Healing Through Connection: Inside Isela Gonzalez's Work at HCN

CPP Therapist & Entre Nosotros Program Therapist | Homeless Children's Network

Walk into a room where Isela Gonzalez is working, and you might not immediately recognize it as therapy. You might see kids laughing, or a caregiver finding words in their first language for something they've carried silently for years. You might witness a quiet boy, the one who usually deflects everything with a joke, finally tell his story out loud while another boy crosses the room just to hug him. That is Isela's work. And as she says it: “That moment right there was when I was speechless. That is exactly what this work is about.”

Isela holds two roles at Homeless Children's Network, serving as both a Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) therapist and a therapist in the Entre Nosotros program. On paper, those are two distinct positions. In practice, she describes them as different doors into the same house.

“When I have to describe my work to folks I usually tell them I focus on healing through connections,” she says. “Whether it be in CPP or Entre Nosotros, I help children reconnect to their parents. We work collaboratively to repair and strengthen relationships and assure a sense of safety for the child.”

What CPP Actually Looks Like

Child-Parent Psychotherapy is an evidence-based treatment model for children ages 0 to 5 who have experienced trauma, from domestic violence to sudden loss to abuse. Its central premise is that the relationship between a young child and their caregiver is not just important to healing, it is the vehicle for healing. Sessions bring caregiver and child together, and the work focuses on rebuilding safety, attachment, and trust between them.

For Isela, this framework resonates deeply.

“The relationship between a child and their caregiver is the foundation from where they learn practically everything,” she explains. “Their bond and sense of safety is what helps them go out into the world.”

What does that look like when it's working? She describes it as something you feel in the room before you can explain it.

“We see clients who have been through so much trauma slowly start to open up and begin to trust their caregivers to do what they've been meant to do this whole time, which is take care of the child and keep them safe.”

She pauses before adding something that stays with you: “I've seen the burden of putting up a front of strength melt off children's shoulders and allow themselves to be embraced and cared for by their caregivers.”

Entre Nosotros: Within Us

In 2024, HCN launched Entre Nosotros (Spanish for “Within Us”), a community mental health program built to meet the needs of Latine-identified and Spanish-speaking communities in San Francisco. The program grew out of a recognition that the Latine newcomer population in the city was growing rapidly, that the demand for Spanish-speaking therapists was outpacing supply, and that culturally generic mental health services were not reaching families who needed them most.

Within Entre Nosotros, Isela describes her role as creating the space for clients to reconnect, not just with a therapist, but with their culture, with each other, and with themselves.

“I provide the space for the clients to reconnect with their culture and their country of origin,” she says. “My work with Entre Nosotros has really allowed me to build community within the people I serve. Through the work I've seen the clients recognize that they aren't alone.”

An evaluation of the program, conducted by Indigo Cultural Center, found that youth participants showed measurable increases across every outcome assessed, including comfort at school, connection to cultural heritage, confidence in their own strengths, and positive coping skills.

The Boy Who Rarely Shared

Isela thinks often about one moment from her newcomer youth group. There was a boy who almost never opened up. He was the one cracking jokes, keeping things light, keeping people at arm's length.

Then one day, he didn't.

“He opened up and shared his experience and in that moment another boy came over to him and hugged him and shared that he too felt that way and he had gone through the same," Isela recalls.

“Building those connections, helping kids not feel alone and empowering them to find their voice and their community.”

That's the work. Not just symptom reduction or measurable outcomes, though those matter too. It is watching a room of kids who arrived in a new country carrying impossible weight, find each other.

Isela does not sugarcoat what Latine immigrant families are up against. When asked about the barriers they face accessing mental health care, her answer is long because the list is long.

“There are so many barriers for Latine immigrant families especially during this time,” she says. “We see people who are worried about seeking support due to their immigration status, we see people who are struggling now more than before to maintain employment, to maintain stable housing. There are so many people out there who are in survival mode who need mental health support but they can't get it because they need to provide for their families.” 

She connects clients to case management services. She follows up. She stays flexible. She shows up when it's hard. And she acknowledges that the work takes a toll.

“The system has truly failed some of the families that we work with, and all that we can do is show up for them and understand what they are going through and give them grace.”

After a day of holding other people's hardest stories, Isela goes home to blowing bubbles with her son under the lemon tree. She waters her plants. She listens for the sound of him playing dinosaurs while she cooks dinner.

"Blowing bubbles with my son under the lemon tree and watering my plants are what make me feel grounded,” she says. “Every day after work I look forward to getting home and hearing my son making roaring noises while playing with his dinosaurs as I cook dinner.”

She also loves being out in nature with her family and hunting down new coffee spots. And she is honest that taking care of herself is something she is still working on, that it is not always easy to leave the weight of the work at the door.

“I often find myself hearing the news or reading something and thinking about how these new laws, these new policies, these new changes in the world impact my clients and my work. And it's hard not to think about those things. But I have to remind myself that I am only one person. All I can do is show up and support the best I can.”

If there is one thing Isela wants the broader community to understand about the families she serves, it is this:

“The families I serve are incredibly resilient but it shouldn't be about resiliency or survival but about humanity. These folks have gone through so much and who knows what else there is to come, but I think we as a society need to work on being more human and help our communities.”

Homeless Children's Network has served San Francisco's most vulnerable children, youth, and families since 1992. Through programs like Entre Nosotros and Child-Parent Psychotherapy, HCN delivers culturally affirming, trauma-informed mental health care to over 2,500 community members each year at no cost. To support programs like Entre Nosotros, consider making a donation.