How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
The path to success isn’t paved for people of color. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories as we learn how to say Success in Spanglish.
How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?
Personal Triumphs as Stepping Stones to Therapy Success - Liz Gallo
Liz Gallo is an Licensed marriage and family therapist with eight years of experience in the mental health field. She specializes in those struggling with chronic illnesses and has provided services within the community mental health and private practice settings. Throughout her career she has worked with adolescents, adults, and as well as couples. She supports her clients through various concerns including anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem, and various forms of trauma. She values transparency, quality of care, and continuous growth. Her hope is to aid her clients in developing healthier relationships, and increased self-esteem and authenticity.
Summary:
Struggle and triumph intertwine in an incredible story of resilience and growth—as your host, Raul Lopez, I had the privilege of sitting down with the remarkable Liz Gallo. Liz's journey is one tinged with the harsh realities of growing up with cerebral palsy, yet defined by her indomitable spirit to convert challenges into a lifelong mission to support others as a licensed marriage and family therapist. Together, we uncover the layers of identity, belonging, and the pursuit of a passion that not only inspires but also breaks barriers.
Liz's narrative is a beacon for anyone who has ever felt isolated by their differences, providing a heartfelt look into the complexities of navigating a society that often misunderstands disability. Our conversation traverses the academic trials faced by Liz, the emotional wrestle with imposter syndrome, and the cathartic evolution of turning personal adversity into a tool for healing others. Her insights into the mental health profession reveal the ingenuity required to create meaningful connections, proving time and again that empathy and patience are paramount in empowering the lives we touch.
As the episode unfolds, listeners will experience the raw, authentic essence of Liz's triumphs—ranging from the rigors of attaining her license to the bold step of establishing her private practice. Her story serves as a testament to the power of perseverance and the importance of family support, shining a light on the unexpected opportunities the pandemic presented to mental health professionals. This is a conversation that resonates with courage, offering a path to finding one's place in the world and leaving a lasting, positive impact on others. Join us in celebrating the strength that comes from embracing one’s own narrative and using it to uplift the community around us.
See more at www.successinspanglish.com
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Intro Song: Regaeton Pop - Denbow Ambiance
This is Raul Lopez and you're listening to. How Do you Save Success in Spanglish? The path to success isn't easy For minorities and people of color. Many attempt this journey with little to no guidance. Join me as I sit down with individuals who share their stories of perseverance so that together we can learn how to say success in Spanglish what's good, mi gente, it's your boy, raul. Welcome back. Thanks for coming to the show. Today I have a very special guest, liz Gallo. How's it going, liz? Welcome to the show.
Liza Gallo:How's it going?
Raul Lopez:Good. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate you. For people who are listening, liz was one who graciously hit me up after, I think, listening to one of my episodes talk and we decided it'd be great to have her on the show. So she has a great story to tell, so I'm really excited of you being here. So just to kind of give a little background on Liz, liz Gallo is a licensed marriage and family therapist with eight years of experience in the mental health field. She specializes in those struggling with chronic illnesses, has provided services within the community mental health and private practice settings. Throughout her career she has worked with adolescents, adults as well as couples. She supports her clients with various concerns, including anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem and various forms of trauma. She values transparency, quality of care and continuous growth. Her hope is to aid her clients in developing healthier relationships and increase self-esteem and authenticity. Welcome to the show, liz.
Liza Gallo:Thanks for having me again. Like I appreciate any opportunity I can get to kind of share my story.
Raul Lopez:Like I said, when you hit up and you, you started talking to me and I was like, oh my god, yeah, I would love to have you on the show. I think there's a lot of you know. I think, uh, everybody's journey has lessons learned that we can all learn from, and I'm glad you're willing to share it. So, with that being said, let's start off. You know, tell me, uh, who is liz gago?
Liza Gallo:that's such an interesting question. I feel like you covered such a big aspect of my identity, which is being a therapist. But outside of that, like it's it's, it's honestly really hard to kind of answer that question right, like who are we? But I guess, in a sense, some of the other roles that I am in is I'm a friend, I'm a sister, I'm a daughter, you know, um, and in a sense, like when I talk about being a therapist, like I always try to describe that like the characteristics of what it takes to be a therapist, like I feel like I've always embodied them and that's what led me to become a therapist. Like making this world a better place has always been something that has motivated me. Even when life has gotten hard, it's been one of my most impactful, like motivating factors.
Raul Lopez:And so you talk about. You know when life has been hard. So I think one of the things that you mentioned to me is that you were born with cerebral palsy and you're also from California growing up. What was life? Were born with cerebral palsy and you're also from California growing up. What was life growing up with cerebral palsy?
Liza Gallo:It was not fun, I'll tell you that. So one aspect to really talk about is whether it was my immediate family or just like extended friends and just other family members. Like I didn't see anybody else in my circles that had anything similar to it, um, so in that sense it felt kind of lonely, um, and nobody to really like connect with, to understand what it was like. Um, there was a lot of teasing that went on, so like my siblings would have to kind of like step in and stand up for me, because I wasn't really the type to stand up for myself it's never been easy for me to do that, um, but yeah, just kind of feeling othered a lot of the time, like again, like the way that I describe it, and it's in this show called special on Netflix.
