Therapy for Multicultural Identity In Houston
With Mary Duran, LCSW, LCDC
And Gabriela Treviño, LCSW
Do you feel like an outsider in your own community, never quite enough for any one side?
Are you exhausted from being the bridge between your family’s traditions and your own value?
Do you feel like you’re constantly performing your culture depending on who you’re with?
This sense of being stuck in the middle is a learned adaptation, a strategy you built to navigate different worlds and stay accepted. You’re translating, performing, and over-extending on the outside while feeling isolated or confused on the inside. We help you quiet the shoulds of your upbringing so you can finally lead your own life.
We combine lived experience with years of specialized training in high-intensity settings like The Menninger Clinic and J. Flowers Health Institute. We provide a direct, human approach to the specific isolation of being "the in-between" and the tools needed to build a life that is authentically yours.
People Come To Us When They Experience
Exhausting social code-switching
Cultural "Imposter Syndrome"
Generational trauma cycles
Family expectation pressure
Feeling misunderstood everywhere
Not "enough" culturally
Bridging cultural divides
Identity confusion or isolation
How Therapy for Multicultural Identity With Us Works
We start by building a foundation of mutual respect and zero judgment. In this room, you don’t have to spend your energy explaining your culture or your family’s unspoken rules, we already get the nuance. We show up as allies who truly understand the nuance, helping you untangle the cultural blueprints that keep you stuck.
Sessions are collaborative and direct. We help you process the quiet stress of othering, navigate generational conflict, and build the practical tools needed to set boundaries with the people you love. Our goal is to move you past the exhaustion of performing for everyone else and back into the driver’s seat of your own life.
Modalities We Use
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We explore your family's blueprint for connection, helping you understand how cultural expectations shaped your need to perform or pull away in your relationships.
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We help you externalize the pressure of cultural expectations so you can stop being a character in everyone else's story and start writing a unified narrative that belongs to you.
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The stress of "othering" and code-switching lives in your body as high-alert tension; we use body-based tools to help you feel steady and safe in your own skin regardless of who is in the room.
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We provide practical tools to handle the big emotions and "rejection sensitivity" that often come with cultural conflict, allowing you to stay grounded even when family dynamics feel overwhelming.
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We treat compassion as a strategic tool to help you turn down the volume on the "not enough" script, so you can stop wasting energy fighting your identity and start leading your life.
You don’t have to bridge the gap between your worlds alone, let’s build a life that belongs to you.
After Therapy, Our Clients Report:
Owning their narrative
Unified sense of identity
Setting cultural boundaries
Dropping the performance
Healing generational wounds
Trusting their intuition
Navigating family complexity
Authentic self-expression
About Us
Mary Duran, LCSW, LCDC
And Gabriela Treviño, LCSW
Our style is relational and direct. We build a real connection with you. We give feedback, help you notice patterns in the moment, and teach you how to regulate your body, brain, and emotions. We believe healing happens inside a consistent, honest relationship.
We don’t just understand this work through a clinical lens, we live it. As mixed-raced Latina clinicians, we have both navigated the quiet weight of "not being enough" for one side or the other, the exhaustion of code-switching, and the unique pressure of family expectations.
Therapist Mary Duran, LCSW, LCDC
more about me
👋🏼 Hi, I’m Mary
Before joining this practice, I spent years deepening my training in attachment-based theory and therapy. My work focuses on helping clients understand how early relationships shape the patterns they experience in adulthood, especially in the way they connect, communicate, and respond to stress. I have a strong passion for working specifically with multi-cultural and mixed-race humans and find this work deeply meaningful. As the first to graduate from college in my immediate family and as a mixed-race Latina, I have lived experience of feeling a constant need to prove myself or not feeling fully connected to any one part of my background.
Outside of the therapy room, I have practiced yoga for over a decade and find movement essential for calming a fast-moving mind. I live in Houston with my spouse and our two small dogs.
Therapist Gabriela Treviño, LCSW
more about me
👋🏼 Hi, I’m Gabriela,
Before joining this practice, I worked exclusively in specialized treatment programs with clients across the life span. As a mixed-race Latina, I have lived experience of often feeling I don’t fit into either side of my identities and have a passion for supporting others with shared experiences.
I was raised in Houston and feel deeply connected to the community here. In my free time, I enjoy getting lost in a good book, gardening, and spending time with my partner and our three dogs.
Availability: We work with clients in-person in Houston. Telehealth sessions available across Texas, Colorado, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.
Education, Credentials,
& Trainings
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Texas
Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor, Texas
Extensive experience supporting high-achieving men navigating burnout, performance pressure, and professional isolation.
Lived experience as mixed-race, multicultural humans.
Advanced Evidence-Based Training – Intensive training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT).
Experience In Intensive Treatment Settings, including The Menninger Clinic, J. Flowers Health Institute, & UT Health
3 Steps To Get Started
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Fill out the contact form. We will personally respond and answer your questions.
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We will schedule a short call to see if it feels like a good fit and talk through next steps.
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We begin building trust, understanding your current struggles, and creating a clear plan for our work together.