East Orlando Child, Teen Adult & Winter Park Couples Therapist & Personality Disorder Specialist

Pedro’s Bio

Prior to being a mental health professional, Before becoming a mental health professional,
Pedro worked as a law enforcement officer for several years at the local and federal levels. While working for the federal government, Pedro was fortunate enough to live in several states within the United States of America and visit several countries on assignments. Pedro attended Michigan State University, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Psychology. Pedro received his Master of Arts degree in Forensic psychology. Pedro is currently completing his Ph.D. in International Psychology. Pedro has a passion for traveling and learning about various cultures. Pedro is presently researching on a global scale and travels in person to other countries. Pedro’s recent research project evaluates the cause of violent and nonviolent behaviors in an individual’s psychopathic traits.

Experience

Pedro has worked with first responders and military personnel in the mental health field for five years. Pedro has attended trainings and workshops to increase knowledge and understanding regarding Trauma and stress-related disorders and Personality Disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. Pedro has firsthand experience in the life of law enforcement officials and the negative consequences it takes on a person’s life. Once clients meet their goals in counseling, Pedro likes to see his clients improve and meet their goals and sometimes includes coaching his clients to help them realize their future goals. Often, children or teens may have experienced neglect or abandonment, and they may need positive male mentoring as well.

Questions To Ask Yourself

1. Does the past keep sneaking up on you – whether it is in the form of intrusive memories, difficulty sleeping (nightmares, trouble falling asleep, or staying asleep), experiencing emotions of guilt or other overwhelming emotions that leave you struggling for air, a constant low-grade anxiety that keeps you preoccupied, or staying constantly busy so that you can continue avoiding people, places, thoughts or situations.
2. You’ve tried all the coping skills and have been to therapy in the past, and the coping skills worked temporarily, but you are still wondering when will the real change happen.
3. You are asking yourself, when will I no longer need counseling to be able to live my life? Maybe you keep telling yourself to put the past behind you, but that doesn’t seem to work either.
4. You know that for trauma, you need something more—even if sometimes you still question whether what you went through really counts as trauma. As much work as you do to avoid it all, some of you know there’s something you need to face head-on here. So, let’s face this head-on together.

Questions for First Responder/Military

Being a first responder and/or in the military can be a rewarding career. However, it comes with a heavy cost.

1. Do you have trouble balancing/adjusting to your professional and personal life? As a result, maybe you experience problems in your relationship or family.
2. Perhaps you have experienced sleeping issues while working the night shift or returning from deployment?
3. Perhaps you have been exposed to one or many high-stress situations and unrelenting exposures to the worst days of most people’s lives, leading to potential mental health struggles such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
4. Suck it up! Maybe when you have tried to talk to coworkers and have heard the following responses: “suck it up.” “If you can’t handle it, you shouldn’t be in this job.” “You knew exactly what you were signing up for.” It is comments like these that prove society has not always had a positive perspective when it comes to mental health counseling. However, we now know that when individuals “suck it up” without successfully processing these complex incidents, it leads to increase rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse, and contributes to poor anger management and post-traumatic stress disorder. If you feel like you have experienced these struggles, I am here to tell you, you no longer need to “suck it up.” Contact Pedro for mental health counseling and schedule your appointment to learn the skills that help you care for yourself and find the perfect counselor to support you. If you struggle with impulse control, counseling services can also help you learn coping mechanisms and techniques to manage your impulses healthily, especially for young adults who are just starting their careers in these fields.

Certifications:

• Psychopathy Checklist-Revised
• Trauma and Crisis-Informed Care for a Diverse, Globalized World
• Gottman Relationship Institute Marriage Level 1 Trained
• Modular Approach to Therapy for Children with Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, or Conduct Problems (MATCH-ADTC) supervisor.
• Personality Disorders Certification Training: Advanced Diagnosis, Treatment & Management
• CBT for Anxiety with John Ludgate Ph.D, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Intensive Training Course
• Terrorist: TRAP-18 as an Investigation Template Psychopathy and Violence Risk Assessment
• Workplace Assessment of Violence Risk-21
• Prolonged Exposure Therapy