My Approach

Psychotherapy attends to the most hidden and unknown parts of the self. I am curious about the deeper meaning of your difficulties and where they might have originated. Together, we explore the thoughts, beliefs, fantasies, dreams, relationship patterns and socio-cultural contexts that influence your everyday way of being. Your childhood, family history and painful past experiences/traumas are all taken into account as a part of who you are as a person in the world, rather than your diagnosis or observable symptoms.

Therapy offers a space for you to speak freely and openly about whatever comes to mind, uncensored. As social beings, we tend to silence unacceptable thoughts, conflicting wishes, and anything else that would bring about feelings of shame and guilt.

Speaking things out fully, you can unravel the various “knots” in your mind that created the conditions for your suffering and keep you feeling stuck. These knots are made up of dilemmas, impasses, contradictions, and conflicts that get communicated through inexplicable pain and psychological symptoms. As we put these difficult-to-name experiences to words, we can greatly reduce the power these experiences have over our lives.

Change happens when we take greater responsibility for how we want to live. Among other things, you may find that the way you coped with problems in the past is no longer serving you now, and that a fundamental change is necessary in your life in order to grow. Therapy can help you identify crucial decisions that will shape your path moving forward into the future.

Change can’t happen without taking a risk. There are no guarantees in life. Yet staying stuck in the same place is costly. Therapy invites you to face your fears and step into the unknown, for this is your only opportunity to create something new in your life.

This approach is a good fit for people who favor treatments that go beyond acquiring tools or skills to cope with immediate problems. It may take a longer time but it is certainly not meant to go on without an end in sight.

Specialization

I have worked extensively with Asian American adult children of immigrants who are suffering from the impact of unresolved family conflict. Many have experienced chronic resentment, guilt, and shame. Despite wanting to move on with their life, painful memories cast a dark shadow on their thoughts and decisions. This can make it very difficult to form close, trusting relationships. experience painful conflicts within their family of origin that lead to separation, emotional distance, deep resentment or estrangement.

In therapy we speak about the role of cultural expectations and beliefs, parental pressures, gender and sexuality, silence and shame around mental illness, and intergenerational trauma. We examine the impact of these early relationships on how you relate to others and yourself.

Other Specialties:

• Depression, anxiety, sadness, worry and guilt

• Exploration of gender and sexuality

• Couples and parents

• Self doubt, perfectionism, self-esteem

• Healing from past trauma of any kind

• Restoring intimacy and closeness for couples

• Infertility, perinatal wellbeing, and complicated feelings about being a mother or parent