Liza Gallo:This guy talks about how because he he's the actor in the show but he has cerebral palsy as well, so he's speaking from his own experience of, like you're not able-bodied enough or normal enough to fit in with the able-bodied community, but you're also not impacted by your disability significantly, so you don't fit in with, you know, those within the disabled community. Because with cerebral palsy it's like a spectrum spectrum. It's almost like how you look at autism, like people land on more severe sides or less severe sides. Mine is not severe at all. Um, the biggest thing is I walk with a limp because it affects the right side of my body, but it's not as um severe as I'm saying, as like other cases can be. Like because some, some people with cp but the cp is short for cerebral palsy um are in wheelchairs or use some sort of assisted, maybe a cane or just other devices like that. Um, so it's like I've always felt like where do I fit in?
Liza Gallo:Because, sometimes even trying to fit in with those that are quote unquote, normal, which I don't really like.
Raul Lopez:that word I just I wouldn't, you know, I think for a lot of people, especially like Latinos, and you're Mexican, right.
Liza Gallo:Yeah.
Raul Lopez:Okay, yeah, so you know, I think for a lot of us we we tend to have that struggle just from like identity as far as a Latino in America, and then you're adding an additional layer to that as well as having someone with disability you know what?
Liza Gallo:I never had that as far as like being Hispanic, like I don't feel like I struggled in that regard, I think more so, the struggle in that area was like the differing values between me and like, for example, my dad, but like as far as fitting, I guess maybe it's because I don't even my complexion doesn't really, you know, show that I'm hispanic, yeah, um, but uh, I don Like that could be part of it, but I never felt like I didn't fit in, like the culture has always been just something naturally that's a part of me and that I enjoy, but I never had to experience that struggle of where do I belong there? It was more so, I think, with my disability. It was more present.
Raul Lopez:Okay, nice, and so as far as your disability goes, did people ever have different expectations of you because of your disability?
Liza Gallo:I think there were some accommodations made. I think Physically I couldn't do certain things. There are still certain things that I can't do. So even in PE class they would always just like, like, for example, if the kids had to run a mile by the time I walked, so they would run four laps, but by the time I walked two they were done with running their fourth lap. So I mean again, so I always validate that like, even in a situation like mine, there's certain privileges, right like they would.
Liza Gallo:Teachers would give me a pass um, but as a student, academically, I always struggled. I can't really tell you if that was um connected to like me having CP. But like CP is physical 100%. It doesn't always. It can affect intellect, but I can't really tell you that it affected mine. But just, I wasn't the best student growing up. So I think there was like accommodations and or adjustments and expectations there because I struggled, but I can't really confirm that it was because I had CP. I think it was just like I just wasn't demonstrating to be like a top notch student back then. I was very distracted.
Raul Lopez:Very distracted. I was horrible early on. I stayed back in first grade. I was such a troublemaker.
Liza Gallo:My teachers would let my mom know that I would kind of daydream and stuff. But, I just wouldn't grasp things, to be honest, like I kind of was not great at school, probably up until I got to learning about my profession. Yeah, because, that's what I actually love to learn.
Raul Lopez:Everything else was hard yeah, I mean, sometimes that's what it takes. Sometimes it's when you start learning about something you love. Where you actually care about it is where it matters. Otherwise, you know, you're just kind of like whatever this?
Liza Gallo:is even even now, that's probably the only thing that I really like. Am like really, I guess in a sense smart about like, if you ask me like other random general knowledge, like I don't know, but if you ask me like you know counseling theories, I can talk about it at the drop of a hat.
Raul Lopez:So I mean, that's what you want from your therapist right. I don't care if you give pop culture references or know the history of Europe, as long as you know how to help out with being a therapist. So I'm glad to hear it well. I mean it is your passion. So what drove you into being that passion?
Liza Gallo:So the origin story of that is I was in the eighth grade and they had career day and the principal, her sister, came. So the principal's sister was a social worker and she spoke about her job as a social worker and it just sparked something. I was like, oh, that sounds interesting. I had never heard anything about helping professions, I think before that point, and ever since then I had told myself I want to be a social worker and that didn't change. I was pretty solid, like nobody could change my mind. I was like I'm gonna be a social worker, I'm gonna help kids in DCFS, which is Department of Children and Family Services. But I took a class in undergrad that was like group therapy and I got exposed to counseling theories and we actually got to like implement them and see them be used. So I switched to therapy at that point.
Raul Lopez:Nice, and is that when you started getting better at school as well, Like once you figured out hey, this is what I like. I knew I needed to get better in school to get to college.
Liza Gallo:I think that's what it was, because it really sparked something, because part of it is like hopefully I don't get too technical with this, but like when you start learning about counseling theories, what a counseling theory is is each one has its own description of what causes problems to arise for people and, ultimately, how to help the person work through it. So it's like a different angle with each one.
