Denisse Mendez

Community Engagement Director

Photo by: Niko Storment (he/they), founder of Rosen Creative House 

LMFT
she/her/ella

denisse@alchemytherapy.org

For the last 15 years, Denisse Mendez has had the privilege and honor of working and volunteering for several nonprofit agencies that are rooted in community empowerment and social justice values, such as ACT for Women and Girl, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, The LGBTQ Youth Space in San Jose, and The Radical Monarchs. With the experience that comes from holding a variety of roles in the above nonprofits, coupled with her 20 years of experience working in patient care settings, Denisse brings an array of skill sets, wisdom, and knowledge to the role of Alchemy’s Community Engagement Director.

Denisse also holds a Masters Degree in Holistic Counseling Psychology and specializes in working with LGBTQIA+ communities, people of gender expansive experience, and highly marginalized communities. She also currently holds the role of Youth Mental Health Manger at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.

Denisse utilizes her bilingual and bicultural Mexican-Indigenous heritage as foundations for honoring and affirming the human dignity of communities that are marginalized by violence, criminalization, and sociocultural oppression. Denisse views her work as a life calling, bringing all aspects of herself into this role.