Group Therapy for Latinas in highland park, l.a.
Every other Tuesday 6-7:30pm• In-Person • Highland Park, Northeast Los Angeles
Chillona Is Chingona
You don’t have to hold all of this alone.
A relational therapy group centering the emotional lives of Latinas in Los Angeles.
If you’re tired of "being the strong one," you’ve found the right place.
You’ve learned to be strong, composed, and selfless —
even when you feel anxious, disconnected, or torn between worlds.
This group is a place where you don’t have to shrink to belong.
Chillona Is Chingona is a bi-weekly, in-person therapy group in Highland Park for Latinas in Los Angeles who are holding a lot — emotionally, culturally, and relationally — and want a space for honest conversation, shared understanding, and connection that goes beyond “just be strong.”
Chillona Is Chingona is open to adults of marginalized genders, including women, trans women, and non-binary and gender nonconforming people who feel comfortable in a space that centers the experiences of Latinas.
Why This Space Matters
Right now, it can feel especially heavy to be Latina in Los Angeles.
With increased ICE raids, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and policies that target our communities, many of us are carrying fear, anger, hypervigilance, and grief — even if we’re trying to stay composed on the outside. You might be holding your own reactions while also supporting family members, partners, or friends who are directly impacted.
This group is relaunching to meet this moment.
Not with panic, but with space. With grounding. With connection.
the cultural messages we’ve carried long before this moment
In many Latine families and communities, emotional and mental health can already be deeply stigmatized. We’re often taught that taking care of ourselves first is selfish and that strength means staying composed.
We talk about ataques de nervios because it can feel more acceptable than naming anxiety, depression, grief, hurt, or trauma out loud.
After all, no one wants to be seen as weak or become the subject of chisme, especially when it feels like it reflects on our families.
Coming from collectivist cultures, many Latinas have learned to disconnect from their emotions and needs in order to put others first.
Over time, this can make it harder to name what we feel, to know ourselves deeply and authentically, and to build relationships where we feel fully seen.
It can also leave us feeling anxious, stifled by rigid expectations, or caught between identities while navigating multiple worlds.
On top of this, many of us carry the weight of daily oppression and racism. These experiences create stress that lives not only in our stories, but in our bodies and nervous systems.
This space exists so you don’t have to hold all of this alone.
This Group Might Be for You If:
You struggle to have a safe space to feel your emociones or find yourself feeling ashamed when you have had moments of grandes sentimientos.
You often feel misunderstood or disconnected in your relationships.
You feel torn between Latine culture and American culture.
You feel fear, anger, or rage about what’s happening in our communities right now and don’t have many places where these feelings feel safe to land.
You’re ready to move from selflessness and survival into emotional depth and self-advocacy.
If you’ve been wanting to understand yourself more deeply and feel safe exploring your emotions and relationship needs, the Chillona Is Chingona Group offers a place to begin — alongside other Latinas who truly understand.
feel seen & heard.
make space to feel more.
Feel big. feel deeply. feel supported. feel latina. feel you.
if you’ve been carrying this quietly, tiene sentido
Growing up in many Latine families, strength often means staying composed — mantener la compostura.
Being “good” can mean being selfless: la buena hija, la fuerte, the one who doesn’t cause problems.
Taking care of yourself first can feel wrong, even when you’re exhausted.
Over time, holding everything in can turn into anxiety, disconnection, resentment, or feeling like you don’t fully belong anywhere — ni aquí ni allá.
None of this means you’re broken.
It means you adapted — aprendiste a sobrevivir — to expectations that asked a lot of you.
And sobrevivir is not the same thing as sentirte plena.
Our Chillona is Chingona Group Will Help you Have:
Space for your own feelings — take up more room in your relationships without shrinking, over-explaining, or apologizing
Emotional clarity and language — name what you feel and advocate for what you need with more confidence
Authentic self-trust — show up with vulnerability and stop performing strength when you’re tired of being “the strong one”
Healing from internalized cultural messages — unpack machismo, marianismo, and inherited expectations that have shaped how you relate
Nervous system regulation tools — understand your embodied responses and develop coping practices aligned with your values
Relational repair skills — move from resentment or disconnection toward more honest, connected conversations
Community that gets it — feel supported by other Latinas navigating identity, family, and belonging alongside you
A deeper sense of wholeness — integrate all parts of your identity so you feel more grounded, more empowered, more you
These aren’t quick fixes — they’re capacities we build together over time, in relationship.
If something in you softened reading this, that’s worth listening to.
What Happens in a Group Meeting
Each 90-minute session is a facilitated, process-oriented space where we slow down and notice what’s happening — within you and between us.
We explore real-time emotions, relational patterns, identity, and the cultural messages that shape how you show up. The group becomes a living space to practice something different: speaking honestly, taking up space, expressing needs, and tolerating vulnerability in connection.
