Today, we’d like to introduce you to Mica Istre. Mica was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Habiba Zaman.
Mica, can you walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a Chicana (Mexican American) woman and Las Vegas native, I was exposed to diverse cultures, races, and ethnicities at a young age. The exposure to various cultures at an early age piqued my interest to better understand people and their unique world-views. As the child of immigrant parents, I had to learn to navigate the college system and find the path to achieve my goals. I had to personally break generational trauma that accompanied being an immigrant and learn to overcome the barriers of poverty, language, and systemic racism. My personal struggles as a trauma survivor and first-generation college student have helped me a better empath and counselor. I understand the struggle to overcome negative cognitive beliefs about yourself and how it feels to sit on a counselors’ couch. Through my personal experiences, I have grown and want to share this personal growth to advocate, encourage, and empower others. I am passionate about fostering growth and addressing the unique needs of the highly marginalized and systematically oppressed. I saw the need to create a safe and therapeutic space for ethnic, linguistic, LGBTQ and QTBIPOC minorities in the southern Louisiana region. My personal and professional experiences have led me to open Tree of Life Counseling and Consulting, the only multiculturally focused counseling practice in the Acadiana area.
Please tell us more about your practice.
At Tree of Life Counseling and Consulting have ethnic and linguistic diverse counselors that are highly trained to support and empower minority clients. We offer individual, family, and couples counseling services in Spanish and Swahili. We specialize in addressing racial trauma, microaggressions, sexual trauma, linguistic barriers, systemic oppression, racial/ethnic/sexual identity and the intersectionality of these issues. Our treatment approaches include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Somatic Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), Trauma Resolution Therapy (TRT), Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Solution-Focused Therapy. The Tree of Life symbol represents our personal development, uniqueness and individual beauty. Just as the branches of a tree strengthen and grow upwards to the sky, we too grow stronger, striving for greater knowledge, wisdom and new experiences as we move through life
As you know, we’re big fans of Habiba Zaman and North Star of Georgia Counseling we know you’ve worked with them quite a bit as well. We’d love to hear about your experience working with Habiba Zaman.
Habiba Zaman is a licensed professional counselor, business owner, and author. She gave me my first opportunity to work at a group private practice and exposed me to various populations due to the multicultural focus of her practice. She is more than a boss or mentor to me, Habiba is my friend that empowers me to pursue my dreams. She has become my mentor as a woman of color entrepreneur and has advocated for me to fill the needs of minorities in my area. She is a trailblazer and worked diligently to overcome barriers as a woman of color, woman entrepreneur, and author. Habiba is an encouraging and kind-hearted mentor/boss who provides you an environment that fosters your growth as a counselor.
Website: www.treeoflifecoun.com
Instagram: @TOLcoun
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-mica-istre/
Facebook: @TOLcoun/ @CounselorMica
Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/maria-mica-istre-lafayette-la/462374
