Angela Garza Social Worker President

Greetings! My name is Angela Garza and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in both Kentucky and Indiana, and plan to also offer services in Florida soon. I am also a Certified Case Manager. For the last ten years I have been assisting people just like you to find and maximize the potential in their lives. Through individualized, one on one sessions, I work with clients right where they are today, to create a powerful tomorrow! My goal is to help you live your best life TODAY by engaging and nurturing the greatness God has already planned for your life. In addition to my education and experience as a mental health therapist and life coach, I myself had the gastric bypass surgery in March of 2007. My own experiences following weight loss surgery left me feeling very confused and overwhelmed. My years of teaching others about addiction and transference did not prepare me for the complexity I was about to experience in relation to food and body image. I found myself wondering who I really was as a person, not as a body image. I questioned everything that had come prior to "being a normal weight". I was not sure if the new (outer) me liked having attention, or if it really made me angry. I was not even sure why I felt angry. The big kicker was when I realized how much I was truly addicted to eating. Until I sat down and mourned not being able to eat a few pieces of pizza like everyone else, I would never have considered the idea of being addicted to food. And then the feeling rose up in my chest. I described it like the craving you might get when you stop smoking. It was physical. It was mental. It was overpowering. And I did not know what to do with it.
My one hour psychiatric evaluation for the surgery did not prepare me for all of these feelings and mind games.The lack of knowledge and education in my own field was enormous and shameful. I was supposed to be the expert in addictions. My journey had just begun. I was now determined to use my experience and my own personal psychotherapist to candidly explore and understand the complex body/mind connection in relation to bariatric surgery. That is when my private practice began to specialize in bariatric surgery and mental health. I was determined to make appropriate services available for individuals considering, planning, or learning to live with weight loss surgery. In addition to being an advocate to the patient, I began my quest to educate the medical professionals about the mental complications/implications of the surgery, insisting that they address this issue and stop herding the patients (US) through meaningless hoops for insurance purposes. My initial attempts to work with the medical professionals were met with resistance. Established surgeons did not express an interest in joining the effort to make psychological preparation a priority, opting instead to continue the one stop shop with the psychiatric interview. I am dedicated to continuing my own personal growth and journey and invite you to join me. It doesn't matter where you are in the weight loss, weight gain circle. Just get in the circle. Together we can make this wonderful tool of weight loss surgery, a total success.
You have come this far, why settle once again for what someone has said is the best you can get? Come along on the journey and let us show them what we can accomplish. Congratulations on your decision to take a chance on yourself. You are strong. You are brave. You are everything today that God wants you to be. You are perfect today. Let us celebrate where we are. Let us congratulate each other. Bring your fears and tears to the table. Let us encourage each other. There is no such thing as a stupid question or feeling. Don't waste your time with medical professionals with whom you feel discounted. You are the hero of this story. Lets CELEBRATE and learn together!!!