Together, we:
Identify and process emotions as they arise
Explore relational needs and relationship patterns
Notice and unpack group dynamics in real time
Reflect on identity, culture, family roles, and belonging
Practice expressing wants, limits, and vulnerability
We also incorporate art-making as a form of expression. No art experience is needed.
Art offers another language for what may feel difficult to put into words. Art making is a meaningful act of resistance.
At the end of the group, participants will have the option to share or display their artwork in a small, supportive showcase to honor what has unfolded. (There is no obligation to display your art or participate in the showcase.)
what shifts when you have space for yourself
When you’re given space to speak honestly — without being la fuerte, la buena, la que mantiene la compostura — something softens.
You don’t have to stop loving your family to love yourself more.
You don’t have to reject your cultura to question what hasn’t served you.
You don’t have to become someone else to feel more whole — más tú.
This group isn’t about changing who you are.
It’s about expanding what’s possible inside your relationships — including the one you have with yourself.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s feeling more connected, more grounded, and more fully you.
the deets
This is a six-month long, process-oriented therapy group, offering space for community and deeper insight. We begin April 7th, 2026 and will meet every other Tuesday from 6-7:30pm.
This group is facilitated by Licensed Therapist, Dani Marrufo, LMFT.
Dani possesses extensive group facilitation experience and has been running groups for many years at Cancer Support Community SGV. Dani is passionate about supporting fellow Latine folks to make room for their emotions and challenge some of the internalized Latin cultural narratives that can feel like obstacles to connecting more deeply with yourself.
This group meets in-person in our office in Highland Park, Los Angeles. We anticipate the group will have 6 to 8 members, so that it is small enough for depth, and big enough for community.
Group fees
The Chillona is Chingona Group is a regular investment of $190 per month, which covers all bi-weekly sessions and ensures that your spot is reserved in the group. There is also a one-time, fifty-minute, individual intake session which costs $215, to help Dani learn how to support you better and ensure the group will be the right fit for you.
A reduced-fee regular group rate of $115 per month is available with documented financial need. If you qualify for the reduced fee monthly rate, the one-time, fifty-minute intake session fee is $115.
There are a limited number of reduced fee spots available, so book your info session now!
Hi,
I’m Dani. I look forward to helping you care for your emotional self better.
Who We Welcome
This space centers the emotional lives of Latinas while honoring the complexity within that word — across gender identities, migration stories, languages, class backgrounds, and ways of belonging.
We welcome women, trans women, nonbinary, and gender-expansive Latine adults who are comfortable in a group grounded in Latina experience and culture. If you are navigating multiple worlds — first-gen or second-gen, bilingual or bicultural, queer, questioning, neurodivergent, disabled, or carrying layered identities — you belong here.
What Is Group Therapy Like?
Group therapy offers something many Latinas don’t often get anywhere else: time and space with people who truly understand what you’re carrying. The pressure to be la fuerte, the good daughter, the dependable one, while holding your own fears, desires, and doubts quietly inside.
In this group, you’ll have the chance to talk about what’s happening in your life right now: navigating family expectations, cultural messages, relationships, identity, grief, ambition, guilt, and the tension of moving between worlds. You’ll be met with empathy, reflection, and honesty from both the therapist and other Latine folks who genuinely get it.
Being in a group means you don’t have to over-explain your family dynamics, translate your culture, or justify why something that “looks fine” on the outside feels heavy on the inside. Over time, many members find that sharing space with others helps them feel less alone, more grounded, and more confident naming their needs. You may gain language for setting boundaries without drowning in guilt, feel more validated in your emotions, and leave sessions feeling lighter, not because your circumstances have changed, but because you’re no longer holding it all by yourself.
This group isn’t about fixing you or telling you what to do. It’s about connection, perspective, and support, with room for humor, tenderness, anger, contradiction, and real-life complexity. The goal is to help you move from survival and self-silencing toward emotional depth, self-trust, and relationships that feel more mutual and authentic.
Ready to Feel More Like Yourself?
You were never meant to navigate all of this alone — ni aquí ni allá.
This group exists to support you in feeling more connected to your emotions, your voice, and your community, alongside others who understand what it means to move between worlds.
If you’re curious whether this group is the right fit, you’re invited to book a free info session to learn more and ask questions before committing.
👉 Book a Free Info Session using the calendar below!
Your Journey Starts with a Real Human
We know that starting therapy—especially a group—can sometimes feel like a lot. We use a free Discovery Call to protect your time and your energy.
No pressure, just connection: This isn't an intake or a clinical evaluation. It’s a 15-minute chat to share what you’re looking for and see if our Highland Park group matches your needs.
Expert Matching: Our Care Coordinator acts as your advocate, helping you decide if this group or one of our individual therapists is the best next step for your pace.
The Smoother Start: If it’s a fit, we’ll move quickly to get you set up with Dani for your 1-on-1 intake before the group begins.
Only a few spots are available in the group, so book your call now!
