BASED IN SEATTLE AND SERVING ALL OF MASSACHUSETTS & WASHINGTON
Culturally Responsive Counseling
For Asian Americans, immigrants, children of immigrants and refugees, and other racialized individuals
It feels like everything in life is getting harder to navigate.
Whether it's work, school, relationships, a big life change, a recent loss, or a general sense of dissatisfaction - There are probably many reasons that have brought you here. Do any of these sound familiar?:
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Feeling the build up of exhaustion from a lifetime’s worth of balancing competing expectations, managing judgements, feeling inadequate, and being “othered”.
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Going through a new life change, transition, or relationship that is bringing up old wounds or issues that you’re ready to address and resolve.
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Being so used to meeting the standards of others that you’re at a loss as to what you want and need, and you're wanting to explore how you can shift relationship dynamics (with family, partners, friends, and others) to honor your feelings and choices.
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Holding the traumas of your childhood and/or family and cultural history, and feeling “stuck” and burdened.
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Wanting relief from the mounting sense of insecurity and lack of safety you feel in your day to day life.
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Looking for a fully supportive and relatable space. Whether you're seeking therapy for the first time or you’ve been to therapy before, you're tired of not being completely understood or feeling like you can't share parts of yourself.
Whatever brings you here, you’ve already come a long way. While your experiences are uniquely yours, I come from a place of intimate understanding, and I empathize and support you in your journey to find clarity about your past, relief in your present, and freedom for your future.
Is culturally-responsive counseling what you need?
While on the outside others may see you having everything together, on the inside you feel very differently, oftentimes unfulfilled, unseen, doubtful, and burdened. The impacts of growing up split between opposing worlds, and living in a society and environments that don’t fully reflect and affirm your multiple identities, cultures, and experiences, are deep and vast, and can show up in all areas of your life - work, school, family, relationships, leisure, and in your general sense of personal contentment.
Each day can feel overly tiring and stressful. You never seem to get a break from overthinking, worrying, comparing yourself to others, or overworking trying to prove yourself to someone. Sometimes you dread the work day, and while you look forward to your free time, that can also feel empty. The world can feel unsafe and even going outside can make you feel uneasy. You yearn for connection and belonging, but even when surrounded by people, you can feel lonely and isolated. Communication and understanding in relationships can feel like a big challenge, whether with family, friends, partners, or colleagues. It can sometimes feel like you’re speaking two different languages, and with family or parents, you very literally might be. No matter what you do, nothing seems to be good enough, and it seems like you’re always falling short.
While you’re used to navigating between different worlds and cultures, splitting off parts of yourself depending on the situation, or “code-switching”, is draining and exhausting. What’s more, carrying trauma, whether your own or your family’s, takes its toll - mentally, emotionally, interpersonally, and spiritually.
A safe space to explore, heal, and (re)discover yourself.
What therapy might look like:
When you’ve spent most of your life fulfilling the needs and expectations of others, it can be hard to begin to shift the perspective onto yourself. What do you like? What are your needs? What do you really think and feel? How do you balance honoring yourself as well as your family? In what ways have your upbringing and family dynamics impacted you? What makes you feel more yourself?
Through therapy in a safe space, we will deeply explore these questions, and much more. There will be moments of laughter and lightness, as well as moments where I will support you to be with discomfort and pain. By gaining a greater understanding of your family and history, working through negative thoughts, emotions, and traumas, and clarifying your identity and values, your life will transform. Reconnecting with yourself, moving away from old wounds and beliefs, and gaining self-acceptance and confidence leads to a more balanced, meaningful, and fulfilled life. You will feel both closer with and more free from family. Each day will feel more easeful as well as more stimulating. You will feel more connected with yourself, others, and with the world.
You deserve to feel safe, seen, and supported. Let's create that space together.
MY APPROACH TO CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE COUNSELING
I aim to create a compassionate, warm, and safe space. As an Asian therapist, a second generation Chinese-Taiwanese-Canadian, an American immigrant, and a child of immigrants and refugees, I am intimately aware of the particular burdens and challenges facing Asian Americans and other people of color - I bring both my expertise and personal experience into the therapy room. My approach to therapy is fluid in that it ranges from emphasizing your experience in the present moment, looking deeply into your history and psychological processing, and building new concrete skills for coping and resilience. We will decide the precise mixture of these together, to ensure a combination that works the best for you. As well, we will look at your experience holistically, that is using your whole self to guide and inform the process - your analytical mind, the depth of your emotions, and the wisdom of your body. You will stop looking outwardly for all the answers, and instead, the answers will begin to come from within. Transformation occurs from the inside out.
What does "culturally-responsive" therapy mean?
