My name is Chris L'Esperance, and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Santa Cruz, California. I also serve clients in San Luis Obispo County and the Oakland/Berkeley areas. I received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara, and then received a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute. I have been practicing therapy for about seven years, and over the course of that time I have worked with a lot of different kinds of people and circumstances. As a result, I have learned a lot about my role as a therapist and about what I can bring to the therapeutic process.

While psychotherapy is my profession, I am first and foremost a person. I want my experience as a person, a man, a spouse/partner, a friend, family member, an indigenous person and person of color to be part of how I show up in my role in supporting others as a professional.

A big part of who I am is rooted in my Native American heritage from the Kawaika people, otherwise known by its Spanish name, the Laguna Pueblo. One concept that is important in Native culture that I bring to my work is the pursuit of being in balance, harmony, love, respect and reciprocity in all of one’s relations. In Native culture this is not focused on status, achievement, or success. It is our relations with our natural environment, our family, friends, community, and perhaps most importantly ourselves. When we are able to recognize, cultivate and embrace our own individual authenticity and inherent value as human beings, we are more able to align with what truly makes us who we are as individuals. We can then work towards bringing that authenticity into all of our relationships with love, respect, humility and reciprocity. I find that bringing this Native wisdom into the therapeutic process helps guide my work with clients towards deepening satisfaction, purpose and meaning in the lives that my clients want to live.

Building Emotional Wellness (A Holistic Lens)

Clients often come to therapy wanting to reduce or resolve (negative) emotional symptoms, they may want to get tools for coping or to improve their communication skills. People tend to come to therapy because they want to feel less anxious, less depressed, or they want to argue with their partners or family members less. Reducing symptoms is certainly a part of the work I do with clients, and it is important. However, I have found that building emotional wellness, emotional and relational skill-building, and working towards balance, connectedness, enjoyment, and satisfaction in life to be an overall more useful focus. I often notice that this approach helps clients to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, etc., while also working towards more richness in their mental, emotional, and relational experiences. Focusing on emotional wellness is an important part of the therapeutic work that I do with clients.

Social Justice

An important part of what I want to do is to help people humanize themselves in a culture and society where we are constantly being dehumanized. As a Native person, the term decolonization has become very important to me personally and is defined as a process of freeing oneself from colonialism. In more simple terms, it is the process of recognizing the influences of colonial culture in how a person or group of people perceive themselves and their place in the world and then working to liberate themselves from those values and standards of success.  Decolonization is not only important to Native people but to all people who suffer oppression as a result of the colonizing culture of our country and the wider world. I would argue that this includes just about everyone. It feels important to me as a person and as a professional to fight against dehumanization in all of the forms that it comes in. Dehumanizing people for any reason is wrong. I see it as essential to acknowledge the rampant dehumanization in our history, in our culture, and in our media. Beyond that, it is especially important to me to provide a safe space, support and encourage empowerment for people who suffer personally as a result of trying to live in a society that oppresses and marginalizes so many people.