Liza Gallo:Okay, with each one okay and I remember learning about adlerian theory, which is from alfred adler, and I just was like I saw myself in some of what he was talking about. So it felt almost validating, so like I must not be the only one, and just a sense of insight for me, um, and learning about myself has always been fun. Like I, I like to make those connections like why, like the why of why I do the things that I do, trying to understand those around me. So it really offered that to me and I think that's what made it exciting.
Liza Gallo:And during that time I also just did a lot of personal work with that group class, so there was a lot of processing and healing happening. So that's kind of what I think also drew me to therapy. It just felt more intimate and I like intimacy versus social work. A lot of times social workers can look at the bigger picture like more organizations or just bigger groups, but I like the aspect of it being one-on-one.
Raul Lopez:So it was kind of like a self-feeding machine where you were learning, using what you've learned to improve yourself and making you want to learn more and improve other people's life kind of deal.
Liza Gallo:Yeah, like it was, it was serving both of those angles.
Raul Lopez:Nice, nice, and do you think that, with everything that you've dealt with with your uh, your disability has allowed you to become um more available, like with with other people, like being able to help them out better?
Liza Gallo:Yeah, I think so. Um, I think in a sense, it elevated my sense of empathy. Um, because there was just so many different things going on that were difficult and scary that, like, um, it helps me, like what I always describe to my clients in a sense, is like our experiences are going to be different, maybe even slightly similar, but, regardless of the difference, what is going to always be the same as the emotions that we experience. So, because I had such immense experience causing these emotions early on, like it just led to a deep understanding of like what that feels like and like what you most need during those moments of struggle, which is just somebody to sit with you, to validate you, like that is so impactful. So, because I had a desire and a need for those things. When people are in a place of struggle, that's all I want to provide them was what I needed.
Raul Lopez:And when you were dealing with all your stuff, was validation something that you were missing?
Liza Gallo:Yes, to some degree. Yeah, I think it's hard. I always say that holding space for people, even with all the skills and where I'm at now, it's uncomfortable when you see someone in such immense pain. Yeah, because, as a therapist, you're going to hear some pretty rough stories. Yeah, because, as a therapist, you're going to hear some pretty rough stories and, like, you think you're prepared but you'll just like hear a story all of a sudden and it's hard because even when it happens for me all the time, even now, like I, sometimes, when there's a struggle, I go into fixing Like that's how I know I'm feeling uncomfortable and it's a point of me catching myself of like no, like that may not be what the person needs or sometimes they tell me like I don't need that.
Raul Lopez:But I think it's really easy as a human being to go into fixing and I know for um, probably it's something that therapists need to learn is stopping yourself from wanting to fix Cause I think for a lot of us, we listen to stuff and our first instinct is, like you said, oh well stop doing that or do it this way or doing that, and that's not what they want. You know what I mean.
Liza Gallo:So but I think you know, again, like, I think it's, it's understandable, Like obviously we have a job where we need to be more mindful of it, but even if I do, I'm just compassionate towards myself because it's hard, like this work is hard, life is hard. I always say like because life is so hard, we don't like also need to be like in a funny way, like assholes to ourself about it. You know, like it's okay to be, be compassionate, like I didn't do it intentionally and I, when I do do that, go into fixing, like I'll check in with the client, I acknowledge it, I apologize, you know, and I do all of those necessary things.
Raul Lopez:But again, we're flawed human beings so we're not always going to get it right and that's okay, and you mentioned in our pre-interview that when we talked beforehand that one of the challenges you dealt with while you were growing up was barriers. Can you elaborate on that?
Liza Gallo:Well, it wasn't even just in like childhood, but I think just my whole general experience with having a disability. Again, it's like the misconceptions that people can have of you. Like I don't really know sometimes what people think, but there was like teasing that would happen. So, like again, like I wouldn't feel like that connection with people and it sort of led to a decrease in my self esteem which ultimately in the long run I think, really affected the trajectory of how things played out for me. Like I think in fact my lack of self esteem is what like led to me taking quote unquote longer to get to where I am, because I always tell people like I'm late to the game.
Liza Gallo:I got my license as a therapist probably 10 years late compared to most people. Most people are like 25. I was like 36 when I got my license but like I think I didn't have the confidence to really go for things. I would talk myself out of it and just that feeling of not being good enough. And then, even as I got older and I tried to get jobs, there was like discrimination and it was. It was mental health related jobs, but I just could not get in the door so I was stuck working at Walmart for quite some time. I spent like 10 years there and I felt like I was never going to get out, so like, just like, in a sense, lack of opportunity. But, fortunate for me, I found this field where, like, my physical limitations are not really relevant, like I still kick ass, even though it's not a physical job, it's more, you know, mental, and I'm really grateful for that because I don't have to worry about that. Like getting in the way.
