Irene Velasco, LMFT(She/Her/Hers)

Irene Laturnas Velasco is a multilingual Filipino-American Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Vallejo, California, and an official external provider for faculty and staff at UCSF and UC Berkeley. She works with adults navigating the particular complexity of living between worlds — people who grew up in immigrant families where love was real but not always spoken in words they could easily receive, and who are still, quietly, trying to make sense of both.

Irene's approach is grounded in the belief that every person deserves to be met exactly where they are — without judgment, without condition, and without having to translate their experience for the room. She draws on sixteen years of clinical experience and a multicultural framework that honors the cultural context each client brings, rather than measuring them against Western-default standards. Her work integrates CBT, psychodynamic therapy, and solution-focused approaches, always tailored to the individual.

Her clinical and academic work reflects a deep commitment to expanding how the mental health field understands empathy across cultures. In April 2026, she presented "Empathy in Therapy: The Foundation of Cure" to licensed psychologists and postdoctoral fellows at UCSF. Her paper on multicultural empathy frameworks is currently under peer review at the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development.

Before becoming a therapist, Irene was an elected official and radio host in the Philippines. She has navigated immigration, reinvention, and the grief of leaving a country that never fully leaves you. These experiences are not separate from her clinical work. They are the foundation of it.

Irene offers in-person therapy in Vallejo, California and telehealth throughout California.