Roy Mong, LPC-Associate (supervised by Marissa Rivera, MA, LPC-S), and Lina Guerrero, MPA, LCSW, LCDC, sit down to chat about ADHD — specifically what it looks like within social location and cultural context for BIPOC communities.

Both Roy and Lina share their own late-diagnosis stories (Roy still early in his journey, Lina diagnosed as an adult in 2021) to unpack the model minority mask, the difference between inattentive and hyperactive presentations, and why so many people of color get missed by a diagnostic system built around one narrow stereotype.

From "Hurricane Lina" meltdowns to Roy pacing his childhood bedroom rehearsing conversations out loud, this episode traces how culture, gender, and systemic bias all shape who gets seen — and who just gets told to try harder.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Intro
• (04:30) ADHD within social location and cultural context
• (12:02) The "model minority mask" and underdiagnosis in Asian American communities
• (14:28) The three types of ADHD — and the "Ferrari brain with bicycle brakes" metaphor
• (21:02) Emotional dysregulation as a core (and overlooked) part of ADHD
• (26:44) Growing up misunderstood and the cultural messages that shape diagnosis
• (32:16) The westernization of ADHD — colonization, capitalism, and why the U.S. makes it harder
• (41:51) What it means to "try softer" instead of harder

More from Colors of Austin Counseling:

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• Find a therapist for you in Austin, TX

More from Colors of Austin Counseling:

• Website
• Instagram
• Blog
• Find a therapist for you in Austin, TX

Have questions? Send us a DM!

Therapists (and real-life friends) Lina Guerrero, MPA, LCSW, LCDC, and Claudia Hernandez Vargas, LCSW sit down for a conversation about what it actually means to be Mexican — as women, as clinicians, and as descendants of both the colonized and the colonizers.

They trace how "first-gen" status, colorism, indigenous ancestry, assimilation, and generational privilege show up in their families, their names, and their own sense of belonging — and get into the grief (and the joy) that comes with exploring where you're from.

DISCLAIMER: This episode is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for therapy or crisis support. This conversation includes a brief reference to alcohol use and personal recovery.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Intro
• (06:49) What "first-gen" actually means — and why the label is more complicated than it looks
• (09:34) Names, language, and the cost of assimilation
• (10:42) Colorism inside one family: indigenous roots on one side, "hella Spaniard" on the other
• (18:52) A trip to Spain that turned into an existential crisis about being descended from both the colonized and the colonizer
• (22:37) Who "counts" as Mexican — race, nationality, and belonging
• (30:32) Growing up as one of few Mexican kids, and reckoning with proximity to whiteness
• (37:34) Solidarity, privilege, and anti-Blackness within Latinx identity
• (44:04) Why this identity work led them both into becoming therapists

More from Colors of Austin Counseling:

• Website
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• Find a therapist for you in Austin, TX

Have questions? Send us a DM!

Welcome to Colors Out Loud!

In this first episode, Vanessa Flores Newton, LCSW-S, CDWF, shares the story of why Colors of Austin Counseling exists — and why she decided to build a room that didn’t exist. She takes y'all back to 2018, when she was a solo practitioner with a waitlist that wouldn't stop growing, and walks through what it took to build a team of therapists who actually look like the clients they serve. She also gets personal — growing up in a Mexican border town where mental health wasn't part of the conversation, the trauma that pushed her into social work, and why she believes these conversations need to happen outside the therapy room too.

This is the founding story of Colors Out Loud.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Building a room that didn’t exist
• (01:48) Having a waitlist and what it meant for those who needed a therapist that looked like them
• (02:31) Scaling from solo practice to a team of 15 clinicians, "who also held marginalized identities"
• (04:25) Why this podcast exists — getting the work happening behind closed doors out to BIPOC folks who need it most
• (06:32) Growing up in McAllen, Texas, where "you better buckle up" and rest wasn't an option
• (08:27) Her path into social work — growing up in a single-parent household with an abusive father
• (09:37) Here "unfiltered" means: real talk about shame, money, family, faith, and racism in healthcare — "the stuff that gets said in the car afterwards"
• (12:44) Where to find support

More from Colors of Austin Counseling:

• Website
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• Find a therapist for you in Austin, TX

Welcome to the Colors Out Loud podcast, where unfiltered mental health conversations happen. 

We know that the most useful and life-changing mental health conversations didn't happen in a therapy session. I'm a therapist, but I also know that they usually happen in the car, at dinner, or even at 1 a.m. when you find yourself asking, "Wait, is this normal?"

So we wanted to bring those conversations that happen beyond the therapy couch to your ears. Colors Out Loud is for anyone who's ever left a hard conversation wishing they'd said more.

The ones holding multiple identities, doing the internal work quietly, and craving mental health conversations that don't feel like a lecture or or a demographic checkbox. If you're BIPOC, in therapy, thinking about therapy, or just tired of wellness content that skips the nuance, Colors Out Loud is for you.

Colors Out Loud will drop a new episode every week, so be sure to subscribe or follow the podcast so that you never miss an episode drop. 

Can't wait to hang with you beyond the therapy couch 

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes and isn't a substitute for therapy or crisis support.

More from Colors of Austin Counseling:

• Website
• Instagram
• Blog
• Find a therapist for you in Austin, TX