Every piece of your story is valid and important.
Find peace in your own truth.
We can choose to live in our life or watch it pass us by.
I want you to choose to live in it. Present. In peace.
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Yoga Practitioner.
But the greatest asset I provide is being a wholehearted human being first.
What does that mean?
That means I’m a mom, wife, sister, cousin, friend, and proud Filipino woman.
That means my life story has its own chapters of pain and loss—from childhood to marriage issues. But I have done, and continue to do the work, to become more embodied in who I am, allowing me to live out of my fullest self. Grounded. Free.
You are capable of having the same freedom; union can happen between you and your soul and your body.
Peace by piece.
More About Leslie
When I was 15 years old, I deeply struggled with my own body and found changing my eating habits and exercise gave me a sense of control and power. As a survivor of childhood trauma, I was still living in the environment that caused me harm and found my only solace to be my disordered eating. I finally found a sense of inner comfort that temporarily could quiet the big feelings inside. These feelings were not safe to feel, let alone express. Controlling my body gave me the control to not feel and lessened my anxiety. And I hated myself for not understanding what was happening. In fact I felt out of control, and alone. It was a very scary time.
This battle went on for over 10 years.
Then things began to shift. After many years of therapy, I was finally able to feel my anger and was able to set needed boundaries in relationships that were harmful. For me, my struggle with food and my body were my coping mechanism helping me make sense of my childhood trauma and the trauma within my ancestral lineages (race and colonalism).
It was not until many years later when I was introduced to Internal Family Systems and Yoga/Somatic Practices that I was able to heal internal wounds and finally gain a sense of inner safety. I was able to let go and move through the pain. My inner Bully shifted to an inner Mentor, my inner Trouble-maker moved into an inner Advocate.
My body has never felt freer and more alive.
This story is a microcosm of my values: focus, intention, and a deep desire to embody all of who I am.
This is what I want for you, too.
Work Experience & Training
Work Experience:
As a licensed social worker for 20 years:
Own and led private practice for 5 years
Consult and run groups for addiction, eating disorders, body image difficulties, and trauma history.
Managed clinical oversight for a girls and boys residential home for teens with trauma
Worked as a community organizer in Chicago, advocating for support on a policy level to individuals and families
Led as Director of junior high, high school, and transition programs at a therapy school for teens with high Anxiety, ASD, and co-morbid diagnoses. Supervised and managed therapists (OTs, Social Workers, Speech Therapists), and teachers
Taught ESL programs for adults living in Chicago who recently immigrated to the US
Training:
BS in Social Work, MSW in International Social Work and Community Development
Level 1 Internal Family Systems- completed 2023
Level 2 Internal Family Systems-set to complete February 2024
200 Teacher Training at Return Yoga- completed 2020
6 year study of the Yoga Sutras by Karin Carlson- set to complete 2026
Certified in Yoga for Trauma
Certified in Anxiety Treatment for Children and Adolescents
Attachment Theory