5 Latina Mental Health Experts Who Are Incorporating Ancestral Spirituality Into Their Work

On Her Journey:

From a very young age, Veroshk Williams, PhD, took an interest in psychology and human suffering as a result of the loss and trauma she experienced as a kid. "I had a very emotional start of my life, which was basically due to losing both parents to HIV when I was little. My mom passed away when I was 4 and then my dad when I was 7. So since then, I have always been very curious about why we suffer," she told POPSUGAR Latina. It was that question that took Dr. Williams on an emotional and spiritual journey that led her to get into psychology. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Dr. Williams came to the States for college, studying at Cornell and Harvard. Her focus was on clinical psychology. She was really interested in understanding the depth of the human mind and helping people. It was her own spiritual awakening that eventually led to the incorporation of astrology in her work.

"I went to a consultation with this Colombian astrologer and she basically told me I was going to end up doing astrology, and I was like, 'What? This lady is crazy.' Because I was coming from Harvard with my suit and was like, 'No, I don't even know what this is,'" she said. "But since I had decided to go on a sabbatical, I was like, 'I don't know if this is true.' A lot of the things she told me about myself did make sense to me, and after the consultation, she invited me to take some classes in astrology with her. I was like, 'Well, I don't really have much to do so I might as well do something with my free time.' So I did it and it blew my mind."

Dr. Williams was surprised at how much math was involved and quickly started to realize that there are components of astrology that can actually help with mental health. "Basically what astrology brought to my life then was that in a short amount of time you can get concrete answers about a person and concrete possibilities that that person can obtain by making series of decisions in a specific amount of time [all based on these mathematical calculations and measurements]," she said. "So to me, that was something psychology didn't have because we didn't see the problems, we couldn't see the characteristics and the persona. In psychology we don't have the really concrete information as to whether, according to that specific person, what are their true possibilities in life? Like where should they live? Does it make a difference? Or should they devote themselves to a very dynamic type of work environment or a very passive one? That's the information we get from astrology."

It was after that moment that Dr. Williams decided to get the equivalent of a master's in astrology at a program in Colombia. She knew she still wanted to pursue a doctorate in psychology, which she eventually did, because it was her passion. But she felt this intense curiosity to study astrology, not knowing at the time that she would eventually fuse astrology with psychology as a private practitioner. "Because when you're studying psychology there are so many rules, the ethics of science and the pressure from health insurances, even professors and programs don't encourage you to move away from that, so studying astrology was more for myself and my family."

What She Does:

Despite the pushback she got from friends and family for studying astrology for two years in Colombia, Dr. Williams did it. And while she was happy she went for it, she was also disappointed that it wasn't something she could openly share or discuss in her circles for years. But everything changed after the newspaper El Nuevo Día asked her to write a horoscope for the end of the year. Today, she still has no idea how they heard of her. She had finished the astrology program and was working on her doctorate but wasn't promoting it anywhere. The piece did so well she eventually became their monthly horoscope columnist, which led to people reaching out for her to do astrology readings for them. Initially Dr. Williams started doing her astrology consultations separate from her psychology sessions because of all the regulations in her profession. Eventually she went into private practice and launched her company Sanación Infinita, based in Puerto Rico, where she now is able to merge the two based on the client's needs. She makes it clear to clients though that astrology is not fortune telling.

"There is a psychological component to astrology. People have a misconception that astrology is the spiritual belief. Spirituality is the consequence of astrology. But it's not the root of astrology. From a philosophical way of viewing it, the foundation of astrology is not spirituality, but at least not the way that we define it today," she said. "The foundation to astrology is everything that can be calculated. Get all the positionings of the planets and base everything from that. A lot of people approach astrology with just their sun, moon, and rising sign and say, 'This is me.' But astrology gives you the information of your ideal self. The more you work on yourself to be that ideal self, then you'll feel good. The basic part of astrology is your birth chart, but when we use more complex mathematics and we put that into a dynamic relation with time and compare your horoscope with how it would interact a month from today for instance . . . and according those interactions, that's how we do predictions, or what we call progressions."

Where to Find Her:

@vroshk

On Her Journey:

Growing up, Alexmi Polanco didn't see therapists who looked like her. So for years, she didn't think it was something she could actually do for a living. She also grew up in a Dominican household, where therapy was seen as something for "locos." But she always felt this calling in her to help people, and it wasn't until her last years in high school after speaking to an adviser that she realized this was the work she was meant to do.

