Hennessy Mendoza

Counseling Intern

Hennessy (she/her) is a counseling intern currently pursuing her Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Colorado, Denver. Hennessy is passionate about working with children, adolescents, and adults. Throughout her educational journey, Hennessy has focused on taking classes to work with a wide range of populations such as Intro to Play Therapy, Counseling Children, Adolescents, and their Parents, and Trauma-Informed Care for Diverse Populations.

Hennessy utilizes a variety of counseling theories and modalities based on the individual need of the client, including Narrative Therapy, Play Therapy and Attachment Theory. Hennessy is passionate about incorporating theories and modalities that are trauma-informed, culturally appropriate and meet the individual needs of the client. Prior to coming to Be and Belong Counseling, Hennessy worked at Children’s Hospital of Colorado as an Administrative Service Coordinator for the therapies department.

When not working, Hennessy loves to spend time reading a book with her dog and cat (Bella and Oliver) or playing boardgames with her partner.

Cultural Resume

• I am a Second-Generation Mexican American and a daughter of immigrants. All four of my grandparents immigrated to the United States from Mexico and I lived in a multi-generational household.

• I grew up in a lower economic status and experienced food scarcity as a child and adolescent.

• Substance abuse, trauma, and mental illness is present in my family of origin.

• I am an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community and have close family and friends who are part of the rainbow community.

• My privileges include being a straight, cis-gender, white passing, English-speaking, U.S. Citizen, who is able-bodied with access to mental and physical healthcare.

• I grew up learning implicit and explicit biases against others who did not come from the same cultural identity as I did, and I am actively unlearning and deconstructing these biases. I am passionate about learning ways to help marginalized communities gain power and justice, despite existing in imperfect systems.