Liza Gallo:It actually serves me, like it's a point of like, like that's an asset in this field so it's really nice, it's really empowering to have it feel that way versus like it's going to be something that gets you like off the list having a chance, um, but yeah, I would say like, just the discrimination and the teasing are two big ones for me.
Raul Lopez:And when you would get teased and things like that you mentioned, you had your siblings help out.
Liza Gallo:Yeah, so I'm a twin with my brother and my older sister.
Liza Gallo:They were pretty good at stepping in and it's not something that I would really like ask for. It was just kind of like that was their response. But, like I said, I just I wouldn't like it when it would happen. But I just I think again there was just that lack of confidence to actually speak up about what I was feeling about it. So I never would. Even I think now when people like I try to push myself to now, but I can't say that it's easy, even for me now.
Raul Lopez:It's easy, even for me now, yeah, and when your family helped out and your things like that did that kind of help give you some of that validation that you say you were not feeling all the time Like did you feel validated when they defended you.
Liza Gallo:I mean it felt nice to have somebody like stand up for me of course, yeah, but I think part of me back then would feel bad because I couldn't do it, like there was this sense of like again. Not that they would say this is how I'm kind of interpreting it when I was younger of, like man, they have to do it because I can't.
Raul Lopez:So kind of like feeling negatively towards myself about it, Okay, and I know you talked about your self-esteem being a barrier and I think you touched you know it was a good point you brought up where it's like you deal with kind of like the confidence to even like reach out for a new job and you get stuck in the thing, and so you talked about working at Walmart like what helped motivate you to get like, improve on that and work on your self-esteem when you were in those, in those slumps.
Liza Gallo:Wanting to help people.
Liza Gallo:Yeah it was always that, like I've always conveyed that, even in the darkest of times, like in the face of like whatever adversity it was, that would just always come back to the front of my mind of like I want to do that. And even when I was working at Walmart, I would tell people like I'm going to be a therapist. I didn't know fucking how I was going to do it because, like, I didn't really know and I didn't really know anybody that was a therapist, but I was like I'm gonna do it and it's. It was really nice because once I like went through the whole process, like I had a therapist, but I was like I'm going to do it. And it was really nice because once I like went through the whole process, like I had a friend that worked with me there and she's like you said you did what you said you were going to do and I did.
Raul Lopez:Nice.
Liza Gallo:That's awesome.
Raul Lopez:And so when you went to college, were you still struggling academically in college?
Liza Gallo:were you still struggling academically in college? Uh yeah, so part of my story that I like to not be shy about is there was a couple classes I had to take more than once.
Liza Gallo:There was one I had to do three times, and which is political science, and I think I took statistics twice okay yeah, so essentially to get out of community college, I think it took me four years instead of two, and then I spent another four years, I think, finishing up the rest. So in total it's I spent eight years to get my bachelor's degree yeah I mean I took political science in statistics it was a lot of memorizing in that political science class.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, I mean, I started chemistry pre-med at first and so that just destroyed my lifestyle completely. But I took statistics, thinking it would be easier than calculus, and I was like destroyed again. I was like, whoa, this is not what I thought it was going to be. But you know what?
Liza Gallo:destroyed. Again I was like whoa, but this is not what I thought it was going to be. So but you know what, like I, I get a lot of younger clients and I really enjoy it because there's like this pressure to get it right the first time and I can't fail and I really get to use my story as like a way to normalize not getting it right right away and I always tell them like it's different if you didn't try. But you know, maybe you weren't in the right headspace, right, but like if you really tried your best with where you are, then that's all we have, right. And like again, I know every field is different and some of them do focus on grades. So I don't encourage clients to like not give a shit and not get good grades, but like, if you happen to get one C or one B instead of all A's, right, like that's not going to be on your degree. So like, because people don't understand like the level of pressure with that like will lead you to mess up more. Mm, hmm, yep.
Liza Gallo:Yep. So I'm always trying to find ways to alleviate the pressure.
Raul Lopez:It's funny the way you put it, because it was kind of an epiphany I had when I got to like my junior year of like college, where I kind of stopped giving a shit and started doing better. Like I was just like I'm not going to finish this paper on time, I'm going to hand it in late. And I'd you know I'd hand it in three days late and I'd go from an a minus to a b plus as opposed to a d if I would have handed it in on time. You know, and it's like I kind of was just like let me take this pressure off and as I stopped giving a shit, I just kind of started.
Liza Gallo:We want to not give a shit, but not like not give a shit 100 yeah, you want to give a shit, but you don't.
Raul Lopez:You don't. I didn't like I was going from complete panic attacks and anxiety. You know my freshman year over every every test, and now I'm like I studied for the night. Whatever I get is what you know. And then I went into the test, I got a good night's sleep and then I get an 80, you know, as opposed to you go unclear minded instead of stressed out and overthinking. Yeah, yeah.
Liza Gallo:That's what I try to help my younger clients with.