"These misconceptions the Latino community has about therapy comes from ancestral beliefs going back to slavery and colonization. Our people had to learn not to pay attention to these kinds of things because we had to survive, and it's literally how a lot of people still think about [therapy] today," she said. "Like, I have bills. I have kids. Literally, we've been trained to function and live from a place of survival, and when you are in this place, you can't think about mental health unless you're to the point where you're 'crazy.' This is why we don't prioritize mental health, and even when we get sick, a lot of people are like, 'I need to fix myself to go back to survival.' It's not even, 'I need to get better to better myself.' It's like, 'I need to get better because I have these responsibilities that I need to get back to.'"

Polanco quickly realized that she wanted to be the change in her community and set forth on her career path toward being a licensed therapist. Through her own spiritual journey, she noticed that spirituality was the missing piece in psychology. Growing up, her Dominican mother practiced the Dominican spiritual practice of the 21 Divisions. She attended rituals and ceremonies as a child, but after realizing that it wasn't something accepted by everyone in the community and that it was still seen as taboo by Christian and Catholic Latinx folks, it took her a while to fully embrace it. Even after her own awakening, Polanco felt hesitant to incorporate it in her work because it went against her trainings.

"A lot of the foundational classic theories of psychology were founded and created by white men and centuries ago. These white men created these modalities based off their experiences with white clients. Till this day, these theories are used in our trainings because they do explain a lot, but they also leave out the nuances of different cultures," she said.

A psychopathology course where a white professor spoke about diagnosing as schizophrenic a Latina patient claiming to be in communication with her deceased husband inspired Polanco to make a change to the way she was practicing. She claims that misdiagnosing Latinx communities is something she's witnessed happening a lot, especially with Black and Brown folks who are intuitive themselves.

"As a mental health expert, I've worked in clinics, I've had colleagues, and there definitely is a misdiagnosis going on, which is why in that moment, I decided when I have my own practice, I have to practice differently, because that's not a hallucination," she said. "I've had so many people since I started my practice come to me and tell me that they won't go to therapy because when they have gone and they've shared things, they were referred to a psychologist for meds. A lot of the clients I have have expressed to me that they don't feel comfortable going to someone who won't understand what this is or how this is a part of their lives."

What She Does:

Because of the strict regulations that exist in the field, especially regarding insurance, Polanco works in private practice and currently doesn't take insurance. But to make her services more accessible for Black and Brown folks, she started her business Poder Healing, a holistic hub with different POC providers from different specialties that cater and provide services to the BIPOC community. They have a spiritualist who provides services like tarot-card reading. There's also access to therapeutic services like therapy sessions or child and family counseling sessions. Polanco provides everything from therapy sessions to energy healing like reiki. In her private practice, if spiritual downloads come to her during a session, she's able to provide them to the client to help them get closer to self-awareness.

"In the field in general, there has been this idea, because it goes back to the foundational way that psychology has been practiced and spirituality has never been a part of it, because there's been this idea that mental health is just about the mind, and if it's just about the mind, you don't have to think or consider anything else. The idea that the mind, body, and spirit is connected is actually a new way of seeing things," Polanco said. "But even today, there are so many restrictions. I would not be allowed to practice in a clinic because it has to be things that are 'evidence based.' You can only do this in private practice, which is also why private practices charge what they charge. So I knew this was what I wanted to do even before I graduated . . . my goal is to help [clients] to really reconnect to their core self. Live life authentically and reconnect with your life, because we all have something within us. We just don't all tap into it. We're not all aware of it. But what I do tell my clients to do is reconnect to your authentic self, and you'll find your light."

Where to Find Her:

@poderhealing

On Her Journey:

Born and raised in New York City, licensed therapist and spiritual mentor Christine Gutiérrez started her career in mental health counseling. She got her master's in mental health counseling and specialized in trauma and family therapy. She also specialized in prevention and communities where she noticed a major gap. "There was a warmth that was missing, a feeling of being loved that was missing, and there was storytelling that was missing. I had already started studying spirituality and mindfulness, and I felt like if I introduced that, then I'd be able to change things a bit more," she told us. "I felt like if I shared my personal story, I would be relatable and my clients would trust me more, because there was not much trust in those communities, especially because a lot of them were mandated or they were there because of a more serious reason, whether it was potential child neglect or abuse."

