increase your ability to hold both acceptance of uncertainty and pain alongside unbridled hope for goodness—all things in balance together.