Raul Lopez:And it's true, cause I mean, like my freshman year I just I would be studying for my exam and you know, biology, chemistry, all that stuff was a lot of information. You're looking like a thousand things and we're going to test you on 25 things, but I would get like an hour in and then panic for six hours and not accomplish anything. You know, I just spent six hours saying I'm going to fail, I'm not going to do this. So yeah, it's true. I mean it's. You know, your mental state when you're dealing with these things really make a difference.
Liza Gallo:It's funny with school I was always like I don't retain outside of therapy. If it's therapy related, I will retain more, but if it's like a general ed class like I could cram and do well on an exam.
Raul Lopez:But if I don't care about it, I won't retain it.
Liza Gallo:That's one thing Like general information. If you ask me like I'm trying to do calculations in my mind, I can't I'll use my calculator. But like there's things in undergrad that I learned that I still remember.
Raul Lopez:I think it's a big common issue in college. I know we can probably go on a whole different discussion on like how college works and have like a three hour podcast just on that. But you know, I mean, just in chemistry, pre-med, you know you take an exam and the average was a 45, you know what I mean. And that's the curve to a C, so it's like most people fail and that's the passing grade. So it's like you know. But yeah, we can go into like a whole different thing with that. But uh, but uh, what were? Were there any other obstacles in college for you? I know you were uh taking a while educationally, I mean academically I mean I don't know, I feel like college was really where.
Liza Gallo:So again, like I did that class. But that class so you took it a first time and you just participated. You got to split off into a group of eight people and you had like a different group discussion every week. But then at the end of the semester they asked everybody that were taking that class as members Do you want to become a group leader the following semester? Do you want to become a group leader the following semester? And when they asked us that first time, I was like this like yeah, no, yeah, no, I didn't. Um, and the two group leaders that were in my group like wrote me a note saying like we really think you should. Like you were our like all-star member. So like just do it.
Liza Gallo:And I was like fuck it, okay, I'll do it like I was scared, but I did it anyway and, um, so then you end up like having a group of like 32 leaders that you get to hang out with because you take classes together. There's just like different components of things that you're doing together. That's how I met my best friend. That's my best friend now. But it was people like me, right, like sensitive, um, they, they really valued insight and they like valued vulnerability.
Liza Gallo:So it was just one of those like, oh shit, like there are other people like me, and I ended up getting a tattoo from from that class, of a Lotus flower and it has it's red because it stands for love and compassion, and I got the words gratitude and acceptance because it was such a monumental time in my life where I felt genuine acceptance and like, again, like I wasn't the only one, because, as you know, in Hispanic families like being sensitive and vulnerable, they're they're not words that are like taken to an a positive, like people are trying to like, not be that, like you're not taught to do those things right.
Liza Gallo:So I was again, I was a rarity in that regard, so it always felt like man, like what? Like why am I like this? Like because, again, being the only one. It was just kind of strange, um. So, to come around 32 other people that demonstrated those same qualities, it started to really feel like I'm gonna be okay, like it's okay to be this way, um, and like you can have, you can find your people, I guess in a sense this was during undergrad or grad school this was undergrad and so then you ended up going for grad school.
Raul Lopez:How was that experience? Was it different from what you were dealing with in undergrad?
Liza Gallo:no, I feel like again like, uh, there was still like some confidence stuff. Um, I think confidence stuff was kind of there. It's still kind of here now, like it's not something that ever fully goes away. I think this is the most confident I've ever been, um, but but no, like things started to really kind of come together by the time I got to grad school because, um, I had gotten offered a job at a mental health agency and actually I should speak to that story.
Liza Gallo:So when I got offered this was in the middle of grad school I got offered the position, but I went to they send you to go get like a physical or whatnot and it was at one of those like whatever clinics or whatnot. And it was at one of those like whatever clinics and, um, the doctor there like they ask you about your history and I have an epilepsy diagnosis, um, and I disclosed to him that my last one had been in 2010 and this is 2016 and there was some sort of miscommunication. So then he wouldn't approve me and it turned into a whole thing. It turned into like a two months ordeal, um, but luckily that agency like waited it out for me, like they wanted to hire me.
Liza Gallo:so they waited and I got documentation from my neurologist proving that, like the last one had been in 2010 and ultimately he was. He cleared me, um, but I guess that's like another sort of thing that like came up as a barrier, right? But um, it worked out and I got hired um, and at that place, confidence really started to come through, because they were allowing me to do things um task wise that normally people that had already graduated with their, with their masters, were doing. So I was doing, like, associate level work. You graduate from your master's program. You're considered an associate.
Liza Gallo:MFT which is like in training, but they allowed me, so I got like a head start Nice. So by the time I got to graduate school, like there were certain assignments that we would do and like I even had a teacher put up an example of one of the things that we had to do, as like the way to do it it was we do like case conceptualizations. Uh, again, I'm trying not to get too technical, but um, um, but that process is really complicated because you have to take like the theories that I was talking about and use it to describe a client's case and she like literally, was like I have no feedback for yours. And then I did like we would do group group counseling, like role plays, and we had to do one for our group counseling class, and even that teacher was like I couldn't find anything even if I tried. So there was just certain skills that I had mastered maybe not mastered, but mastered more.
