Antonio Gonzales Ogas

Tonio is a licensed independent clinical social worker with more than 30 years of experience in community building and has served in various social service roles, using one-on-one intervention skills and group facilitation expertise across many settings. His scope of practice enables him to build partnerships and outreach to a multitude of populations. His engagement with projects and program development with diverse populations has included the LGBTQ+ community, BIPOC communities, immigrants, refugees, youth ranging from Pre-K to college-level, parents, volunteers, houseless individuals and families, HIV positive individuals, older/senior individuals (55+), high school and college administrators, philanthropic donors, and public administrators. He is an expert in building relationships with people and empowering them to strengthen their own wellness through person-centered modalities. As a clinical trainee, future independent therapist, and mental health practitioner, he utilizes various methods for treatment planning purposes, such as multicultural counseling, motivational interviewing, narrative therapy, cognitive and behavioral therapy, existential therapy, crisis response therapy, trauma-focused and trauma-informed therapy, and various person-centered, mindfulness-based, and strength-based modalities in cross-cultural settings. Most recently, Tonio has been integrating Brainspotting into his practice across the various modalities and populations he works with.

Vulnerability is the probably the center point of my practice. Sometimes it is necessary to model this for someone who struggles to be vulnerable and sometimes a person has no issues being vulnerable from the start but I feel it's important to recognize where a person fits on this scale because this helps me determine how to approach building the therapeutic alliance.

I hope that my patients will feel more confident after having sessions with me. That is one of my primary goals as a therapist. It's important for a person to feel validated, heard, and that they are important. For many people that attend therapy, often times the therapist is the only person that the client has to talk to with whom they can trust. Or, their support system is limited and their relationships with people in their life are strained. Either way, let's work on making your more confident.