Melissa Velasquez, Holistic Therapist in Los Angeles, CA and Virtually Throughout California
Melissa is supervised by Lauren Ludlow, LCSW and is only scheduling virtual/ telehealth individual therapy sessions as well as in-person group therapy.
If you’ve ever felt like you’re walking between worlds, carrying a weight that isn’t entirely your own, I want you to know: I see you.
Maybe you identify with this…
The First-Gen Struggle: Balancing the "child of immigrant parents" guilt with the relentless pressure to succeed in Western professional spaces.
The Cycle Breaker: Taking on the heavy lifting of identifying and healing generational wounds so they stop with you.
The "Third Identity": Feeling caught between cultures—never "enough" for your ancestral roots and never fully seen by the dominant one.
If these resonances connect with you, you’ve found the right space. Healing isn’t just about "fixing" a problem; it’s about coming back to yourself.
Your Journey, Our Partnership
As your therapist, I am not here to "manage" your symptoms from a distance. I am a collaborator in your liberation. My role is to provide the map and the mirror, helping you unburden your ancestral lineage and reclaim your embodied power.
In our work together, we move away from the idea that your struggles are "all in your head." We acknowledge that your mental health is inextricably linked to the world around us. Therapy is political. Your wellness is a collective necessity and a form of radical resistance. What makes my practice unique is a decolonized blend of internal family systems (parts-work) and Somatic healing. I bridge the gap between your narrative story and your physical experience.
Professional & Personal Roots
I bring my whole self into the room because I believe isolation is where shame lives, but community is where it goes to heal.
Identities: I am a Guatemalan, bilingual, queer, trauma-informed therapist.
Expertise: I specialize in serving queer, Indigenous, and first-generation folx who have been historically marginalized.
Values: I integrate ancestral practices and root-work to help you move from isolation into a sense of belonging.
Outside the Therapy Room
When I’m not in the office, you can find me immersed in a PC game, dabbling in Dungeons & Dragons, or staying active in local political movements. I am a firm believer that healing can be creative and expansive—I love bringing music and literature into our therapeutic space to help find the words (or melodies) that plain speech sometimes misses.
Your voice is a form of radical healing. Let’s start the conversation.
Connecting with your voice is part of empowered healing. Let’s start the conversation engaging your mind and your body. Our work together can look like getting to know all parts of yourself so you can make your most intentional choices, finding the ways of moving and soothing that work for your nervous system, or practicing new ways of showing up in relationships and community.
* Please note, I do not directly take any insurances. For more information please visit Services and Investment.