We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth Sanchez and Yesenia Madera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, Yesenia, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
The goal that Yesenia and I are trying to achieve is create a wellness center and bring access to mental health to people of color in order to have a private practice experience. We will be providing individual/couples/ family/ and group bilingual counseling services. We want to offer psychiatric services, trauma informed yoga, registered dietitian, and other holistic services to the community. Our goal is to have a diverse staff. We envision our private practice to be in a home like environment where clients can feel safe and comfortable and reduce the stigma of getting mental health services.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
No, it was not easy. We dedicated a lot of time to build our practice workings two jobs in order to build what we have now. Our vision has kept us going and keeps us going. Lessons we have learned is that you need to love what you do, organization, being patient with the process of starting a business, using support system, and believing in the work we are doing. What stands us apart is we are always expanding our clinical lens whether is attending new trainings, trainings in new therapeutic approaches, we have a referral system who need additional support such as trauma informed yoga, eating disorder registered dietitian, and psychiatric support, and holistic support. We also offer consultation services to our fellow peers around starting their own private practice, and EMDR consultation to EMDR clinicians. We are also two latinx first generation clinicians who are learning together how to run and build a business.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whittier has a lot of great places to eat such as Aunties bakery, Whittier College, the Whittier hiking trails, Kalaveras. Overall Whittier is very diverse and up and coming.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We want to recognize Dr. Rocio Hernandez and our mentors at University of La Verne and Pacific Oaks College. We also want to recognize our families and husbands (Armando Lizardi and Jorge Sanchez) and our emotional support animals, and Yesenia’s daughter Penny Lizardi.

Website: https://innersoulcounseling.com
Instagram: innersoul_co
Facebook: InnerSoulCo

Image Credits
Jeanette Sanchez Photography

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