Raul Lopez:um, that I was like dang but, again, no matter how much evidence I got, like there was still like that imposter syndrome kind of that would linger and be around and creep in yeah, I mean because you, you, you earlier you talked about validation and it seems like you, as you get you know, I think we all get older and we start becoming more successful in what we do um, and we know our shit, you know, we start knowing our shit you get these validations and they kind of build up and you're kind of like, okay, I know what I'm talking about, and then you get a little more self-esteem. But then there's like that next step and you're kind of like I don't know if I'm ready.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, I don't know if I'm there yet. I don't. I don't like I, I just I got a job um a year ago, a new job, and uh, the first few months was kind of slow. They hadn't signed a statement work yet. I was still waiting to like work for like a couple months. And I'm like, did I do the right thing? Do I even know what I'm talking about? And so, like it was too quiet for me that I got in my head for a month, for two months, that I was like, oh my God, what am I doing here? And now I'm like kicking ass at the job. But it's like it's.
Liza Gallo:It's always like that when you start something new. So, like my recent, my new, recent thing is is being a professor, um, and I'll be uh, becoming, uh, hopefully, a supervisor soon. But, like it's, it's remembering that right, like everything has been new at some point. Like when I first became a therapist, I don't know what the fuck I was doing, I was scared, like I thought I sucked. You know, like I, I can't like, and now I'm at a place where, like I can do it more, just, naturally, without overthinking, um, and I have to remember, like we have to remember, that like a lot of the things that we did were new at some point and we overcame. But that imposter syndrome is going to creep in a lot of times when you're doing something new.
Raul Lopez:So, uh, that's like my, my, constant battle yeah, and it's funny, it's a life lesson I give my daughter all the time too, because she's a big soccer. You know she's big into soccer and I'm like you know that's why you practice. You get a little bit better every day.
Liza Gallo:Because you don't know it, you can't you can bit better every day because you don't know it.
Raul Lopez:You can't come in knowing everything. You don't know everything. So it takes time, so it takes practice, and then, as an adult, I don't tell myself that it's like I expect myself to know everything.
Liza Gallo:Yeah, I say that all the time. Like, even as therapists, we're really good at giving suggestions and like prompting clients to do things, and we're not always good about implementing it. But I will say that, like my, my clients do hold me accountable in that way. So like I talk a lot about being scared and doing the thing anyway. So like I really try to live in that motto and that's what pushes me to. I think old Liz would have been like professor yeah right, no, I'm okay, thanks, you know, like I probably would have not gone, for it Found some sort of justification in my mind. But now I'm at a place where I'm like, oh that, that that voice is creeping in telling you you can't do this, you're not good enough, and I'm able to like gain control over it instead of it controlling me that's awesome yeah, it's, I think that's a hard skill to learn sometimes it's really strong and loud.
Raul Lopez:It doesn't win as often as it used to yeah, yes, yes, it's definitely like I said I, I feel like your story, like, even though different but I've dealt with a lot of the similar feelings of okay, I'm not good enough, I'm not there yet, and now it's like, okay, I'm telling myself I'm not good enough. Shut up, raul, you're being an idiot.
Liza Gallo:Honestly, that's coming from like things people have done to us or said to us. It's not really like what we believe about ourselves. Yeah, people have done to us or said to us. It's not really like what we believe about ourselves. Yeah, we know to be true. So um again, otherwise I wouldn't be where I am right like. If that were really true, would we be where we are likely not we are actually enough yeah, exactly right.
Raul Lopez:yeah, we made it this far for a reason, right? Right, it wasn't by accident, right? They didn't just drop on our lap, so we had to work hard for it. Yeah, definitely yeah, and it's. It's great to hear that you know, um, that you're getting better at that. Cause that was one of my questions I was going to ask you. I was like is are you able to handle your, your self-esteem issues better now than you did before?
Liza Gallo:Yeah, because again I think I think the at my core, like the belief, is more ingrained that I actually am enough and that I am worthy, versus like I think again, years past I was believing that I wasn't enough.
Raul Lopez:More like now it's just a belief that creeps in but like I have a deeper knowing that it's not true nice, and do you ever still have any, um, like obstacles that you deal with now when it comes to, like, your disability with your career now, or is it kind of gone out the past now that it's not a big issue anymore?
Liza Gallo:I mean career wise. I would say no Again. I really feel like it's an asset to me in this field, I think barriers are more like in the personal realm, probably, but not professional.
Raul Lopez:And so you ended up getting a license for what's it called Mental health and family therapist. Licensed marriage and family therapist? Yeah, and so what is that process like?
