In a very heartfelt and vulnerable discussion, Tom and Lisa Xochitl Vallejos, Ph.D., LPC (Dr. V) discuss the origins of mental health treatments in the US. Dr. V offers her root cause analysis of how a lack of community denies us sufficient time to properly grieve and heal from traumatic experiences. Hitting on social inequities, gender disparities, and racial biases, Dr. V challenges our thinking, arguing that in order to address the mental health crisis, we must first disassemble the framework of mental health treatment in Western societies. Recognizing how therapy is neither affordable for a large segment of underprivileged individuals nor profitable under a managed care insurance-only model for the therapists themselves, Dr. V speaks from her heart about social injustice on how traditional psychology and counseling focuses on the individual and often ignores the collective.

Dr. V. has been teaching at the college and graduate level since 2009 and has been a therapist since 2004. Over the years, Dr. V has been increasingly dismayed by the lack of culturally proficient therapists and has made it a priority to challenge the status quo. Dr. V believes that therapy and psychology need to be radically overhauled to be effective and accessible to clients who hold marginalized identities. While Dr. V works with training therapists on addressing multiple systems of oppression, her specialty is anti-racism in therapy.

Dr. V has her Ph.D. in psychology and is a licensed professional counselor. Lisa authored Shattered, How Everything Comes Together When It All Falls Apart and believes that until all of us are free, none of us are.