Therapinxy Nonbinary
Chapter Lead Contact Information:
Eddy M. Gana
Bio:
Eddy M. Gana (they/them/theirs) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (#103797). They are a second-generation Filipinx-American from Union City and based in Los Angeles, California. They graduated from UC Irvine with Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Criminology, UCLAx with a Certification in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling, and USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work with a Master of Social Work and an emphasis on Child and Adolescent Mental Health. With experience in the home, school, medical, grassroots, and non-profit settings, they have facilitated psychotherapy and support groups; clinical supervision and training for interns, therapists, and organizations; and coalition-building across the country. After several years in the non-profit sector working with first and second-generation Filipino and BIPOC families with histories of child abuse, they launched their private practice, Eddy Therapy.
Their therapeutic style is based on a holistic sense of healing by utilizing elements of clinical interventions, recognizing ancestral practices, and addressing systems of oppression. With a person-centered and pro-people approach, they value strengths and explore areas of growth in ways that are understanding of the individual, community, and the systems we live in. Because the arts are healing, they are a poet of Steady and a co-director and the resident host of Sunday Jump, the longest running Filipino-founded open mic series in Historic Filipinotown. Inspired by people’s stories, they believe in the therapeutic elements of self-expression for personal growth and greater social change.
What does Filipino healing and wellness look like to you?
Holistic and therapeutic. Decolonized. Surviving systems of oppression is a lifelong process. It looks like ancestral ways of being and (re)discovering indigenous practices. It looks like finding connection and a greater sense of purpose through self-expression and story-telling. It looks like community-building and sharing resources. It looks like us. It looks like you, me, and kapwa.
Abbey Monsalud
Bio:
Abbey Monsalud (she/they/siya) is a licensed professional counselor, art psychotherapist, and multidisciplinary artist currently residing on the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe and Potawatomi Nations (known as Chicago, Illinois). Abbey’s work, both as a healer and creative, draws from ancestral wisdom, indigenous teachings, critical disability theory, and abolition. Their primary clinical focus is working with creative adults who are navigating cultural identity, queerness, neurodivergence, relationship issues, anxiety, and depression. As a first generation Filipinx-American and eldest daughter of Filipino immigrants, Abbey is honored to collaborate and fight with folks of communities who have been systematically marginalized. They are proud to share and witness folks’ realizations in the rich value of their history and to continue to ally with folks to reimagine and live out their present and future in liberation.
What does Filipino healing and wellness look like to you?
I believe that Filipino healing and wellness looks like decentering Whiteness and exploring what it means to be Filipino wholeheartedly.