Liza Gallo:Oh man, do you got time? It's, it's very lengthy. You'll even hear a lot of people like a lot of people will come up to me like I thought about doing it, but then I saw everything I had to do and I didn't know. So it's a master's program 3,000 hours with no pay or very low pay or lower end pay, and a law and ethics exam and a clinical exam. So for me, I did grad school from 2015 to 2018 and then, when we did hours while we were in school, I did about 800 hours. Those are the ones that are not paid while you're in school. Once you graduate, you can apply for jobs. You can apply for jobs, but it took me about so from I graduated in June of 2018. And I believe I finished my hours about, like I think it was 2021. I submitted my application to take the exam in October of 2021. So I finished everything by 2022. So it took me seven years to do everything.
Raul Lopez:And did COVID affect anything while you were doing all that stuff?
Liza Gallo:No, because there's telehealth. So they just sent us home.
Raul Lopez:Okay, nice.
Liza Gallo:And ever since the pandemic I've been doing all my sessions virtually. Nice. So, yeah, no, it doesn't affect anything. Good, the pandemic actually led to the opposite for the field of therapy versus, like other fields, like they lost like opportunities for employment, like we were in high demand.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, demand yeah we've been in high demand ever since yeah, I was gonna say I mean, I think one of the good things is, telehealth got really popular and now people have no excuse to not see the therapist, and they can. I was like I don't, you know, you don't have to leave the house, go, go look for your therapist.
Liza Gallo:So you would think, but there has been an influx of clients since then.
Raul Lopez:Nice yeah, and you talked about how a lot of the process is unpaid or low pay. So what is the? There's got to be a huge financial burden, like trying to balance working all these cars and like pay your rent and have to work another job, did you?
Liza Gallo:have to do like multiple jobs. That's the thing. I was very fortunate I lived with my aunt at the time and she was like probably beyond kind to me more than you know is typical for somebody at that age, because I was what? So I was in my 30s, um, but I was working, um, I was working full-time up and doing grad school up until I started to do my hours. So we did hours the last nine months of the program.
Liza Gallo:So, so, unfortunately, that great job that I talked to you about, where they waited two months for me, it didn't end well. They put me in a position of either choosing them or choosing my practicum, which is where we do our hours. They didn't want to be flexible, with me needing to step out because we have to get supervision, and they just decided they didn't want to be flexible with me and told me at the last minute, rather than months before when I first told them. So I was forced to leave that job and work part time for the same company at a different location, but it was only like 20 hours um, so I didn't have a lot of income coming in but, like I said, my aunt wasn't really charging me a whole lot um, and if anything, I shouldn't start like I didn't start contributing until I think I got paid employment after.
Liza Gallo:I graduated, but while I was in school I had that, that support, and even even just in general, beyond my aunt, like my parents have always been really supportive. So like, even while you're like working before your license again, you're still not making a lot. So like, for example, when I like apply to take my licensing exam, it was like five hundred dollars, um, there's just a lot of different things that they charge you for. So like my family would support me with that. Or you know, if I ever needed, even now, like I just have a supportive family, so whatever I need, obviously I'm not not doing anything. So like you're not looking at me like why are we helping you? Like I've actively been trying.
Liza Gallo:So, but I have resources. I feel really for the people that don't have those resources. I don't know how like I could not have worked full time, been doing those hours for free, like it's a lot, um, and other people have the capacity for that and I commend them, but I I would not have like something. I would have messed up on something. I can't have my plate too full. I've always been that kind of person.
Raul Lopez:I got you nice. Nice and so what's what's next for your journey? What's what's the next step for Liz?
Liza Gallo:So I'm in a scary place right now. I'm living in my be scared and do the thing anyway. I opened up my own practice last May. However, I was still working for a group practice. I didn't really put a lot of energy towards it. I wanted to kind of give myself the opportunity to just kind of have it open and like see what it felt like. Um and I did a few podcasts and I had like one client come through like up until earlier this year, but I had decided, like at the end of last year, like I'm I want to go for it.
Liza Gallo:Um, so I gave myself the time frame of like by February, march, I'm going to tell my group practice employers like I want to leave them. Um, so I did that last month. Finally, because I have like a friendship with my current employer, so it's not just like we're employer, employee, like I have a, like I really respect them and and like they've treated me really well. So it felt really hard to tell them that I wanted to leave. I didn't want to like disappoint them, I guess. Um, and they reacted really kindly and really supportive. So, um, I'm in the process of switching. Um, I'm actually going to talk to them on Monday to see like what my last date will be with them. But I'm already getting credentialed with with um insurance companies on my own and I'll stay virtual, just to kind of um save, save on that for now.
Liza Gallo:Um, but yeah, I'm ready to not have a boss anymore, aren't?
Liza Gallo:we all it just feels really nice to kind of be like oh, I don't have to ask anybody to decide how I want to do things. Um, yeah, have to have more freedom. Like again, like I'll be, um, because at the with groups, a lot of the time what's normal is there's a percentage cut because they'll do the like admin stuff and they, they like get you clients. Um, so like I also won't be giving up any percentage of my income, it'll just all come to me. Um, so I'm excited.
