Life can be incredibly challenging, but you don’t have to face it alone. My goal is to offer a safe, supportive space where you can explore your thoughts, emotions, experiences, and even the parts of yourself that may feel anxiety-provoking or hard to share.

You might feel caught between who others expect you to be and who you really are. Maybe you’re carrying the weight of anxiety, people-pleasing, or the pressure to hold everything together while navigating cultural, family, or identity-related challenges. I work with children, teens, and adults who often feel overwhelmed or disconnected from themselves, especially those from immigrant, bicultural, or other marginalized backgrounds. My hope is to offer a safe and trusting space where you can let your guard down and be yourself.

In therapy, I show up as warm, compassionate, and non-judgmental. I draw from a psychodynamic and relational lens, which means I pay close attention to your emotions, relationships, and the deeper patterns that may have started earlier in life. We will work together to see how your past has shaped the way you see yourself, the people around you, and the world you live in. I also bring in evidence-based tools from CBT to help you notice what thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors are getting in the way and begin to shift those patterns in daily life. Whether you’re working on managing emotions, making sense of relational patterns, or trying to feel more like yourself again, I’ll meet you wherever you are.

I enjoy working with teens who might come in unsure about therapy or hesitant to open up. It’s really meaningful to watch those walls slowly come down as we build trust. In my work with children, I use a mix of play therapy, talk therapy, and CBT-based tools that fit their developmental needs. Play is such a natural way for kids to express what they don’t yet have words for, and I work closely with families so that the child feels supported both in the therapy room and at home.

Background/Training:
Megan Perales, M.Psy., is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in Clinical Psychology at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences at Divine Mercy University, where she also earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. Megan received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.

Megan has received training in community mental health settings, where she provided individual therapy for both children and adults, as well as psychodiagnostic assessments, including cognitive, intellectual, and personality testing. She has experience working with a wide range of concerns, including anxiety and depression, complex trauma, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, severe mental illness, Autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and oppositional behaviors.