A different way forward can begin here.
Therapy can be a place to slow down, understand what you've been carrying, reconnect with yourself, and discover new ways of moving through life.
Sometimes the strategies that helped us survive earlier experiences no longer serve the life we want today. Therapy can create space to understand those patterns with curiosity rather than judgment.
My work is collaborative and integrative, bringing together cognitive, emotional, relational, somatic, trauma-informed, and experiential perspectives.
“Healing is less about forcing yourself to become someone different—and more about creating the conditions in which something healthier can begin to grow.”
I’m Otoniel “Toni” Calderon, M.A., LPC, a bilingual English- and Spanish-speaking counselor and a first-generation Mexican American. I was born to Mexican parents in San Antonio, Texas, and my cultural background is an important part of the perspective I bring to my work.
I earned my Master’s degree in Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2013. Since then, my clinical work has included outpatient therapy, community mental health, intensive community-based treatment, care coordination, assessment, and treatment planning. I have provided services in homes, hospitals, community settings, and through telehealth, and have worked with children, adolescents, adults, and families.
I have also spent many years serving Spanish-speaking clients and families and advocating for culturally and linguistically responsive care. My clinical background includes extensive psychoeducation and trauma-informed work, including the use of Seeking Safety and other evidence-based curricula.
Over time, my clinical interests have expanded into trauma, the nervous system, somatic and experiential approaches, EMDR, Internal Family Systems-informed work, ACT, CBT, DBT, mindfulness, relationships, identity, meaning, and spirituality.
Read more about my journey →My understanding of therapy is shaped not only by professional training, but also by my own experience of searching for greater understanding, healing, and meaning.
I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, as the child of Mexican parents. My experiences—including surviving childhood abuse—eventually led me to recognize that some of the patterns we develop to survive can remain with us long after the original circumstances have changed.
My interest in psychedelics and altered states of consciousness began in my teens. I spent time reading first-person psychedelic experience reports on Erowid and became fascinated by the questions these experiences raised about perception, consciousness, meaning, and the nature of human experience.
That early curiosity was not the end of the story—it became one thread in a much larger exploration of psychology, healing, spirituality, and consciousness.
I pursued counseling because I wanted to better understand how people heal, change, and make meaning from what they have experienced. My professional path has taken me through community mental health, intensive services, care coordination, trauma-focused work, and outpatient therapy.
Therapy has also been part of my own healing journey. My personal experiences have encouraged me to approach clients with humility and curiosity: I do not see healing as something a therapist simply gives to another person, but as a process that each person participates in and makes their own.
My interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy eventually led me to pursue professional training through MAPS related to MDMA-assisted therapy and through InnerTrek in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy. These experiences have contributed to my interest in psychedelic integration, consciousness, and the ways people make meaning from profound experiences.
I am personally drawn to spiritual and philosophical questions about consciousness, interconnectedness, meaning, and the nature of reality. My worldview is influenced by panentheism—the understanding that the divine can be understood as present within the universe while also transcending it.
For clients who want to explore these dimensions, I offer a grounded, nonjudgmental space to explore spiritual experiences, existential questions, questions of identity and purpose, or what some people describe as a spiritual awakening.
My journey is not your blueprint.
I don't believe you need to share my experiences, beliefs, or worldview for us to work well together. Your life is your journey. My role is to bring clinical knowledge, curiosity, compassion, and respect while helping you discover what healing means for you.
You don't need to have the perfect words—or a complete explanation—to begin.
Creating safety, understanding trauma responses, and working toward greater integration and choice.
Working with worry, intrusive thoughts, uncertainty, avoidance, rumination, and the need for control.
Exploring disconnection, shame, self-criticism, hopelessness, and the beliefs that shape how you see yourself.
Understanding attachment patterns, boundaries, relational wounds, and recurring interpersonal dynamics.
Learning to recognize what happens in your mind and body and developing more flexible responses.
Making sense of life changes, identity questions, purpose, spirituality, and the direction you want to take.
Building enough stability and trust to explore difficult material at a sustainable pace.
Learning how experiences, beliefs, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and the nervous system interact.
Recognizing patterns that may have become automatic or difficult to see from the inside.
Connecting intellectual insight with emotional and embodied experience.
Developing a less adversarial and more curious relationship with yourself.
Creating more freedom to respond differently instead of remaining trapped in old patterns.
Somatic Experiencing · EMDR · Internal Family Systems-informed therapy · ACT · CBT · DBT · mindfulness-based approaches · trauma-informed therapy · motivational interviewing · narrative approaches · experiential interventions
I’m personally drawn to spiritual and philosophical questions about consciousness, meaning, interconnectedness, and the nature of reality. My own worldview is influenced by panentheism—the understanding that the divine can be understood as present within the universe while also transcending it.
For clients who want to explore these dimensions, therapy can provide a grounded, nonjudgmental space to examine spiritual experiences, questions of meaning, existential concerns, or what some people describe as a spiritual awakening.
Spiritual exploration is client-led. Your beliefs do not need to match mine, and therapy does not require adopting any particular spiritual or religious worldview.
Explore practical ideas for understanding yourself, building regulation, and supporting growth between sessions.
Window of tolerance, regulation, fight/flight/freeze/fawn, and grounding.
Safety, stabilization, attachment wounds, dissociation, and trauma responses.
Uncertainty, rumination, intrusive thoughts, and the control cycle.
Boundaries, attachment, healthy relationship patterns, and self-sabotage.
My role is not to tell you who you should be or what decisions you should make. It is to help you explore, understand, and work through what may be getting in the way of the life you want.
If you’re wondering whether therapy might be right for you, reach out to learn more about services, availability, and whether we may be a good fit.
Journeys Toward Healing is my private-practice identity. I also provide therapy through several partner platforms, which may offer different insurance, scheduling, and payment options.
Platform availability, insurance participation, scheduling, and services may vary. Please confirm current details through the linked profile.