Two shores, one span
Since 1937 the Golden Gate has held San Francisco and Marin together: 1,280 meters of main span, hung from two cables of 27,572 steel wires each.
ARM · San Francisco Bay Area
Alejandro Ruelas-Mora
I build bridges between the mind, traditional medicine, and the web.
- 01Website design & development
- 02Neuropsychology research · PhD student
- 03Curandero · food as medicine
00 · The Bridge
Bay Area
We have a special kind of diverse community that continues to shape our culture and knowledge. Whether digitally or in person, we continue to bridge our communities together.
A bridge inside us
Your brain has one too. The corpus callosum carries some 200 million nerve fibers between the left and right hemispheres, so each side can hear the other.
Drawn in red
In diffusion MRI, fibers that run from left to right are colored red. Look at the bridge again. It was always this color.
Where I work
My work lives in the span: between science and ceremony, the lab and the kitchen table, people and the tools that should serve them.
Hola, I’m Alejandro
One person. Three practices. One bridge.
I’m a fourth-year clinical psychology PhD student at Palo Alto University, specializing in neuropsychology. I walk the path of the curandero, supporting healing through sacred Indigenous ways with food as medicine at the center. And I design and build websites for people and organizations doing work that matters.
These aren’t separate lives. Each one asks me to listen closely, understand how things connect, and build something that holds.
Griffith Observatory · 1935 · Los Angeles — Making it big
Span I · Making
Websites with a pulse.
I design and hand-build fast, accessible websites for small businesses, research labs, community projects, and healers: people whose work deserves better than a template. Every project starts the way good care does, with a conversation.
- 01PláticaWe talk first: your story, your people, and what success looks like.
- 02MapI sketch the structure: pages, paths, and the one thing each visitor needs.
- 03DesignColor, type, and motion that feel unmistakably like you.
- 04BuildHand-coded, responsive, accessible, and fast on everyday phones.
- 05Launch & careWe go live, measure what matters, and keep it healthy.
What I build
Sites for people who make, study, and heal.
- a
Small business sites
Shops, studios, kitchens, and services that need to be found and trusted.
- b
Research & lab sites
Clear homes for labs, studies, and community-engaged research.
- c
Sites for healers & clinicians
Calm, ethical, accessible sites for wellness and care practices.
- d
Portfolios & personal brands
For artists, scholars, and makers with something to show.
- e
Redesigns & care plans
Rescue a slow or dated site, then keep it secure and current.
In every build
Layouts adapt to phones, tablets, and desktops, with readable text and controls that are easy to reach.
Keyboard navigation, clear focus states, readable contrast, and reduced-motion options guide the design.
Images, scripts, and animations have defined loading budgets, so visual detail does not come at the expense of speed.
Page titles, descriptions, structured content, and crawlable links help people find and understand your site.
Measurement starts with a choice: which tools, if any, serve your project. Optional analytics respect visitor consent.
Clear documentation and a walkthrough help you confidently update your site after launch.
Recent builds
Community research website
We Belong
A home for a collaboration on community-engaged research and immigrant justice.
webelongproject.sites.ucsc.edu (opens in a new tab)
Business website
Only 4Ever Tattoo Studio
A bold online front door for a tattoo studio established in 2024.
only4evertattoostudio.com (opens in a new tab)
San Diego–Coronado Bridge · 1969 · 3.4 km — Peace of Mind
Span II · Mind
Neuropsychology, measured with care.
My research asks how we measure the mind, and how to make those measurements more accurate, more honest about uncertainty, and fairer to the communities they are meant to serve.
A short animation: a black cat walks up, tilts its head, blinks sleepily behind tall grass, licks its lips and yawns, then settles in the grass and looks up.
The human brain
86 billion neurons.
The adult brain weighs about 1.4 kilograms, yet it uses roughly a fifth of the body’s energy. Most of its cortex lies folded out of sight, in a sheet only 2 to 4 millimeters thick.
Structure meets function.
Neuropsychology links what the brain is made of to what a person can do: remember, attend, speak, plan, and feel.
Neurons, firing.
Behind every test score is a living network, and behind every network is a person whose story deserves careful measurement.
Research home
BRAIN Lab
Behavioral Research & Assessment in Neuropsychology · Palo Alto University
Posters
Talks & workshops
-
2026
Integrative Protective Factors: Eco-therapy and Neurodiverse-Affirming DBT for Preventing Alcohol Use in Youth
Stanford Continuing Education (CE) workshop · with Pablo Orozco-Castro, LCSW
-
2023
Barriers to Psychedelic Therapy in Marginalized Communities
Research talk · with Shannah Finkel and Nancy Haug, PhD
How can we tell whether assessment results give a dependable picture of a person’s abilities?
