Many immigrants experience intense state of hyper vigilance and visa status anxiety, navigating culture shock and acculturation, grief and loss of culture of origin, racial, ethnic, and cultural dentity conflict. Not to mention, many are holding all of the above while navigating a system that is immensely confusing and scary, particularly in today’s climate.

As an immigrant or a child of immigrants, you’re holding so much on your shoulders. I’ve experienced these emotions first hand, and while your therapy is about you, not about me, sometimes it helps to know you’re talking to someone who’s been through where you are. I specialize in helping folks with the emotional consequences of immigration, and the intergenerational effects for 1st/2nd gen individuals.

Both Asian American clients and Asian immigrant clients often report navigating internalized mental health stigma, navigating intergenerational and intercultural differences, racial and ethnic identity issues.

Beyond that, there are often more differences than similarities with each person that walks into my (digital) office. You may be seeking to address issues that are specific to your identity as an Asian or an Asian American person, or you may just want to receive therapy from someone who shares your identities.

Many clients feel apprehensive about therapy. And that’s okay! We’re challenging generational dynamics of stuffing feelings down just by you reading this page and considering therapy. I provide culturally responsive and trauma-informed care that is tailored to your unique goals while honoring your racial, cultural, and ethnic background, and holding space for all parts of you to feel welcome.

Your experiences with the family you grew up with are formative and foundational to the way you move through the world and build relationships with people outside of your family. That can show up as attachment wounds, relationship expectations, differences in values with chosen family or partnerships, and many more.

Therapy can provide a landing space where you can examine your formative experiences, improve your self-awareness, and improve your relationships with your friends and loved ones.

Relational trauma includes any rupture that happened in relationship with others. That can be divorce, even when it’s amicable. That can be break-ups, even when the relationship feels like it was “not long enough to matter”, or when the break-up happened a long time ago. That can be loss of friendships, and separation from family of origin, whether you were the one to choose the ending, or whether it happened to you and was out of your control.

Therapy can help rebuild a sense of your identity after a significant relationship has ended, process impact of relationships that have influenced you, learn how to set boundaries, address trust issues, and more, depending on what your specific circumstances are.

In session, we build a relationship where you can feel cared for, seen, and held, AND simultaneously learning how to set boundaries, take criticism and accountability, and handle conflict, if those are things you are struggling with.

I specialize in providing care to individuals within the LGBTQIA+ community, whether you’ve been out for a while, a little, or if you’re questioning. There may be parts of you that haven’t felt welcome in therapy spaces before, parts that you feel you need to check at the door. There may be parts of you that have learned to code switch, mask, and perform as a way to survive. There may be parts of you that you have inherited from your ancestors, carrying burdens from generations past. My priority is to co-create a space where you not only feel affirmed, but celebrated, and where every part of you feels welcome.

Something I sometimes hear people say is, “Am I secretly an extremely manipulative person?” Typically, that question comes up for people who have had to learn how to anticipate other people’s needs and adjust accordingly in order to survive. What can happen in that case is difficulty asking for help or trusting others, lack of safety within relationships, and difficulty expressing needs. You may also feel like your needs aren’t being met or anticipated by others in the same way, which can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Many people struggle navigating conflict, because for most, conflict has not been safe. In therapy, we can unpack trauma related to these feelings, learn to set boundaries where appropriate, and improve your relationships with yourself and others.

Impostor syndrome means that you could be doubting your talent, skills, and experience, and feel like you’ve somehow faked your way to success, and any minute now, someone is going to catch on to you and expose you as a fraud.

Beginner syndrome means that you could be having difficulty allowing yourself to, well, be a beginner at something you’re interested in. You could be wanting to learn your native language and feel like a failure when you haven’t mastered it in six months, or better yet, two weeks. You could be wanting to change careers and give up before you’ve had a chance to go an interview for a job you were really excited about.

As for perfectionism, sometimes people will say, “I can’t be a perfectionist, I’m not perfect!” The thing with perfectionism though, is that it never allows you to be “perfect”, always trapped in the “not enough” of it all.

Therapy can provide a space to unpack all of these experiences and more, developing a way forward. That can look like shifting to values-aligned living, including more opportunities to allow permission of imperfection and being a beginner, and self-esteem work.

Many therapists and mental health professionals, healthcare industry professionals, and students enter this field because you want to help others. You may have always been good at listening to others, you may have dreamed of being someone that can heal people. Often, people report burnout and disappointment in healthcare due to high caseloads, lack of supervisory support, trauma from predatory group practice policies, racism and discrimination in the field.

You may have nothing to do with the field of healthcare, but you may know healing - as a caregiver for a family member, as the “therapist” of your family. You may feel conflicted, with one part of you feeling proud of your ability to care for others, and another part feeling so exhausted that you just don’t care anymore. These are some of the issues that can lead you to burnout, compassion fatigue, and disconnection from yourself.

Therapy can be a space to finally focus on you, and figure out a way forward.

You have accomplished every goal, done everything that is in your control, tried every new thing, and every old thing, and somehow you’re still feeling so burnt out on your goals and aspirations. This may include corporate world burnout, identity issues and dealing with the burden of internal and external expectations, desire support surrounding career transition. It may also look like reconnecting with your inner creative self in order to find meaning again.

We’ll start by addressing what is going on for you at this stage in your life, and identifying areas you would like to change in the short and long term. Think of this process as setting a compass for the map of our work together – the exact path to the direction may fluctuate, but identifying the direction can help determine what approach would be best for you. You’re the one who determines how fast or slow we go, and which areas we go towards and when: my job is to help you go towards places you may be afraid to go on your own, and point out areas on the map you may not be aware of yet.