Gutiérrez took it from there and got heavy into studying spirituality and mindfulness practices. She realized this was where she could make change. When she started slowly implementing these tools into her sessions, she noticed a drastic difference in her patients from being able to open up to it, even healing their nervous system. "I saw physically that they were changing. I think traditional talk therapy can be very westernized, and it was mostly heavily dominated by white males, so a lot of the ancient practices from different cultures and perspectives were stripped away," Gutiérrez said. "Talk therapy is actually more of a colonized form of therapy. A lot of what we consider more ancient medicine or healing were considered to conflict with science, but now we know it actually is science. It actually is therapy."

What She Does:

After years of being trained as a therapist to not include spirituality in the work, Gutiérrez began to embark on a new path. She not only started to embrace these ancestral spiritual practices in her own life but also decided she was going to now merge these practices and psychology into her work. But in order to do this, she was no longer able to work in a clinical setting because of the limitations and restrictions that came with it. She dropped the cap of working as a licensed therapist in a clinical setting and started offering private coaching while also putting together healing retreats, workshops, and events for women — women of color especially. She also relocated to her parents' island of Puerto Rico, where she's able to provide her services to Latinas who wouldn't otherwise have access to this.

"A lot of times, people need to see stats and research in order to know this is clinically relevant. I don't believe that's always necessary, but it is beneficial to merge the two worlds. And that's really what I'm about is merging ancient wisdom with modern therapy with psychology savvy and grounding tools, where people can actually use them in their real lives and become their own healers, and they can become empowered on their own," she said. "So you're giving them not just tools in the clinical setting and listening to their story but also giving them tools so they have their own medicine kit on their own, so when they leave that room, they have practical rituals and very practical tools to use."

Last year, Christine published her first book, I Am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul, inspired by the Diosa (which translates to Goddess in Spanish) community she had built and fostered in her group coaching and healing retreats. Gutiérrez welcomes readers to healing, radical self-care, and self-love that "empowers readers to embrace the powerful Diosa within." She believes she's always been intuitive and connected to spirit since she was a young girl but didn't always know what to do with her gifts until she started embracing them and studying different spiritual practices. She grew up seeing people in her family lighting candles, praying, connecting to other worlds, healing with their hands, talking to plants, and analyzing dreams. The spirituality she practices today is a merge of different ancient wisdoms, from shamanism to energy work and even tantra, which is based on the feminine aspect of God, or what Gutiérrez likes to refer to as "La Diosa."

"I think we culturally have a lot of this medicine and knowledge inside of us, and I think we benefit best from this merging because we're able to process things in a way that is warmer, deeper, and I think honors some of the things that we grew up with," she said. "I also think there's a remembering that's happening, and we're remembering this wisdom that lives inside of us, and we don't want to settle for this whitewashed, cold version of therapy. Are all modern therapists like this? No, there are modern therapists that are actually fantastic. But I am called to merging therapy and spirituality because I believe that it's my calling but also that there are many people that are seeking this kind of work right now. People are wanting it. People are wanting a nondogmatic spiritual approach to healing. I think we even need to expand on the word 'therapy.' There are so many different kinds of therapy, and spiritual therapy is therapy. It's a real thing that changes and impacts people's lives for the better."

Where to Find Her:

@cosmicchristine

On Her Journey:

Dominican-American Josie Rosario was raised in the Bronx, in a community where therapy or mental health was rarely — if ever — discussed. Regardless, she felt a deep calling to help and serve her community and embarked on a journey to become a licensed therapist. Early in her career, Rosario, who admits to always feeling connected to spirit, started to notice she was receiving spiritual downloads during her sessions with clients. In other words, she would see or sense things the client was going through without them necessarily telling her. But for years, she felt hesitant to embrace this side of herself and also knew it wasn't something she could work with in clinical sessions. After embarking on her own journey and having her spiritual awakening, everything suddenly started to click.

"The other piece of this was in working with my clients, [I realized] talk therapy is so white. It's like, 'Tell me what's in your consciousness — your awareness.' We're not even accustomed to that in our cultures, so it's very one-sided, and I'm a relational therapist. That's my specialty, so I'm very relational in the work," Rosario said. "And so I could tell that my clients were stuck. I could tell that there was stuff that was just out of their awareness and they just couldn't tap into it. And how if you don't even know that it's there? I'm getting [the spiritual downloads], but they don't have the awareness for it. So what am I going to do with that? I felt stuck. I felt boxed in. And so once I started to put the pieces together, that this wasn't just a hunch or just my gut, I was actually getting information from their spirit guides, I was like, 'I have to pause and start over.' So I started sharing with my clients that I'm intuitive and explaining what that means."