Liza Gallo:Like again, I don't know like what's next. Like I've been networking on on instagram and I found, you know, a therapist and another, um, another lady that provides services to those with chronic illness, but she's not a therapist, she's, she's somebody that has had to navigate like the medical system. So, like we're thinking about doing some collaborations. Like I don't know, like I want to get certified in um, um, it's called emdr. It's a type of therapy that's used for trauma, but there's like different certifications that we can get. So like I want to do that being on my own allows me to earn more while working less.
Raul Lopez:That sounds good.
Liza Gallo:So like I don't feel like I've had the capacity to do that, because I've had to like see more clients right, like I've been working an average of like sometimes I schedule seven clients a day. It's a lot yeah and are your clients.
Raul Lopez:Come over with you or like uh, a big chunk are good.
Liza Gallo:Yeah, some of them want to, but, um, I'm not taking on all of the insurance companies, so that's really like the only barrier for some is like I'm not taking their insurance. But it's not really nice to hear that they want to follow me. I'm like, oh, that it was another like and like they don't know that, but like it's felt very validating that like people are like no, we want to follow you nice you talk about insurance like Is that difficult to get?
Liza Gallo:So if I had my preference, I wouldn't go through insurance. But at this point I feel like I need to get my name out more, and you do that through exposure. But fortunately for me, I was connected with somebody that does billing with insurance, so she like I pay her and she does everything. So like it's like a like a monthly fee that I'll be paying for her service, um, and that's going to free up my time to either do therapy or these other things that I'm trying to get into.
Liza Gallo:And for some it might feel like a high expense, but in my I'm like I do not want to deal with that. No, like I am all. It might feel like a high expense, but it might. I'm like I do not want to deal with that. No, like I am all about outsourcing what I'm not good at and I don't want to learn it. I don't know, like I just know.
Raul Lopez:Nice, nice, well, you know. So usually around this point in my podcast, I ask my last couple questions for you, and so you, you know. I think one of the big ones is if you go back and talk to a younger version of yourself, what's some advice you'd give yourself?
Liza Gallo:I, I don't know if it's advice, but I would definitely hope that I could tell her that she is enough as she is and that everything is going to be okay. Yeah, she did not feel that way at all. She was in it.
Raul Lopez:So I, you know, I, I would want to tell her those two things good, nice and and uh, I'm glad you believe that now that's a big, big step it took me a long time. Yeah, that's progress, so that's good, I'm really glad. And then ultimately you know how do you say success in Spanglish.
Liza Gallo:I don't know, like, like. What does success mean to me? Is that what?
Raul Lopez:you mean yeah. What does success mean to?
Liza Gallo:you. I mean, I think, success to me, because a lot of people focus on, like, the income aspect, which obviously we need that to live, but to me success is overcoming, like to have faced such low self-esteem and just so many things in life telling me, no, that's not what I wanted, right, or like being restricted, but like finding a way through it. Really to me it's. It's that idea of being scared and doing it anyway, because that's is that's exactly how I've overcome. And just to share, I got that idea of of being scared and doing it anyway from a woman called Brene Brown. She has a phrase called dare greatly and that's what it means to feel afraid but not letting the fear stop you.
Liza Gallo:Yeah, I think if I keep using that again, good things keep happening like it hasn't stopped. So it's crazy. But yeah, I think in a big way and and making a difference to me is is success like leaving people better than than I found them?
Raul Lopez:yes, well yeah thank you for that. I mean it's great advice because it's true. I mean, if your risk is, you know I might. I don't know about my daughter, but one of the things I read early on is if you let kids jump off of things and get hurt, they gain confidence in taking risk and that will eventually grow into becoming less afraid of taking risks and you end up becoming more successful yeah, they're getting out of that energy. Yeah, yeah and it's like, yeah, being afraid is a natural thing.
Liza Gallo:Being able to overcome that fear, to move something on is what's going to help you, you know, succeed it's an emotion, it doesn't like so like I heard another thing that says like fear can exist or an emotion can exist, but it doesn't mean redirection, like you can just keep keep going where you're trying to go, but you don't have to let the emotion stop you.
Raul Lopez:Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you reaching out to me and taking the time to get on the podcast. Tell me how can people reach you? What's your practice?
Liza Gallo:the podcast. Tell me how can people reach you? What's your practice? So my practice is called Resilient Lotus Psychotherapy and I have an Instagram. You just look up that name. Or if you look me up on Google, like, I have two directories with Latinx and psychology today, so those should come up. But if you want to get like a good sense of who I am, then my Instagram is the place to go.
Raul Lopez:Nice, awesome. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time to come to show with me so.
Liza Gallo:I appreciate you for what you do. This is a really great podcast idea and I think you know again like we need to hear more success stories for people of color, for sure.
Raul Lopez:Yeah, definitely. Well, thank you so much. Enjoy your California weather so show us much. Yeah, I moved from Houston up to Connecticut and I'm dealing with cold all the time. I'm not having fun. All right, all right. Thank you so much, and for everyone else you know, thanks again for jumping on and listening and I hope you join me again next time as we continue to learn how to say success in Spanglish.
