Milton Santos

When family stress, trauma, or major life changes begin piling up, it can feel like you are constantly trying to keep everyone and everything together while your own needs get pushed aside. You may be struggling with difficult emotions, conflict at home, changes in your relationships, or experiences from the past that continue to influence how you respond today. I work with children, adolescents, adults, and seniors experiencing family issues, men’s issues, trauma, cultural and ethnic concerns, and life transitions. These experiences can also overlap with ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, grief or loss, stress, anger, relationship concerns, or substance use. Therapy can give you room to understand how these different parts of your life connect without reducing you to a diagnosis or a single difficult experience. Together, we can identify what is keeping you stuck, strengthen the relationships and coping skills that support you, and help you move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

Our work will make room for both the person you are and the family, culture, relationships, responsibilities, and experiences that have shaped you. We’ll explore how family issues, men’s issues, trauma, cultural and ethnic concerns, and life transitions may be affecting your emotional wellbeing, relationships, and sense of self. I may use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help you recognize patterns in thoughts and behaviors that contribute to distress and practice healthier ways of responding, Dialectical Behavior Therapy to build practical skills for managing intense emotions, tolerating difficult moments, and communicating more effectively, and Motivational Interviewing to explore change without pressure while strengthening your own reasons for moving forward. Seeking Safety can help you develop healthier ways of coping with trauma and substance related concerns while prioritizing emotional safety, while Solution Focused Brief Therapy can help us identify strengths and translate the changes you want into practical steps. Our sessions will be collaborative, respectful, and grounded in the reality of your life, balancing deeper understanding with tools you can use outside of therapy.

You do not need to have the right words or know exactly what needs to change before we begin. During our first few sessions, we will spend time understanding what has brought you to therapy, what has been most difficult, and what you or your family hope will feel different. Together, we will create goals that feel meaningful and realistic and decide where it makes the most sense to start. You can expect me to bring warmth, humor, and genuine curiosity to our conversations while creating a space where you can speak openly without feeling judged. Progress may look like communicating more effectively within your family, understanding your emotions and reactions more clearly, developing healthier ways to cope with trauma or stress, feeling more grounded in your identity, or navigating a major life transition with greater confidence. We will continue checking in on your goals and shape our work around what helps you feel more supported, capable, and connected.