Bryan Rojas-Araúz

Bryan is a bilingual bicultural Afro-Latino immigrant of Costa Rican and Panamanian descent. He spent his teenage years in the Bay Area, California, where he became a community organizer and DREAM activist. He received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology with a Spanish Language Psychological Services and Research Specialization at the University of Oregon. Bryan is currently a bilingual licensed psychologist and owner of In Lak’ech Counseling, Education, & Consulting (InLakechCEC.com), where provides mental health services, supervision, immigration evaluations, DEI training, and speaking engagements. Dr. Rojas-Araúz is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Denver’s International Disaster Psychology: Trauma and Global Mental Health Master’s program, where he teaches and supervises. He is also co-authoring a book, Taking Action: Creating Social Change through Strength, Solidarity, Strategy, and Sustainability and creating a documentary focused on the experiences of undocumented immigrants and an accompanying cookbook exploring their connection to their country of origin through food. He has over 10 years of experience providing bilingual mental health services and working with Spanish-speaking communities including children, adults, and families. His research and professional interests include immigration psychology, DREAMers’ mental health, increasing access to education and mental health, ethnic identity formation, critical consciousness, and cultural competence development. He is a Hip Hop Educator, slam poet, documentary filmmaker and scholar-activist.