Erika Valtierra Gutiérrez was born and raised in Mexico City, where she pursued undergraduate studies in psychology and a Master’s degree in mental health counseling at Universidad Iberoamericana. After a couple of years of believing she’d dedicate her life to neurosciences, she chose a different path—finding ways to make mental healthcare available to everyone who needed it. This has taken her to provide psychosocial support to immigrants, people recently released from prison, breast cancer patients, and gender-based violence survivors over the last decade, with Liberation Psychology as her compass.

Her dearest professional achievement was joining the Compañeros En Salud (CES/PIH Mexico) Mental Health Program, where she supervised community mental health workers and provided direct mental healthcare. After years of believing that was her definite call, life took her to a different path—education and training. Her current role as International Educational Consultant at the Socios En Salud (SES/PIH Peru) Center for Global Health has given her a new set of tools for creating safe and significant learning experiences for in-person and online settings.

As a HEAL Alum, Erika is certain the Fellowship transformed and strengthened her love for education and mentorship while boosting her advocacy skills to promote wellbeing for healthcare and non-profit workers. She feels deeply excited and honored to give back to the HEAL community as the academic lead for the HEAL-CES Local Leadership Program.