Lilian Gonzalez, MA is a native Spanish speaker with a BA in Child Development and Biology from Mills College. She holds a Masters in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of San Francisco. She currently does research on multiculturalism and multicultural competency and has a special interest in working with young professionals struggling to balance personal and professional lives.
As a family therapist, Lilian provides counseling to families who have children with special needs and families going through a divorce or adjusting to new family constellations. She helps parents identify parenting styles in order to present a unified front in the home.
Being a first-generation Latina, she is also aware of the socio-cultural challenges that can be a barrier to both academic and personal success. She’s counseled students both one on one as well as facilitated support groups around stress, anxiety, depression, and loss. She’s designed and implemented workshops around topics such as privilege, race, oppression and first-generation experience. She has a strong commitment to social justice and a deep appreciation of the complexities of the human experience.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- Lilian’s background
- Why learning to let go of your children is a profound expression of love
- Why you must understand the personal filters that you bring to your role as parent
- Why you and your partner must present a united front when parenting your children
- How to know when to nurture and when to teach
- Why you need to teach kids that who they are is more important than how they perform in school
- Why you need to help your kids learn who they are — what are their unique interests?
- How to prepare your kids for not getting everything they want
- Why teens will live up to or down to your expectations of them