VIRTUAL THERAPY FOR FIRST GENERATION LATINA MOMS IN CALIFORNIA NAVIGATING ANXIETY, GUILT, OVERTHINKING AND THE PRESSURE TO HOLD EVERYTHING TOGETHER.
You’ve been holding it all together for a long time.
Maybe you’re the one everyone depends on—the fixer, the strong one, the one who just figures it out. On the outside, it looks like you can handle everything. On the inside, you may feel anxious, overwhelmed, resentful, or like you’ve lost touch with yourself.
If you’re a first-generation Latina mom in California trying to balance motherhood, relationships, family expectations, and your own needs, you don’t have to keep carrying it alone.
In therapy, we slow things down and make space for you—your thoughts, your emotions, your needs. Together, we work on anxiety, guilt, overthinking, boundaries, and the patterns that keep you stuck in over-functioning for everyone else.
Healing here is not about becoming someone new. It’s about reconnecting with the version of you that has been there all along.
Virtual therapy for clients throughout California
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”
- Stephen Covey
Are You Struggling With…
Anxiety & Overthinking
Constant mental overwhelm, racing thoughts, difficulty relaxing, and feeling like you can never fully “turn off” your mind.
At Café de Olla Therapy, we help you understand where this anxiety comes from and how it connects to long-standing patterns of responsibility, people-pleasing, and survival.
Depression & Emotional Exhaustion
Feeling disconnected, unmotivated, numb, or emotionally drained while still showing up for everyone else.
We create space to slow down, process what you’ve been carrying, and reconnect with yourself beyond your roles as daughter, partner, and mother.
Trauma & Emotional Wounds
Experiences from the past—whether big or subtle—that still show up in your body, relationships, and emotional responses today.
Using approaches like EMDR and relational therapy, we work at your pace to help these experiences feel less overwhelming and more integrated, so they no longer shape your present in the same way.
How EMDR Therapy Can Support Your Healing
Sometimes past experiences don’t stay in the past—they show up in the present as anxiety, overthinking, emotional overwhelm, or feeling easily triggered in relationships and daily life. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based therapy that helps you process these experiences so they feel less intense and less disruptive over time.
In EMDR sessions, we start with what’s happening in your life right now and gently connect it to the experiences and patterns that may be shaping your reactions today. We move at your pace, building safety and trust along the way so you never feel rushed or overwhelmed in the process.
This approach can be helpful for trauma, anxiety, depression, self-esteem struggles, phobias, and long-standing relationship patterns that feel hard to shift. Many clients also notice they feel more grounded, less reactive, and more able to respond to life with clarity instead of survival mode.
The goal isn’t to erase your past it’s to help it soften so it no longer runs the show in your present.
Like café de olla, this work is meant to feel grounding and steadying. Warm, supportive, and real, while still helping you do the deeper work of healing.
Hi, I’m Yesenia Perez, LCSW.
I’m a first-generation Latina, daughter of immigrant farm-working parents, and a mother of two. My personal and professional experiences have shaped the way I understand the emotional weight many first-generation Latina moms carry—especially the pressure to be strong, selfless, and always “the one who handles it.”
In my own life and work, I’ve seen how anxiety, guilt, overthinking, and people-pleasing can become deeply ingrained survival patterns—especially when you’ve spent years putting everyone else’s needs first.
I specialize in supporting first-generation Latina moms who are ready to step out of survival mode and begin creating more balance, emotional space, and connection in their lives and relationships.
My approach is warm, collaborative, and culturally responsive. I integrate evidence-based practices such as EMDR with a relational, grounded style that honors both your lived experience and your goals for change.
You don’t have to explain your cultural context here. I already understand it.
My goal is to help you feel more grounded in yourself, more confident in your boundaries, and more connected in your relationships—without the constant pressure of holding everything together for everyone else.
On the Blog
Freeing Yourself from Guilt: Navigating Parental Expectations with Love
In the complicated dance that is our first-gen Latina experiences, the familiar chords of guilt often play a prominent role. The expectations and dreams of our parents, rooted in love and tradition, can sometimes transform into heavy guilt trips.
Nurturing the Soul: Self-Care Practices for First-Generation Latinas
In the vibrant tapestry of first-generation Latina experiences, self-care becomes not just a luxury but a vital means of preserving one’s well-being amidst the dynamic dance of two cultures. As a mental health professional dedicated to guiding individuals on this intricate journey
Why Setting Healthy Boundaries Might be Difficult & 3 Things You Can Do Today to Change
Whether you have practiced boundaries in the past or are totally new to setting boundaries, there is a reason they are so difficult to set and even harder to maintain. But first let’s figure out what boundaries are.
Ponte en Contacto
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