Self-Sabotage Therapy · Online, in English
You don't have to keep walking away right before it works
Professional psychological support in English for the pattern of quitting, pulling away, or giving up right when something starts to go well — from someone who thinks the way you do. A space to catch the impulse before you act on it again, without translating yourself first.
When the pattern repeats
This isn't a lack of willpower. It's a pattern that learned to protect you by pulling out first.
You quit a job right when it starts going well. You pull away from someone right when things get close. Every time there's a different reason, but the shape repeats: something starts to work, and an impulse shows up out of nowhere telling you to leave — before anyone else can. It isn't a decision you sit down and think through; it's an urge that arrives all at once and gets acted on almost automatically. For a lot of people who move between Spanish and English every day, that impulse got wired in early — in the years you learned that leaving first hurt less than being left, or that nothing good was safe to hold onto for long.
Therapy doesn't ask you to just push through and stay next time. It helps you notice that impulse before you act on it, understand what it's protecting you from, and build a different way to respond — so staying stops feeling like a risk and becomes a choice you actually get to make.
Who's with you
I'm Ricardo, and you won't be alone in this
I'm a clinical psychologist with more than 15 years working with people who keep interrupting their own progress right when it starts to pay off, trained in systemic family therapy. I'm Colombian, based in Barranquilla, and I see clients online. But before any title, I'm someone who understands what it's like to hold two languages and two worlds at once. Many of the people I work with in English think in Spanish first — they migrated, or grew up shuttling between countries, or had to become the adult of the family in a language nobody taught them for that job. You don't have to explain that part to me first.
This pattern is easier to see and work through with someone next to you. If this feels like the moment, let's take the first step together — at your pace, no pressure.
Master's in Systemic Family Therapy
Universidad Simón Bolívar
Clinical Psychologist
15+ years of clinical experience
University Professor
16 years of university teaching in psychology
Systemic-Relational Approach
Looks at your patterns and relationships, not just the moment of quitting
My approach
This is how I work with self-sabotage in therapy
I work from a systemic-relational approach: I don't look at the pattern of quitting as a character flaw to correct, but as something shaped by your story, your relationships, and what you learned early on about what happens to good things.
Understanding the impulse, not just resisting it
We don't stop at willpower tricks to make you "just stay." We look at what that urge to leave is protecting you from — old fears, relationships, expectations that followed you across borders — so the change reaches the root instead of white-knuckling through it.
Your body knows the moment before you do
The urge to walk away often shows up in the body first — restlessness, tension, a pull to just be somewhere else. We work with that too, so you can notice it before it turns into an exit.
Getting to keep what's working, not just surviving it
The goal isn't only to stop quitting. It's for you to actually get to keep the job, the relationship, or the project that's going well — without an old impulse making the decision for you.
How we start
A clear first step, no pressure
You book your initial session
Message me on WhatsApp or leave your details in the form. We'll set up a first 60-minute video-call session, at a reduced rate (25% off).
We get to know your situation
In that first session I listen to your story, the moments you've walked away, and how this pattern shows up in your day to day. No rushed diagnoses, no jargon — just understanding, together, what you need.
We shape the process together
You decide with real information, not blindly. If it feels right for you, we agree on a process built around you. If not, I'll still point you toward what you need.
The goal isn't a life where you never feel the urge to leave. It's that the urge stops making the decision for you.
— Ricardo De Castro King · Psychologist
Your first step
Start with an initial session
A first session to meet each other and shape your process. Reduced rate, so you decide with real information, not out of obligation.
60 minutes · Video call · 100% confidential
Book My Initial SessionAlso in therapy
Other processes I can walk with you through
Prefer to talk first?
Message me and I'll answer personally
If you're not ready to book and would rather tell me a bit first, message me on WhatsApp or leave your details below. I answer personally within 24 hours, no obligation.
WhatsApp Directly📍 Online · Barranquilla, Colombia
🕑 Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm · Sat 9am - 1pm (Colombia time)
If you're in emotional crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, please seek help right away: in Colombia, call Line 106, or in the US call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), or reach your local mental health line. You are not alone, and help is available right now.