Bilingüe
Bilingual Therapy in English & Spanish
For bilingual people, language is not a neutral container. Some memories are stored in Spanish and lose something in English. Some feelings are easier to admit in a second language precisely because there is a little distance. And there is a particular fatigue in explaining your family, your culture, or an untranslatable word before you can even get to the thing you came to talk about. Here, you do not have to choose a language and stay in it.
Therapy in the language your experience actually happened in — with a clinician who speaks both, so nothing has to be translated or explained twice.
15 minutes, free, no obligation. Scheduling via Headway.
- Format
- Telehealth
- Available in
- New York State
- Languages
- English & Spanish
- Telehealth throughout New York State
- Therapy in English & Spanish
- Sessions 45–60 minutes
You may be here because
Some of this may sound familiar.
You think in one language and feel in another.
You have translated in a session before and lost what you actually meant.
You have explained cultural context to a therapist instead of being understood.
You are the one who interprets for your family, including at difficult appointments.
Some things can only be said in Spanish. Some are only sayable in English.
You are navigating expectations from one culture while living inside another.
Who this may help, and what therapy may explore
Who this may help
- Spanish-speaking adults across New York State
- Bilingual and bicultural adults, couples and families
- First- and second-generation clients bridging two sets of expectations
- Clients who prefer Spanish for therapy and English for daily life, or the reverse
- Adults who grew up interpreting for their parents
- Anyone who has felt partly understood in previous therapy
What therapy may explore
- Bicultural identity, and the sense of belonging fully to neither place
- Family expectations around duty, sacrifice, respect and independence
- Immigration and migration experiences, including separation and loss
- The role of the family interpreter, and what it asked of you as a child
- Intergenerational patterns of silence, endurance, and unspoken care
- Stigma about mental health within a family or community
- Faith and spirituality, where they are part of what grounds you
- Code-switching, and the version of yourself each setting requires
Karla’s approach
How bilingual therapy works here
This is not a translation service. I am a bilingual clinician conducting therapy in Spanish or English — not delivering an English session through an interpreter. That distinction changes what is possible in the room.
You do not have to pick one language and stay there. Many bilingual clients move between languages naturally, and sessions can follow that. If a phrase only exists in Spanish, use it. If a word in English holds something more precise, use that.
Cultural context does not need to be footnoted. When you mention what your mother expects, or what is not discussed in your family, or what it means to be the one who made it — I am generally not starting from zero on that.
And culture is not assumed to be uniform. Spanish-speaking communities in New York are enormously varied — by country, generation, class, race, religion and family. I ask about yours rather than assuming it.
Questions
About bilingual therapy.
More general questions about fees, insurance, scheduling and telehealth are answered on the FAQ page.
¿Ofrece terapia en español?
Sí. Karla es bilingüe y ofrece terapia individual, de pareja y familiar en español o en inglés, en todo el estado de Nueva York. Puede escribirnos o agendar una consulta gratuita de 15 minutos en el idioma que prefiera.
Can we switch between English and Spanish in the same session?
Yes, and many clients do without thinking about it. There is no requirement to be consistent. Whichever language carries what you are trying to say is the right one for that moment.
Is the whole website available in Spanish?
Not yet. A professionally translated Spanish version of the site is planned. Rather than publish machine-translated pages about something as personal as mental health, we would prefer to wait and do it properly. Spanish-language therapy itself is available now.
My English is fine. Would Spanish therapy still be useful for me?
Possibly, and it is worth considering. Fluency in a second language is not the same as emotional access to it. Some clients find that the childhood material in particular becomes reachable in a way it had not been before.
Related
Other ways we might work together.
Individual Therapy
One-to-one therapy for adults 17 and older — a steady, private place to understand what you have been carrying and decide what you want to do with it.
Family Therapy
Work with the family as a system — roles, loyalties, generational differences, and the conversations that have never quite been possible.
Couples Therapy
For two people stuck in a conversation they keep having — slowing the cycle down enough to understand it, and building a better way through.
Start with a short conversation.
A 15 minutes consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We can talk about what has been going on and whether this is the right fit.
15 minutes, free, and no obligation to book a session afterward. Scheduling continues on Headway.
- Therapy in English & Spanish
- Telehealth across New York
- Response within two business days