Being a culturally-responsive therapist means prioritizing your background, identity, and cultures as central to understanding who you are and your process to healing. It means striving to never impose another belief system onto you, and humbly apologizing and learning from moments if it does happen. It also means that I have worked hard to recognize and understand my own biases, where I hold privilege and where I am marginalized, and how it all influences how I see myself and interact in my relationships and with the world. This is an ongoing process that I commit to every day, grounded in my values of anti-oppression and compassion, and is integral to how we decide what happens in the therapy space.
Culturally responsive counseling can help you:
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Identify and break free from persistent negative thoughts and beliefs, and feelings of pressure, stress, and inadequacy that keep you “stuck” and small
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Explore and gain clarity around your identities, cultures, and history
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Heal from personal trauma and the trauma of your family
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Improve communication and understanding within your relationships with family, friends, partners, and others
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Reconnect with yourself, and feel more aligned with your values and needs
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Navigate the world with greater ease, acceptance, and confidence
I welcome your whole self and I'm here to support all parts and aspects of you.
Some of my areas of expertise are:
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Working with children of immigrants, immigrants and refugees
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Exploring racial identity, bi-culturalism and multiculturalism, class, nationality, and other identities
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Making sense of, repairing, and resolving family, marital, friend, dating, and other relationship dynamics
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Working through the impacts of parentification, acculturation, failing to fully “belong” in any one group, feelings of inferiority
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Healing from trauma (intergenerational, historical, racial, relational, religious, structural, vicarious) and the impacts of oppression
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Moving away from perfectionism and feelings of inadequacy, and towards self-acceptance and true self-worth
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Moving through life transitions and changes with greater ease, confidence, and resilience
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How long is a therapy session? How often will we meet?
All sessions are 50-minutes. The frequency of sessions will depend on a multitude of factors - your goals, current levels of distress, your schedule, life circumstance - but ultimately we'll meet at a cadence (weekly, biweekly, monthly) that makes the most sense for you and your needs right now. Also, as life is dynamic and ever-changing, the structure of therapy often changes accordingly.
Do you offer in-person sessions? Where will we meet?
I am fully telehealth at this time. All sessions are conducted over a 100% private, HIPAA-compliant video platform called doxy.me.
What will the first session be like? What are sessions like?
The first session will be pretty representative of what therapy looks like with me. Unlike some other therapists, I do not do a formal intake filled with lots of questions about your history and background. Instead, we will start in the present moment with what is most relevant and salient for you right now, and inevitably the most critical and important details will naturally emerge. Over the first few sessions, we will get a sense of how it is to work together, refine your goals and objectives for therapy, and ensure that we are on a path that feels supportive and effective to you.
How long is therapy?
What is the process?
Therapy can take many, many shapes. Depending on your goals and intentions, we may meet for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. We will spend time discussing your needs and goals and come to an agreed upon plan for the frequency and approximate duration of therapy and what approach(es) we will follow.
As therapy is dynamic and life is unpredictable, the course and focus of therapy naturally can and often does change, and we will reassess and adjust our work together accordingly.
How do I get started?
The first step is scheduling a free 15-minute consultation phone call. The purpose of this call is for us to get a sense of one another, to discuss some logistics and assess if we might be a good fit for one another. I will ask you some questions about what brings you to therapy at this time, what you're hoping to get from therapy, as well as ask you a few questions about your psychological history. I will also share more about myself and how I work, and some of the expectations I have as a therapist. This is an opportunity for you to ask me any questions that can help you decide if you'd like to work with me.
How long is therapy?
What is the process?
Therapy can take many, many shapes. Depending on your goals and intentions, we may meet for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. We will spend time discussing your needs and goals and to come to an agreed upon plan, for the frequency and approximate duration of therapy and what approach(es) we will follow.
As therapy is dynamic and life is unpredictable, the course and focus of therapy naturally can and often does change, and we will reassess and adjust our work together accordingly.
How long is therapy?
What is the process?
Therapy can take many, many shapes. Depending on your goals and intentions, we may meet for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. We will spend time discussing your needs and goals and to come to an agreed upon plan, for the frequency and approximate duration of therapy and what approach(es) we will follow.
As therapy is dynamic and life is unpredictable, the course and focus of therapy naturally can and often does change, and we will reassess and adjust our work together accordingly.
How do I get started?
The first step is scheduling a free 20-minute consultation phone call. The purpose of this call is for us to get a sense of one another, to discuss some logistics and assess if we might be a good fit for one another. I will ask you some questions about what brings you to therapy at this time, what you're hoping to get from therapy, as well as ask you a few questions about your psychological history. I will also share more about myself and how I work, and some of the expectations I have as a therapist. This is an opportunity for you to ask me any questions that can help you decide if you'd like to work with me.