Hurt Can’t Be Put in a Little Box

In this next episode, Paulina Isabel Almarosa, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of LatinxGrief, allows herself to be vulnerable and emphasizes that therapists don’t have it all figured out. Pauliana talks about what it was like to work in different spaces including jails, hospitals, schools, and other community organizations and seeing her own life reflected in the lives of other people. She reflects on what it was like to have her own grief invalidated so many times in her life and wanting to create a comforting and healing space for people to process their grief without being shamed for their emotions.

Paulina shares how she grew up in a constant state of survival, and never really having had an opportunity to engage in her own healing work because of needing to prioritize the needs of her family, school, and “being successful”. She opens up about losing her father to lung cancer, supporting her brother through incarceration, and having to carry so much grief in her life without having space to process it because of so much “toxic positivity.” Paulina dives deep into what grief looks like and how it extends beyond just the concept of “death”, stating that “grief can also be the loss of something important in your life.” She also discusses how she started to listen to her body and began trying out different healing modalities including “sobadas”, “limpiadas”, and “acupuncture” to begin her physical healing process. 

Paulina urges more therapists and healers to come together and create resources for the Latinx and Black community that focus on grief. 

Follow Paulina on: 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latinxgrief/