Gwendolyn Tinajero-Belles, LCSW, ATR-BC
she, her, ella
Gwendolyn is a bilingual, first-generation, Latina, daughter of immigrants.
She is the founder/owner of Voces de la Tierra, PLLC (Voices from the Earth), where she provides supervision and EMDR consultation. Additionally, she is the Clinical Program Coordinator at the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago- Sexual Violence Support Services. She has worked with survivors of sexual violence and their non-offending significant others for over 13 years, providing long-term trauma counseling, legal advocacy, crisis hotline support, and preventative services in the community. She also has experience providing reflective supervision to a team of therapists and interns.
Gwendolyn is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and an approved consultant; she is trained in Brainspotting (level 1), and uses a combination of parts work (Ego-State Therapy and IFS-Informed) when working with clients. Additionally, she uses a decolonized approach where we explore the impact of systemic oppression. She has experience working in community-based settings, residential, private practice, schools, and non-profits. Additionally, she has completed study abroad work in India (studying freedom businesses), Cambodia, and Thailand (studying an aftercare program for youth survivors of sex trafficking), and has traveled to Kenya with the Global Alliance for Africa-Therapeutic Arts Program (now known as the Collective Arts and Learning Network). Gwendolyn is also a published author.
Her areas of interest include trauma, working with survivors of sexual violence, working with survivors of human trafficking, attachment concerns, complex trauma, dissociation, immigration, neglect, religious trauma, first-gen, supporting the Latinx/Latine community, transference, counter-transference, and re-enactments.
Professional Affiliations
-American Art Therapy Association (AATA)
-EMDR International Association (EMDRIA)
- International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD)