Understanding how cognition and its assessment vary across the lifespan, with attention to the person behind each score.
Using evidence to update what we believe, while keeping uncertainty visible. My posters explore rule-breaking behavior and effort estimation.
Asking how context, culture, and access shape assessment, and how measurement can better serve diverse communities.
Exploring the connections between environment, wellbeing, and neurodiverse-affirming approaches to care.
Research shaped through relationships: listening to communities and connecting scientific questions with the people they affect.
Clinical services
Future clinical inquiries through therapy or neuropsychological assessment: TBD
Not offered now. I am a doctoral student, not a licensed psychologist.
Span III · Medicine
Curanderismo & food as medicine.
Agua · piedra · sol
I walk the path of the curandero, supporting healing through sacred Indigenous ways passed from hand to hand: prayer, plática, limpia, and the oldest medicine we have, the food our ancestors grew.
The milpa teaches
Maíz stands tall.
The corn gives structure: a strong stalk for others to climb.
Frijol climbs.
The bean spirals upward and returns nitrogen to the soil that feeds them all.
Calabaza shelters.
Squash leaves shade the earth, hold the water, and keep the weeds back.
Reciprocity is medicine.
The milpa has fed this land for thousands of years because each plant gives what the others need. I approach healing the same way: relationship first.
The monarch teaches
Metamorfosis.
Before it ever flies, a monarch comes apart completely. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar dissolves and rebuilds itself into something it has never been.
Becoming.
Growth is rarely comfortable. Healing asks the same of us: to come apart, to rest in the dark, and to trust what is forming.
Then, it flies.
Each fall, monarchs travel thousands of miles to the oyamel forests of Michoacán and the groves of the California coast. Many say they carry our ancestors home.
Offerings
-
Plática
Heart-centered conversation
Unhurried time to talk, in the curandero tradition, about what you are carrying and what might help you set it down. A spiritual conversation, not therapy.
-
Limpia
Spiritual cleansing
A traditional cleansing with herbs, smoke, and prayer to clear what weighs on body and spirit.
-
Comida como medicina
Food as medicine
Guidance rooted in ancestral foods: meals, rituals, and recipes built around the milpa and the herb garden.
-
Círculos
Circles & workshops
Community gatherings on cooking, seeds, and stories for groups, schools, and organizations.
From the milpa to the table
Ancestral foods, with their Spanish and Nahuatl names.
- MaíztlaolliIn the Popol Vuh, the first people were shaped from maize.
- FrijoletlClimbs the corn and gives nitrogen back to the soil.
- CalabazaayohtliFlower, seed, leaf, and fruit: nothing is wasted.
- NopalnohpalliAt the heart of Mexico’s founding image: the eagle on the cactus.
- ChíachianA seed once valued enough to be paid as tribute.
- AmarantohuauhtliOnce shaped into ceremonial figures; today, alegrías.
- CacaocacahuatlA sacred drink long before it was ever candy.
- CopalcopalliResin burned for prayer, offering, and limpia.
Care, with clear boundaries
- Traditional healing is spiritual and cultural support. It does not diagnose, treat, or cure medical or psychiatric conditions, and it never replaces care from your doctor or a licensed mental-health professional.
- My curandero practice is separate from my clinical training. I am a doctoral student, not a licensed psychologist, and I do not currently offer therapy or psychological assessment through this site.
- I am not a licensed physician. These traditional services are complementary to licensed health care and are not licensed by the State of California.
- In crisis? Call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, US), or call 911.
- Looking for emotional support? Call or Text 855-600-WARM (California Peer Run Warm Line)
- Find a Warmline in your State (opens in a new tab)
Come across
Let’s build the bridge.
Website projects, research collaborations, pláticas, and community workshops. Tell me what you are building, and we will start with a conversation.
Websites, healing & everything else
Research collaborations
Elsewhere
Clinical inquiries
Future clinical inquiries through therapy or neuropsychological assessment: TBD
Not offered now. I am a doctoral student, not a licensed psychologist.
On this land
The Golden Gate joins the homelands of the Ramaytush Ohlone on the San Francisco Peninsula and the Coast Miwok in Marin. I live, study, and practice across Ohlone and Miwok lands, and I honor the Indigenous peoples who have cared for these waters, hills, and medicines since long before any bridge, and who care for them still.