Counseling and sport psychologist, certified thanologist, & author
About
Dr. Trujillo
Education
The Journey
I am a licensed counseling and sport psychologist, Thanologist, and author. I obtained my doctorate degree from Purdue University in Counseling Psychology where I built specialties in grief/loss, self-injury, and addressing mental health needs and access to services with collegiate athletes. I completed my APA-accredited internship and post-doctoral study at the University of Northern Colorado where I provided individual,
group, consultation, and crisis support services in both the counseling center with the general campus community and in the athletics department working with individuals, teams, coaches, and administration. I also have my master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and two bachelors’ degrees (Elementary Education, Psychology) from the University of Wyoming.
background
Work Experience
During my time in collegiate athletics, I conducted individual, group, and team interventions to address concerns both in and out of sport. I provided mental health guidance and training to athletic trainers, coaches, and the broader athletics department to help coordinate care, and increase knowledge and awareness of mental health needs for student-athletes. I attended practices, games, and would occasionally travel with teams to provide ongoing support and observations to increase performance, cohesion, and support. I also worked to implement assessment materials to screen athletes for mental health concerns and worked to de-stigmatize mental health distress and increase access to services for student-athletes.
This led to me taking a position as a primary therapist and the program lead for a PHP/IOP program for high performance athletes with eating disorders. While there, I worked to build a sport-informed team of professionals to treat all aspects of identity/life for elite performers with eating disorders.
I had the opportunity to refine and build athlete-specific group curriculum, provide education and consultation services throughout the country to those in athletics communities, and engage with professionals in athletics, psychiatry, dietetics, family therapy, physical therapy, and medicine across all levels of care to provide comprehensive and collaborative services.
I am a certified thanatologist, meaning I completed additional competency in all things death, dying, loss, and bereavement-related. I completed my first book in 2024, And She Was Never The Same Again. I am a member of the Collegiate Clinical/Counseling Sport Psychology Association (CCSPA) and the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). I am on the USOPC and NFLPA mental health registries. I also sit on the advisory board for Danscend, a LA based organization focused on mental health education and resources for dancers.
History
Why Work With Me?
I’m Dr. T, a psychologist, thanologist, author and above all else… a human. My first book is called, And She Was Never the Same Again, where I explore how loss reshapes identity, relationships, and performance across a lifetime. Much of my work, and my writing, was born out of my own lived experience of grief and the ways I found myself, like many of my clients, trying to outwork or out perform pain instead of fully understanding it. In my book, I write about how grief is rarely contained to one moment or one event; it moves through family systems, identity, and the quiet spaces of everyday functioning in ways that can leave you feeling fundamentally different than you once were.
What makes this work deeply personal for me is that I don’t approach grief, eating disorders, trauma, or performance issues as abstract clinical concepts; I lived inside the tension of being a high-achieving, disciplined person while also navigating profound emotional and relational loss and not always having the best coping skills to manage it.
That experience, combined with years of clinical and sport psychology work, has shaped how I understand high-performers: not as people who need to “fix” weakness, but as individuals often carrying unprocessed grief, pressure, and identity strain beneath exceptional external functioning. We usually need to revise our definitions of the concepts we have bulldozed through in the past to actually get to that next level – whatever it is.
People often come to work with me because they recognize themselves in that intersection – where performance is still present (though they aren’t satisfied), but something internally has shifted. They’re looking for a space that can hold both their ambition (strive for perfection) and their pain, and for someone who understands that improving doesn’t mean losing their edge, it means understanding what has been driving it, what has disrupted it, and how to move forward in a way that is more integrated, sustainable, and aligned with who they are becoming.
"Communication, collaboration, and flexibility define my approach to treatment."
– Dr. Trujillo
Learm more about
Approach to Care
Communication, collaboration, and flexibility define my approach to treatment. I believe the core tenets necessary to increase motivation and commitment to change begin with a strong therapeutic relationship built on trust, understanding, and hope that your goals are achievable. I like to remain curious and tentative in my approach to help you come to your own solutions about what will help you work towards success and satisfaction in your life. I strongly value the expertise of other professionals/supports throughout your life and enjoy collaborating with others to provide a holistic and comprehensive approach to your care.
I primarily work from an eclectic lens, often blending elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal process therapy, systems/multicultural perspectives, dialectic behavioral therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy to address treatment goals. I believe looking at you as a WHOLE person is imperative, thus I do focus on both internal and external factors and environments that have impacted your experiences, relationships, beliefs, and desired change.
Psychology
Why Psychology?
All things psychology I find really fascinating but like everyone else, I have a few areas I have more passion for than others. I found my way to psychology early in life as I learned about the inevitable experiences of grief/loss, and tried to figure out adaptive ways to cope with adversity. I was a tri-sport athlete growing up (i.e., basketball, soccer, track) and developed
a lifelong love for competition, challenge, and tackling the hard stuff because as I have found, often times the hard stuff is worth it. I feel fortunate to have been able to maintain connection to my past athletic identity by blending my passion for sport with my passion for helping others realize they have it within them to do the hard stuff too.
Elevate Your Doing, Transform Your Being
You’re built for hard things, but it is time to get out different tools.
Book your free consultation and let’s work on your transformation together.
