Personal Experience
When I was younger, I believed I was just a “bad kid.” I did not yet know I had ADHD. I only knew I struggled in ways that were hard to explain and that school often felt built for someone else’s brain. Being diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia gave me clarity. It helped me understand I was not the problem. I needed support that matched how I processed the world.
Sports gave me an important place to experience myself differently. I began playing baseball as a young child and continued through high school, before an injury in college brought that part of my athletic life to an end. I also played hockey from age five to fourteen, including several years at a competitive tier level as a goalie.
Hockey gave my energy somewhere focused and productive to go. I enjoyed the intensity of competition, the responsibility of being part of a team, and the process of repeating and mastering a skill in pursuit of a shared goal. It was also a place where I could experience competence and success, even when other environments made me feel as though I was falling behind.
At the same time, being involved in competitive sports gave me a different experience of myself. I learned how structure, repetition, and clear expectations could make things feel more manageable, and yet even with all those positives how quickly confidence could shift depending on performance and feedback.
Those experiences continue to shape how I work today. I pay close attention to how quickly children and teens begin to believe something is wrong with them, especially after repeated struggles at school or at home.
In my work, I focus on understanding what is beneath the surface rather than reacting to behavior alone. I help children build confidence, teens develop emotional regulation and clarity, and young adults better understand how their experiences have shaped them so they can move forward with greater agency and self-trust.
My goal is not just symptom reduction. It is helping you or your child make sense of what is happening and leave therapy with practical skills, clearer insight, and a stronger sense of who you are.
Working with Children, Teens & Young Adults
Oscar does not expect your child or teen to come in ready to talk.
With younger children, he uses simple activities and real-life situations to help them practice skills in the moment. This might include helping them slow down when they get frustrated, follow through on directions, or handle a situation differently after a mistake instead of escalating. He shows them what to do differently and practices it with them so it becomes easier to use at home and at school.
With teens and young adults, sessions are more direct and focused on what is actually happening in their daily life. He helps them break down situations like avoiding schoolwork, shutting down in conversations, or getting stuck in negative thinking, and then works with them on specific ways to respond differently. This can include how to communicate more clearly, manage stress without shutting down, and follow through even when motivation is low.
Over time, your child or teen is not just talking about problems. They are learning what to do in the moment and practicing skills they can use outside of therapy, so situations that used to lead to conflict or shutdown become more manageable.
Supporting Parents
Oscar works closely with parents when behaviors at home or school feel confusing, intense, or hard to manage. His goal is to help you understand what is driving your child’s behavior so you are not constantly reacting or second-guessing what to do next.
Parents often come in feeling like they have tried everything. Together, you will slow things down, make sense of patterns, and build approaches you can actually use in the moment when things start to escalate.
Experience & Approach
Before becoming a therapist, Oscar worked in adolescent residential treatment and as a behavior therapist and paraeducator with young children. He is comfortable with strong reactions, shutdown, and behaviors that can feel unpredictable at home or school, and brings a steady, grounded presence to his work.
He integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Trauma-Focused CBT, and play-based strategies depending on what best fits the child or teen. His focus is on helping young people build emotional awareness, flexibility, and confidence over time.
ADHD & Learning Differences
Oscar has both personal and professional experience with ADHD and learning differences. He understands how quickly children can begin to feel defined by their struggles and works early on to change how they see themselves and what they believe they are capable of.
He helps kids build skills around focus, emotional regulation, and frustration tolerance, while also supporting parents in creating environments where their child can be more successful.
Athletes & Performance
Having grown up playing competitive baseball and hockey, Oscar understands both the rewards of sports and the pressure young athletes can carry. He knows the satisfaction of mastering a skill, contributing to a team, and performing under pressure, as well as how quickly confidence can shift after a mistake, difficult game, injury, or critical feedback.
Oscar works with teen and young adult athletes on the mental and emotional side of performance, including performance anxiety, perfectionism, focus, confidence, recovering from mistakes, team dynamics, and the stress of balancing sports with school and life. His goal is to help athletes develop practical skills that support stronger performance, resilience, enjoyment, and a sense of identity that is not entirely dependent on results.
Ready to Begin
Starting therapy takes courage, whether you are a parent reaching out for your child, a teen unsure about the process, or a young adult feeling stuck.
If something feels heavier than it should, we can start there.
You know yourself, or your child, better than anyone. Let’s figure out the rest together.
I offer in-office and telehealth sessions through secure, HIPAA-compliant platforms.
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Bio
Training & Certification
- Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — for anxiety and depression
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — emotional regulation and distress tolerance
- Parent Management Training (PMT)
Internship & Employment
- Thira Health, Residential Treatment, Individual Therapist, 2025
- Friends of Youth, Intern Mental Health Counselor, Issaquah, WA, 2024
- Overlake Hospital Specialty School, Paraeducator, 2022
- Kyo Autism Therapy, Behavior Therapist, 2022
- UC Berkeley Youth Programs, Interventionist, Berkeley, CA 2021
Education & Degrees
- MA, Child and Adolescent Psychology, University of Washington, 2025
- BA, History, Whitman College, 2020
License
WA DOH Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate #MC61675284