A Little About Me

Gloria Lopez, LMHC

8 yrs serving families as a **Mental Health Counselor**
3 yrs serving families as a **Certified Lactation Counselor**
3 yrs serving families as a **Certified Baby-led™ Sleep & Well-being Specialist**

Life

I've married and shared my life with my computer geek and Star Wars obsessed best friend and we are also the proud parents of two teenage cats and a cheeky human boy named Ro. I am first generation of Cuban decent and currently live on occupied Tequesta land, also known as Miami, Fl, where I was born and raised.

Career & Credentials

I have a Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling from Nova Southeastern University and I’m currently a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Florida. I have served my community as a clinician for a little over 8 years now and have predominantly worked with children and their families as an outpatient therapist. I’ve worked with clients at every stage of the life cycle facing a wide range of challenges from mood disorders, relationship issues, to substance abuse and trauma. I currently specialize in working with new and expectant parents throughout the perinatal period (pregnancy and postpartum) offering counseling services and leading support groups for pregnant and postpartum birthing people at a local community birth center, Magnolia Birth House.

Through the Healthy Children's Project, Inc. Center for Breastfeeding and the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (ALPP), I've been able to become a Certified Lactation Counselor and help fill in the gaps in support that continue to exist today for caregivers who would like to breast/chest feed and need assistance.

I'm also certified as a Baby-Led Sleep™ and Well-being Specialist. I'm thrilled to be supporting parents with a holistic approach based on attachment theory and sleep science, that helps them make changes that improve their family’s sleep without resorting to separation based methods of behavioral extinction(cry-it-out) or sleep-training.

My Passion & My Why

I was you…well not really you, but I was that new parent who struggled entering motherhood. Heck, I still struggle!

I experienced postpartum depression and anxiety, as I noted in my brief story which you can read HERE. I experienced the loneliness and isolation that often follows the birth, not just of a child but of a new mother too. I experienced the sheer indescribable sleep deprivation for weeks and months as my son woke hourly due to ties and reflux. Oh, and about those ties—felt like a piranha had attached to my nipple after his very first feeding. So, there I was feeling completely out of my mind, not able to eat or sleep, and triple feeding(latching him at the breast, feeding him my pumped milk, & feeding him formula—good times) at 3am wondering why the heck no one bothered to warn me about this hellscape new parents often face.

To be fair, would I have listened to them? Probably not.

This is all to say that I get it and I get you. After starting my recovery journey nearly 4 years ago, a journey I’m still currently on through my own work in therapy (yes, therapists see therapists too!), I became passionate about helping other parents through this important time in their lives with a bit more support and information than I had. Like many clinicians in this space of maternal mental health, I came out of the most challenging time in my life with a renewed purpose to advocate for and help as many new caregivers as I could.

Witnessing the parents I’ve worked with climb out of the depths of PMAD hell and into the serenity and joys of healing is my “why”.

If you've chosen to reach out for support, please accept my sincere gratitude for trusting me and allowing me to be a part of your journey.

I only hope to be a useful guide as you make that climb.