Veronica Velasquez - This PT Life

Veronica Velasquez is a Physical Therapist, DPT and undocumented Filipina based in Los Angeles, CA. She knew early on that she wanted to work in healthcare, and considered various roles before landing on Physical Therapy, which aligned with her values and what she wanted out of a career. Veronica’s work is in Acute Care PT, which she documents on her instagram @thisptlife. On This PT Life, Veronica shares posts and stories like A Day in the Life, scenes while at work, answers questions about PT School and Covid & PT. Mental health and mindfulness is a focus, “I think opening up about mental health in really realizing it's okay to spend an hour on the phone with a therapist, and that doesn't make you weird or weak, it makes you resourceful and it makes you smart. One of the most important things in staying alive is your mental mental health, your mental well-being. It’s important to be able to teach that to our communities. It's a just as important if not more than our physical well being and physical health,” Veronica explains. Veronica also shares her experience as an undocumented Filipina, amplifying and empowering the undocumented community. It was the undocumented community’s unapologetic pride and strength that inspired Veronica to embrace her status. Community is important and all of Veronica’s communities uplift her. “The biggest waves of support and just feeling like I'm not alone is all communities that I’m part of. I'm so grateful for a Filipino community and having friends and folks that have a good understanding of that life. Then I have the undocumented community who makes me feel really seen and allows me to be loud about my status. I think the biggest things that I feel within my communities as being seeing and feeling validated with my experiences.”

How did you create your career path to Physical Therapy?
I knew I wanted to go within the healthcare field. A big influence on me is my mom, she is a Registered Nurse and that’s very common in my family, and I would say the Filipino Community, too. I was kind of influenced to go into Healthcare that way, but I was initially pushed it into the Physician route and realized that wasn't really for me. I was pushed into being a Registered Nurse, but I realized that wasn't for me either. So I kind of hopped around with different professions I thought I wanted to be, like an athletic trainer. At some point I thought I would bounce away from Healthcare and go into Psychology. It was 2 years of college where I was kind of figuring out what works for me, what really aligned with me and my values, and how I wanted to like the career I chose. It wasn't until I started shadowing other Physical Therapists that I was introduced to it, and in a Kinesiology class I just really aligned with a lot of what Physical Therapists do. Kind of like their work-life balance.

How has your immigration status effects of your life?
I found out, or I really understood my immigration status, around the end of high school when everyone else was applying for college and getting their driver's licenses. These are all things that I realized you need a Social Security Number for. I wasn't able to do a lot of the things that my really close friends and even my cousins had the ability to do. I realized I couldn't go to the big fancy colleges that I wanted to go to and I ended up going to Community College, which was great. I'm pretty happy that I ended up going the Community College route since it it was better financially, but at the time I was pretty devastated that I couldn't go to these bigger schools that I thought I wanted to go to like UCLA or Cal State schools. At the time, we as a family were kind of afraid that the schools were asking for SSN, so that was one way I really felt like I was “other” and disappointed. I didn't have the same opportunities as my cousins. Then DACA came into effect at a good time. I was able to get a driver’s license and a SSN. When I needed to transfer into higher University, DACA gave me the opportunity. It was a lifesaver. When I was applying to grad schools, I got an acceptance letter and then afterwards when I started filling out the paperwork they realized I was DACA and revoked my acceptance. But literally you can have all the community service, all the grades, get accepted and still face a lot of like barriers because of immigration status. Thankfully, I think it's made me learn to just persevere, then find loopholes, and find ways around this weird system that we live in.

What was it like coming out as undocumented?
Initially, I thought about my parents. I feel like a lot of people in the Asian community and Filipino community in general, we’ve been told to be quiet about our status and not rock the boat. So that's the messaging that I got from my parents early on: you know to never talk about your papers. There was a big level of fear that I feel was instilled in me from from my parents and from my community. Coming out as undocumented, I was very nervous and initially very afraid but after really connecting with a lot of the undocumented community, which I feel like I've made a lot of colleagues and friends in the community, I've just seen how proud they are and how unapologetic and unafraid they are to be undocumented. The community really influenced me to not be afraid to actually speak out and show that, hey there is a big population of undocumented Asian people, a big population of Filipinos who are undocumented, and we need to speak out more regarding this issue so that our community understands more. There's an immigration problem and we need to support our undocumented communities. To answer your question, I think initially I was very fearful because I was influenced by my parents but thankfully getting immersed in the documented community I learned that it's more badge of honor. It’s like showing your strength and showing our perseverance and grit, so I ended up very proud of my status and I'm very proud to be where I'm at because I do think it's like a badge of honor.

When did you begin using Instagram to share your wealth of knowledge?
I started it my Instagram account in October 2019, and that was the same way that I got my first job as a Physical Therapist. The life of my Instagram is basically the life of my career as a Physical Therapist. It was a little more than a year, almost a year-and-a-half ago.

What is important about using your voice and platform to amplify your community?
I think the representation portion of it. I think being a really proud Filipina and coinciding with me being a college graduate undocumented immigrant as well is really big on representation and showing that there are Filipinos that are undocumented and we are not afraid. I really want to dispel that notion that we need to stay in the shadows and be afraid. I think there are more Filipinos out there that are undocumented but the narrative is to stay in the shadows, and I think it's everyone else decision and people have their own reasons, but I for me it is really liberating to come out and join the undocumented community. And really show the cracks in this immigration system, and show the immigration system is broken in the US. I think representation is important and just being able to tell a different story is important to me.

How important is it to center Mental Health?
Lately I've really been leaning into mental health and mental well-being. I am not sure how much was taught to me as undergraduate and grad student, or how much it’s even really taught in the Filipino Community. I think a lot of when things are hard, the Filipino community leans into prayer and religion, which is fine and it has its own merits. What I don't know is if we talk about therapy, counseling, and learning to meditate. And are those things in our community seen as selfish? But it's not selfish, it's more self care and well-being. So I think it's super important because it's not focused on in the Filipino Community. The focus is being successful, in working hard and providing for your family. Those are great attributes of our community but it's always a giving attitude. How much can we give to others and how much they give to our families, but why can't we give to ourselves. Why can't we give ourselves self love, understanding, and compassion, and just a break. I think opening up about mental health in really realizing it's okay to spend an hour on the phone with a therapist, and that doesn't make you weird or weak, it makes you resourceful and it makes you smart. One of the most important things in staying alive is your mental mental health, your mental well-being. It’s important to be able to teach that to our communities. It's a just as important if not more than our physical well being and physical health.

How has your community uplifted you?
I think the biggest waves of support and just feeling like I'm not alone is all communities that I’m part of. I'm so grateful for a Filipino community and having friends and folks that have a good understanding of that life. Then I have the undocumented community who makes me feel really seen and allows me to be loud about my status. I think the biggest things that I feel within my communities as being seeing and feeling validated with my experiences, as it can feel really lonely if you don't have community. When you know that there are folks around you and when you know you have your people, the world is for sure less lonely.

What/who has been instrumental in your personal and creative growth?
Personally, I don't know if it's going to be weird but I think lately something that's been helping me personally and learning from is my therapist. I find that I feel a lot of support with my partner. He's been helping a lot with my insecurities of having a creative platform like Instagram. I feel like feeling supported in when I have creative ideas and having a my partner tell me that “it's fine, you have really good ideas” has been like really instrumental for me.

Do you have anything upcoming that you’d like to share?
Just mainly growing my online platform and my Instgaram business, mainly This PT Life.


Photos courtesy of Veronica Velasquez