Toward the end of 2020, Rosario started slowly integrating spirituality into her work but decided to pause in order to come back with more intentionality and resources. During the spring of 2021, she took a brief sabbatical from therapy sessions and was only offering energetic readings until September, when she started working specifically under a coaching model with clients instead of from a clinical setting.

What She Does:

"I'm moving to the coaching model. I'm still a licensed therapist, but I'm moving to the coaching model because I don't want to deal with the red tape and I can do a little bit more," she said. "If we enter into a coaching situation, even though I'm a licensed therapist, you're not working with me as a licensed therapist, you're working with me as a coach, and in my coaching contract, that's very clear. That doesn't mean that I stop using therapy modalities. That doesn't mean that work goes out the window. That just means the capacity that we're working is not a therapy client."

In terms of how these coaching sessions look, Rosario said every first session begins with an energetic and spiritual reading in order to get clear. This allows both her and the client to see what's there and what needs to be worked on. Her specialty is helping people see those shadows. "If you come to me, it's because you don't know what your purpose is and the patterns you keep struggling with in life are keeping you from your purpose. Session one, we're going to talk about your purpose and then literally create a plan around what are the things that are keeping you off track," she said.

In terms of why she thinks this merging of psychology and ancient spiritual practices is important, she believes it's all about reaching our liberation. "For such a long time, these practices have been shunned. The stuff that I talk about, some people want to call it 'new age,' but these are ancient Indigenous practices. I'm reclaiming the word 'bruja.' Let's talk about it. The only reason why we grew up thinking brujeria is bad is because a white person told us that it was bad. Our colonizers told us it was bad, and here we are believing the Kool-Aid."

Where to Find Her:

@josierosarionyc

On Her Journey:

Justine Astacio, who is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent and was born and raised in New York City, didn't always know she wanted to be a therapist. In fact, for the longest time, she didn't even think it was possible because she didn't grow up seeing people in her family or community taking on these career paths. She also didn't know anyone in the Latinx community who was actually seeing a therapist. "Therapy is a very new thing for our culture, to even talk about your feelings. In our culture, we were raised to just get over it. Shake it off. Don't talk about how you feel. And therapy, in essence, looked like an old, 70-year-old woman with gray hair," she said. "We never saw ourselves as therapists, so there's not a lot of us. That's a big reason why it's so hard to find us, because there's not a lot of us. This industry in and of itself is new to us. For people of color as a whole, it's new. Now that people are talking about it more, mental health is now more important. People are seeing the benefits of it. Now people are starting to search for us, but there's not a lot of us."

Because Astacio didn't come across therapists of color growing up, she didn't really think it was possible, so she went to college and did her undergrad in marketing. Because so many people in her family were working in the Department of Education, she was encouraged to get a job there and went on to get her master's in school counseling. "What ended up happening was while I was in the [Department of Education] for a little bit, I went back to school and stumbled on a mental health program because it was one of the ones listed, and that's when I actually realized that I can actually have my own practice and that I can actually do this for a living and help make the world a better place," she said.

What She Does:

After receiving her advanced master's in psychology, Astacio started working as a licensed therapist in private practice, something her family didn't think she could do but were eventually impressed by. But through her own spiritual journey, she started to work with holistic modalities like meditation, breathwork, and mindfulness tools that really helped her heal. She wanted to find a way to share these tools with clients while still being able to work as a licensed therapist. She also started getting into other parts of wellness such as fitness and saw a connection with physical health, mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health, so she decided to start her own business called Lotus Theory, a network of holistic services that offers everything from talk therapy to lifestyle and wellness changes to help clients get clarity, create balance, and transform their lives. The structure of the business also allows her to accept insurance for therapy clients. Her mission has been to help clients — WOC especially — achieve holistic health and overall balance.

Astacio, who does not claim to be an intuitive, does see herself as a healer, in the sense that all psychotherapists are essentially healers. While she doesn't provide things like energy or tarot-card readings in her sessions, she does offer meditations and teach clients holistic tools that can help them break out of patterns and improve their lives. "To have some of our Latino culture and practices come into a holistic approach that can be used for mental health, I think that's absolutely amazing because it also inspires us as a culture. We all have that aunt or that abuela who was really into it. So again, it really goes back to being familiar with these practices and allowing you to be more comfortable within," she said. "Holistic healing also allows you to remind yourself of how strong your mind and body are if you take the time to listen to them and take care of them. We are very powerful."

Where to Find Her:

@lotustheoryny