Hello! Hola!
I’m Brii (she/her/ella), a bilingual & trauma-informed clinical therapist, art therapist, certified yoga teacher, and multidisciplinary artist practicing in Austin, TX.
I am also a first-generation, queer, bicultural Latina, mother, and lifelong student.
My passion for healing has included working with both English and Spanish-speaking children, young adults, and adults in community mental health care and residential care in both inpatient and outpatient treatment settings.
My goal as a therapist is to collaborate with you on your journey. I approach clinical work from a trauma-informed, healing-centered perspective and I believe in the power of healing through storytelling and creative expression. I am passionate about the intersections of mental health, advocacy, and the process of creating to explore the relationship with the self and others. Particular care and attention is given to intersectionality; the interconnectedness of our social identities (age, race, ethnicity, gender, language, class, disability, and religion, among others) is at the core of everyday experience, life stories, and bodies and that it informs our movement, relationships, and place in the world. I strive to practice from an anti-oppressive framework that affirms and celebrates all of my clients’ identities. But, most importantly, I am here to meet you exactly where you are and to help you explore the power you hold within.
I’m an advocate of using art as a medium for nurturing the soul, healing the inner self, and for deep self-care. I am an active member of professional associations, including the American Art Therapy Association and the South Texas Art Therapy Association. I have also been actively making art on my own time and have exhibited my work in San Francisco, Chicago, and Austin.
In my personal life, you can find me spending time with my family, exploring spring-fed swimming holes, hiking and running, practicing yoga, and making art (which you can check out more here!).
I’m so happy you are here.
Education
Licensed Professional Counselor Associate (Texas) (#92559)
Registered Art Therapist (#23-313)
EMDR Trained (EMDRIA)
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
Certified Yoga Teacher, Modo Yoga International
Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling (MAATC), School of the Art Insitute of Chicago, 2023
Bachelor of Arts in Political Science International Relations and French & Francophone Studies, UCLA, 2012
A quick note on my art-based research & community-based work…
I am interested in exploring the relationship between myself and my identities through research of the body-mind connection, engagement in community-based work, and learning about the systems that have the potential to hold space for relevant interactions. I believe that artistic expression is relational. I believe that artistic expression is in the processes of advocacy and healing that lead to emotional clarity and empowerment. I hope to start conversations about how narratives shape who we are and form our communities in expressions of the unspeakable.
My work walks the line of art and craft; I flirt with the contrasting and interwoven intersections of art and craft as an experiment of beauty and function, of ethnoaesthetics and utility. I chose to focus on the intersection of art and craft as an ode to my Hispanic ancestors, craft traditions passed on from my family, and to call
on stored memory in my body: my work culminates in uplifting voices of nostalgia and memory ranging from blissful to traumatic that are stored through ritual and repetition. I am interested in how identity is formed in the spaces of ritual and repetition, how this informs identity formation of the intersectional self, how this influences intentional and unintentional performances in space, and how explorations of identity can inform subjective notions of individual and community healing.
I am currently working on mixed media, performance, and textile pieces exhibiting mental and physical health topics that surface in the intersections of ancestry, childhood trauma, and mothering. I challenge myself and others to be more critical about mental and physical health topics, particularly related to birthing, movement, connection, and death.