Blanca Sepulveda (She/her/ella)

I am a licensed clinical abolitionist social worker, born and raised in Chicago. My most influential identities include being first generation, Queer and eldest daughter to Puerto Rican parents. 

My professional journey has included working primarily with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ folks in early childhood settings, high schools and community mental health programs with a focus on: intergenerational trauma, examining the critical role of development and the impact of systemic violence on both an individual and collective level. I am clinically trained in Child Parent Psychotherapy, Intimate Partner Violence and working with families impacted by the Child Welfare/Family Policing system. 

I believe that my role reflects that of a root worker and collaborator. I am deeply committed to supporting folks in exploring and unlearning stories about themselves and experiences that have served as barriers to healing and being in community. Ultimately, my goal/commitment is to co-create systems of care that eventually lead to one day working myself out of a job.

When I am not "therapizing"- I enjoy podcasts, puzzles, reading, old school Salsa and raising an overly anxious bilingual Pitbull - Ask me about Maelo. 

Questions? blanca@forrealtherapy.com

INTERVIEW BIO WITH Blanca Sepulveda

Tell me about what challenges and joys brought you to FRT.

The challenge and the joy may overlap a little bit. I would say what brought me here had to do with what’s been lacking in the field and my grappling of that. As I’ve been developing myself as a clinician, the more I’ve witnessed a lack of contextualization whether that’s the view of therapy alongside identity work or political work or just systems at large. We’re moving along in the context of a specific socio-historical time and the acknowledgement of that was a compass as to where I wanted to go next. Although that was a challenge, I was also able to create little communities of connection in my search for incorporating context into therapy. It’s been a joy to find like-minded people who can identify the truth about oppression and it’s been affirming hearing others in the field say, “once you see it, you can’t unsee it.” I would say this whole journey led me to FRT.

What’s meaningful to you and how does this come up in the way you practice therapy?

There’s a lot of things that are meaningful to me, but one of the most important things is asking myself what my role is and what my contribution is to creating an ecosystem of care. When I’m with others I often consider what my actual location is, what is my identity in this space, and what am I contributing to this relationship that’s in front of me and to the care of that relationship. In a clinician/client relationship, I try to support my clients in a search for other systems of care outside of our relationship. Doing this alongside the practice of constantly interrogating what has been unexamined for me is a priority, as well. We all have the power to recreate harm and asking myself where I place myself is one way to minimize this. 

What is something you’re learning about yourself?

I’ve actually been creating a family archive. Through this process one of the things I’ve wanted to learn about is my ancestry. I’m first gen and only have two other family members here. There are lots of gaps in knowledge and as I’ve gotten older I’ve often wondered things like, I do things this way, did my abuela do things like that, too? So, I’ve been interviewing folks, piecing things together. For example, over the summer we had some family fly in —  and sometimes you have to be careful in asking questions, you don’t want to unintentionally bring up someone’s trauma — and I learned that my family was part of the independence movement in Puerto Rico and I had family members come to the States who were fleeing persecution. My whole past I never knew I had family part of this movement, the movement that’s been criminalized and political. Some families take the stance of not talking about politics. But when I learned this it made me feel like I’m not the only one out here fighting. I would hear stories of family members I’ve never met and feel so connected to them just by learning about their role in this movement. I’m learning more about my identity through this and thinking more about my ancestry and legacy. 

What communities do you work best with and what do you think aids in successful work with these communities? 

In the past, I did a lot of home visits and the experience of going into someone’s home and having someone open their door to you — the feeling, the energy, the vulnerability— I really enjoyed that. I think it’s true for a lot of people to say that they do a lot of work with others who have similar experiences or identities. I have a soft spot for folks working through grief and loss; that’s a bucket for me. In that bucket there’s folks working through pregnancy and loss, and varying types of grief. I enjoy working with folks with intersecting identities; the first generation population, bilingual and bicultural folks. A lot of that is me and my roots of being here. It is represented in who I am and I’m often fed in my work with these clients which can contribute to my sustainability as a clinician adding to how I keep moving forward. 

Uniquely, I also work with people in caregiving positions. This is very much me, too, as I take care of mom, so there’s lots of connection there. In thinking about aspects of caregiving, a lot of what I often see is individuals take on a blunt of the responsibility in the caregiving world. In my work, I like to consider what it would mean to expand on this, to widen the systems of multiple caregivers outside of heteronormative structures of family units and into a space of communal, abolitionist care. When we move out of survival mode we have more opportunity to have options for support and therefore, respite. Thinking of new ways to be in the world means creating new systems that speak against the ones that exist and are getting in the way of us thriving in the world. 

Overall, when I work with others, I think about co-regulation; I think about my nervous system. What I want for myself and for the people I work with is to create a space where we’re tuning in to what it feels like in our bodies so that our nervous systems are not only working well individually but together. 

What is your universal piece of advice?

The first thing that comes to my mind is that we’re all in this together. I think about my work with folks and we’re best described as coconspirators, we’re co-collaborators in healing. My universal piece of advice is more around this not being about the individual but the question of how to make a singular experience a communal one.