We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erica Salazar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erica, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My mother insisted that I identify and hold strong to my values. There was only pressure in my household to think critically about the world, my position in it and my ability to further its’ progress. In my mother’s eyes, education is an avenue to engaging with the world around me and enacting my values. I appreciate that values driven vigor in her and how she instilled it in me. It allows me to lead and build my practice grounded in purpose.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

This is not a heartwarming story from experiences in my career. It is a story about why I entered this field. As a high school student, I was in a relationship with a person who struggled chronically with depression and anxiety. At this point in my life, I didn’t have a grain of understanding about his condition or experience. I knew that he wanted to escape his life, the pain his parents inflicted on him and the shame of being anxious and depressed. A school provider listened to me, throughout my confusion, sadness, anger and exhaustion. They held a space that was so sacred and needed, I looked forward to it every week, to unleash the burden of holding it all by myself. I felt ease when leaving her office. For some years down the road, it was clear to me that I also wanted to provide social emotional support to adolescents in schools. This ultimately led me to social work. I am now a school social worker as well as a therapist who specializes in adolescents and young adults up to age 30. I hold the essence of that school provider in my work. I choose to embody patience and nurturance that people need in moments of fear, confusion, conflict, disconnection and anxiety.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

One thousand times over again, in every lifetime but one, I would choose this profession again. In one life, I would love to be a wood worker, using my hands to build in a totally different sense.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Folks in this field truly have to believe in the collective. In an ancient culture connected to my ancestry, there is a saying that goes “You are my other me.” If a provider believes in the collective, then they are able to work towards collective healing. There is very little individual healing that can take place. “You are my other me” acknowledges that my pain is stored within my body and brain but it becomes the pain of all. My joy lives in my brain and body but it quickly seeps from my vessel into the world. Our relationships are our most accessible starting places for collective healing. This is why I so heavily focus on families, couples and relationships generally in my practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://sites.google.com/salazartherapy.com/denver
• Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/erica-salazar-denver-co/1043575?preview=1&return_to=https://member.psychologytoday.com/us/profile&_ga=2.179034019.683951587.1665506170-1032667053.1658867435