Leila Reyes, MSW
Helping you transform the meanings that became your identity so you can create healthy relationships and a life you truly love.
I didn’t arrive at this work through theory alone. I arrived here by living it.
Like many of the people I serve, I know what it’s like to have painful experiences shape the way you see yourself, other people, and life. I also know what it’s like to discover that healing isn’t about changing the past.
Whatever happened, it isn’t the experience itself that’s shaping your life today. It’s the meanings you made because of what happened. These meanings became the identity you learned to live from. And we all live consistently with who we believe ourselves to be. That’s why those early meanings can influence your relationships, your choices, and the life you believe is possible.
My work is about helping you recognize the meanings you’ve been living from, reconnect with what’s actually true about you, and create healthy relationships and a life rooted in authenticity, safety, and genuine love.
For years, I had done the work. I had gone to therapy, studied healing and relationships, trained extensively, and helped others create meaningful change in their lives. And yet, even with everything I knew, I could still find myself repeating patterns in my own relationships that left me feeling confused and hurt.
A profound turning point came through my work with and learning from Katherine Woodward Thomas. Her ontological approach invited me to look beyond what had happened to me and even beyond the patterns themselves, to something deeper: Who had I become because of what I had made those experiences mean?
I began to see the beliefs I had formed about myself, other people, and life, and how consistently I had been living from them. I could see the ways I had learned to protect myself, the choices I made from that identity, and how those choices were shaping the very relationships I wanted to change.
But the most important discovery wasn’t what was wrong with me.
It was discovering what was actually true about me beneath all of it.
That changed the work from trying to fix myself to becoming more fully who I inherently have always been. As I began living from that deeper truth, my relationship with myself changed. So did the way I showed up with others. I became capable of greater intimacy, self-trust, authenticity, and connection.
It also brought together what I had been learning for decades through psychotherapy, somatic work, coaching, and my own healing journey. I began to understand lasting change not simply as healing what happened to us, but as becoming conscious of who we learned to be because of it and discovering that we are free to live from something truer.
That understanding is at the heart of the work I do today.
You Are Already Whole
You’re not broken or in need of fixing. Beneath the meanings you’ve made and the identity you’ve lived from is an inherent wholeness that has always been there.
Meaning Shapes Experience
You can’t change what happened, but you can change the meaning you made of what happened. Change the meaning, and you change your experience of life.
Your Power Is In Your Choices
You may not have chosen what happened, but you can choose who you’ll be in relationship to it. Every new choice is an opportunity to align with the most authentic version of yourself.
I believe you deserve more than simply understanding why you are the way you are. You deserve the freedom to live differently. No matter what has shaped you, you can come to know yourself differently, make new choices, and develop the capacity to create the love, connection, and happy, healthy life you’ve been longing for. More is possible for you than you may realize. Your past does not get the final say. You do.
I know what it’s like to wonder whether the past will always have a hold on you.
I grew up with childhood sexual abuse and carried its impact into adulthood in ways I didn’t always recognize. I struggled with shame, with knowing whether I mattered, and with finding my way to the kind of love and relationships I deeply wanted.
My healing has taken me places I never could have imagined. I learned to love and accept parts of myself I had once rejected. I learned to stay present when every instinct told me to protect myself. And, over time, I even healed my relationship with my father, the person who had abused me. He became one of my closest friends before he died.
That journey changed me. It taught me that we can tell the truth about what happened without allowing it to define the rest of our lives. We can hold ourselves and others accountable without giving up our humanity. And we can become capable of love, connection, and freedom that once seemed impossible.
I don’t share this because my story is the same as yours. I share it because I know what it is to believe something may never change, and then discover that it can.
That lived experience is as much a part of what I bring to this work as anything I’ve learned in a classroom.
- Education & Training
- Master’s in Social Work, IUPUI
- Graduate of Hakomi (somatic psychotherapy)
- Master Certified Integrative Professional Coach
- Personally Trained by Katherine Woodward Thomas
- Certifications & Awards
- International Impact Book Award, Freedom from Shame
- What's True About You: Katherine Woodward Thomas
- Calling in “The One”™ Katherine Woodward Thomas
- Conscious Uncoupling™ Katherine Woodward Thomas
- Spiritual Divorce w/ Debbie Ford
- Best Year of Your Life, with Debbie Ford
- Professional Roles
- Author, Freedom From Shame: Trauma, Forgiveness, and Healing from Sexual Abuse
- Podcast Host, From Trauma to True Love
- Faculty & Mentor, "What's True About You?" Training
- Program Development, Katherine Woodward Thomas
- Lead Coach, Your Year of Miracles, Marci Shimoff
- Speaker & Professional Coach
I’ve had some fabulous teachers and mentors along the way. One in particular that I’m deeply grateful for is my beloved teacher Jennifer Welwood, whose teachings are woven into the heart of everything I do. Her guidance in integrating spiritual and psychological principles has shaped not only how I navigate my own human life, but also inspires my work with sacred beings where I strive to create a space where you can embrace your intrinsic worth, while releasing the conditioned patterns that keep you trapped in cycles of pain and disconnection.
Imagine feeling at home in your own life. Trusting yourself. Knowing what you want and being able to ask for it. Loving deeply without losing yourself. Setting boundaries without guilt. Letting yourself be seen without constantly wondering if you’re too much or not enough. Imagine relationships where you can be fully yourself and still feel loved, safe, and connected.
This is the freedom that becomes possible when your past is no longer deciding who you need to be. It doesn’t mean life will always be easy or that old fears will never surface. It means they no longer have to run your life. You have more freedom to choose how you respond, who you want to be, and what you want to create.
And from that place, you develop the capacity to create something that may have felt out of reach for a very long time: a happy, healthy life and relationships that truly nourish you.
No matter how long you’ve struggled or how deeply rooted the old ways may feel, something different is possible. You can create a life where you trust yourself, love without losing yourself, and experience the connection and happiness you’ve longed for. I’d be honored to walk beside you as you discover just how much is possible.
