About

Dr. Mendoza

Dr. Mendoza seated indoors next to a wooden table with a plant.

I am a board-certified adult psychiatrist with a medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine. I completed a general psychiatry residency at UT Southwestern in Dallas, where I did research in identity development in eating disorders. I have broad experience treating trauma-related stress disorders, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar spectrum disorders and thought disorders. I trained in variety of psychotherapeutic techniques including psychodynamic psychotherapy, CBT-ED, and STAIR Narrative therapy for trauma survivors. In other words, I’m a nerd with a thirst for knowledge about how human beings come to be who we are.

Regardless of diagnosis or treatment modality, my emphasis is on improving how you relate to others. When you work with me, you are encouraged to bring your full self to the therapeutic space and you can expect to be received with open-minded curiosity. I center your experience of the present moment to foster compassion, understanding and ease.

Get to Know Dr. Mendoza

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

            Psychiatry is my calling and the most rewarding part for me is witnessing a patient’s perspective change from one of self-criticism, dissatisfaction, and powerlessness to one of compassion, appreciation and regard for the person that they have become.  I feel lucky to have a diverse set of tools at my disposal that promote transformation, be it medication, psychotherapy or a combination of both to lift the veil of depression, the terror of anxiety or dissociation from PTSD.

In another life, if you weren’t working in counseling, what would you be doing?

            In another life, I would be a math professor, a textbook editor or a fiction writer.

What’s something your clients might be surprised to learn about you?

            In addition to my interests in sociology and literary fiction, I have a special interest in the fields of chaos theory and complexity theory and how they can be applied to the psychotherapeutic process. I’m a member of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences.

What is a self-care ritual you practice?

            I regularly practice yin yoga as a way to ground my body in the present moment and have recently discovered the healing energy of pranayama.