About Mikaela
Hi, I’m Mikaela
Hi, I’m Mikaela Abundez Toledo, a virtual therapist serving individuals throughout California. I work with people who are navigating anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, and relationship patterns that often grow out of family dynamics, high expectations, and the pressure to keep it all together.
My approach to therapy is relational, experiential, and grounded in empathy. I want therapy to feel like a place where you can slow down, understand yourself more deeply, and begin shifting patterns that no longer serve you.
What Therapy With Me Is Like
I know it can be hard to reach out, especially if you are used to handling things on your own. My hope is that therapy with me feels warm, collaborative, and steady.
Together, we might explore anxiety that keeps you overthinking, perfectionism that makes it hard to rest, burnout that leaves you feeling depleted, or relationship patterns that leave you feeling stuck or disconnected from yourself. I want our work to help you make sense of what is happening beneath the surface while also building a more compassionate and sustainable way of relating to yourself.
Therapy Approaches I Draw From
My work is relational, experiential, and grounded in empathy. Some of the approaches that shape my work include:
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Schema Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Humanistic and experiential approaches
Systems-based and family-of-origin work
My Background
My development as a therapist was deeply shaped by my training at Sentio Counseling Center, where I was trained through deliberate practice. This approach focused on building clinical skills through expert feedback, reflection, and repetition. It strengthened my belief that effective therapy is not only about understanding theory, but about developing the ability to respond effectively in real moments with clients. Alongside my clinical work, I serve as the Director of Student Services at Sentio University , where I continue to support students as they grow into effective therapists through deliberate practice training.
I learned that mindset years earlier through competitive volleyball, where I was part of the 2019 NCAA Division II National Championship team. In athletics, improvement does not come from simply understanding the game. It comes from practicing a skill, receiving feedback, and repeating it until it becomes something you can actually access under pressure. That same principle continues to shape how I think about change in therapy.
I believe meaningful change happens not only through insight, but through experiential work, emotional processing, and developing new ways of responding to yourself and the world.
Beyond the Therapy Room
Outside of work, I love spending time at the beach, walking near the ocean, and caring for my houseplants. I’m drawn to spaces that feel calm, grounding, and full of life, and I try to bring that same feeling into therapy. My hope is that therapy feels like a space where you can slow down, breathe a little more deeply, and feel more connected to yourself.
Ready for the Next Step?
