Born and raised in Los Angeles to Mexican Parents, Ms. Cruz was raised with the value of preserving, respecting, and cherishing her native language. As a bilingual, California Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, she specializes in psychological and emotional trauma with most of her experience with victims of violent crimes, children, adolescents, at risk youth and those with special needs. Her methodology extends the breaches of traditional talk therapy, using art therapy, sandtray therapy, play therapy, among other creative mediums.
Within days of graduating from Nogales High School in La Puente, Ms. Cruz enlisted in the US Army. During her time in the service she was temporarily assigned in El Paso, Texas, Alexandria, Virginia, and later stationed in South Korea for over a year as a Patriot Missile Operator before touring as a cast member of the 1999 US Army Soldier Show. This led to a nationwide tour schedule which included some overseas locations. During her time in the service, Ms. Cruz also managed to take several college courses with Central Texas College and the University of Maryland. At the time, her plan was to become a detective, a criminal, or forensic psychologist.
Fascinated with the mechanisms that drive human behavior, in 1998, Ms. Cruz began her academic pursuits majoring in Criminal Psychology at Central Texas College and later the University of Maryland. It wouldn't be until 2004, she would resume and transfer her studies, thereby obtaining her undergraduate degree in 2006 in Human Services followed by her Master's of Science degree in Counseling in 2009 from the University of Phoenix.
She would spend her practicum and externship years developing and solidifying her professional identity, working with every population accessible to her such as children, teens, couples, and families. This also included spending a year as a subcontractor of the San Bernardino Regional Center, implementing early intervention strategies with the infant/toddler population, as a Child Specialist, helping special needs children achieve functional and age level skillset. Ms. Cruz would embark on various projects teaching and presenting bilingual parenting classes, working with couples doing both marital and premarital counseling, facilitate support groups (Group Therapy) with high risk teens, and learn to creatively level with 4 year old's stricken with grief. Working with various elementary and high school districts in the course of 8 years would later open doors as a Trauma Specialist for the Sachs Institute, a subcontracting agency sustained with ongoing referrals from the California Victims of Crime program.
Her flexibility, curiosity, and openness, would grant her the privilege of working at Caremore Healthcare for a year, serving the mental health needs of dependent adults with severe mental illness in addition to counseling elderly and frail adults at times three times her age. It was working at Caremore Healthcare that she had the opportunity to see the full impact of illnesses such as Alzheimer's, Grief, mounting support groups for the spouses of those inflicted with this form of Dementia. It was at this same facility that Ms. Cruz was able to have an up close and personal look at the complexities of mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Lesley is also trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing), a clinical, trauma focused therapy which employs minimal dialogue between patient and clinician instead utilizing patient's own rapid, rhythmic eye movements in a bilateral pattern to dampen the power of emotionally charged memories of traumatic events. This specialized treatment is particularly effective in treating severe cases of torture, hostage situations, sexual abuse, and other severe trauma.
Ms. Cruz was granted clearance by L.A. District Attorney’s Office when volunteering for their Victim Witness Assistance Program in 2011. Early 2014 she was granted the required clearance by the L.A. Probation Department for employment at New Opportunities Charter School where she continues to render services and administrative support through a variety of personal Enrichment Workshops, Life Coaching, Parenting classes, and Individual Psychotherapy. She's also had the opportunity to work with the inmate population at Twin Towers Correctional Facility where she served as a Life Skills Instructor with female inmates.
With over 10 years experience as a Marriage, Child, and Family Therapist, Ms. Cruz has additionally sought out additional training in Gestalt Therapy at Gestalt Associates Training Los Angeles (GATLA). Since 2008, she has trained under the mentorship of the brightest minds in the United States, Bob and Rita Resnick, in addition to taking their summer residential training programs upstate New York, Poland, and most recently in Italy. In addition to being a prominent relationship specialist, Ms. Cruz has presented to various elected and political audiences, education executives, parent audiences, and student/teen audiences. She's lectured on the topics of Parenting, Parental Communication, Discipline & Punishment, Anger, Addictions, Grief, Child Abuse,Communication, Domestic Violence, to name a few.
Ms. Cruz is an interactive and experiential gestalt therapist. Her dialogic approach provides authentic practical feedback that assists her clients effectively address their personal life challenges. She integrates complementary methodologies and techniques to offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each client. With compassion and understanding, she works with each individual to help them build on their strengths and attain the personal growth they are committed to accomplishing.
A lifetime member of CAMFT and EMDRIA, Ms. Cruz currently maintains a tightly limited private practice in the Beach Cities area of Los Angeles (South Bay). This includes Hawthorne, Lawndale, Torrance, Gardena, Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan Beach.
When not conducting enrichment workshops, virtual sessions, consulting, or providing counseling services for LA County's Department of Mental Health, Ms. Cruz enjoys food festivals, music festivals, concerts, museums, time with her family, her dogs, and salsa dancing.
