I am an active and directive relational therapist.

I believe relationships have the power to heal our attachment wounds, past pain, and lead to greater insight and deep transformational change.

We hurt in relationships. We can also heal in healthy and good enough relationships, leading to corrective experiences.

I am deeply invested in my work with you and ask for your equal investment and commitment to therapy.

In session, I might interrupt you, challenge you, offer you my perspective, point out patterns, teach you skills, provide you education, and ask you to try other ways of thinking or relating.

This is not the right fit for all clients, especially those who prefer a more neutral, silent, and/or passive therapist.

I work best with those who have tried traditional talk therapy before and want a more active, casual, challenging, and directive style of therapy, incorporating somatic/mind-body and experiential ways of healing.

My job is not to tell you what to do or "fix" you.

My job is to help you face conflicts, feelings, and truths so you can better understand yourself, make healthier changes, and let go of patterns that no longer serve you so you can move beyond feeling “stuck”.

Change is often difficult and painful, requiring hard work.

However, change also comes with positive rewards such as increased feelings of ease, calm, and freedom.

While reviewing my website and videos are a good option to get to know me, the best way to find out how I work is to meet with me for a first session and assess how you feel after.

You can learn more about my approach by clicking here.

• Joy & Liberation

• Childhood Trauma/Adults Abused as Children

• Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families

• Adults Raised By Emotionally Immature Parents

• Generational Patterns

• Chronic Stress

• Attachment Styles

• Self Esteem

• Grief, Loss & Death

• Anxiety & Panic

• Racial Identity

  • Internalized Racism

  • Belonging & Community

  • Impostor Syndrome

• Southeast Asian Immigrants & Refugee Diasporas

  • Children of Immigrants

  • 1st, 1.5 and 2nd Generation Immigrants

  • Cultural Double Bind

  • Perfectionism

  • Model Minority Myth

  • Acculturation

  • Cultural Brokers/Translaters

  • Generational Trauma

• Gay/Queer Men & Men’s Issues

  • Emotional Intelligence

  • Socialization, Pressures & Expectations

  • Minority Stress

  • Anger Issues

  • Shame & Guilt

  • Belonging & Community

• Somatic/Mind-Body Healing

Clients who work best with me often seek a trauma, relationship, anxiety, and/or grief specialist.

I work with…

1. Couples/dyads who want to learn assertive communication skills, fight more effectively, and rebuild more intimacy and trust in their relationship

2. Chronic over thinkers who intellectualize their problems, are self-aware to a fault, and find it hard to connect to their feelings

3. Those in the midst of a major life transition (becoming a parent, empty nest syndrome, divorce, separation, starting school, changing jobs, new diagnosis, recent loss, etc.) seeking refuge and space to find more ease and balance

4. Those who want to explore their own mortality, discuss the practicality and emotionality around their own death, anxiety/fear of death, and continually mourn their losses and grief

5. Healthcare professionals, therapists, and social workers who are wounded healers

6. Those who are exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, experiencing compassion fatigue, and want to take better care of themselves

7. Adults abused as children, emotional neglect, sexual violence/assault, attachment/developmental trauma, and those who grew up in dysfunctional families

8. Survivors of trauma who are parents who want to parent healthier children and break the cycle of trauma

9. Immigrants and children of immigrants who want to break unhelpful generational patterns, break free from guilt, and live a life of ease

10. Men who want to become more aware of their emotional world, increase comfort with vulnerability, learn to ask for what they want in healthier ways, and who seek more satisfying relationships

11. Queer/gay people who want to learn to love themselves unconditionally, feel more at home in their bodies, and unlearn harmful messaging from family, society, and our larger culture

12. Those seeking exploration of their identities, processing existential issues, and finding more meaning and value in life

I love learning.

I regularly attending trainings in the areas of: grief, anxiety, somatic/mind-body therapy, trauma recovery, multicultural therapy, attachment, and relationship issues.

I also regularly attend my own personal therapy, engage in peer and professional clinical consultation, and take time off so clients can receive the best care possible and for me to sustain my work long term due to the occupational hazards of being a therapist.

EDUCATION

• University of California, Post-Master’s Fellowship (Counseling & Psychological Services & Social Services)

• University of Washington, Master of Social Work (Mental Health Concentration)

• University of Washington, Behavioral Health Fellowship

• University of Texas, Bachelor of Arts

CERTIFICATIONS & ADVANCED TRAININGS

• IFS Levels 1 & 2 & IFIO Basic Trained

• AEDP Levels 1 & 2

• EFT Externship & EFIT Levels 1 & 2

• PACT Couples Therapy Levels 1 & 2

• Gottman Couples Therapy Level 1

• PRATI Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy

• MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

2025

• Death Doula/End of Life Education and Planning Training (40 hrs)

• Level I: The Complexities of Complex Trauma - International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) (30 hrs)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (50 hrs)

• Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1) (25 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Intermediate Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Grief Training

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

  • Intro to Perinatal Loss: The Presence of an Absence (2 hrs)

  • Perinatal Loss and Prolonged Grief Treatment (1 hr)

  • Immigration: Trauma & Grief (1 hr)

  • Loss, Grief, and Domestic Violence: The Power of Transformation (2.5 hrs)

  • Loss of Autonomy: Working With Differently-Abled Individuals (1.5 hrs)

• Trauma and Dissociation/CPTSD Informed Internal Family Systems (IFS) - A 5-Day IFS Retreat With Joanne Twombly (32 hrs)

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) (14 hrs)

• Narrative Therapy Training (12 hrs)

• Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (6 hrs)

2024

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 2, Deepening & Expanding (42 hrs)

• Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) Basic Training For Couples Therapy (72 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Beginner Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Shame & Guilt (2 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Chronic Pain (2 hrs)

• Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator Certificate - The Embody Lab (32 hrs)

• Psychedelic Education Certificate (MDMA, Psilocybin, Ketamine, and 5-MeO-DMT) - Psychedelic Support (20 hrs)

• Trauma-Informed Care Training Certificate: Working with Female Survivors of Violence (40 hrs)

• 7-Day Silent Retreat: Befriending Mortality: Living An Awakened Life Through Mindfulness of Death

• Cultivating Focused Attention: An Intensive 7- Day Mindfulness Retreat for Mental Health Professionals

• 7- Day Silent Meditation Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Compassionate, and Responsive Heart

• Mentalizing and Mentalization-Based Treatment with Adults (MBT Adult): An Introduction (6 hrs)

• General Psychiatric Management (GPM) for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (6 hrs)

• Clinical Supervision Training: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know (18 hrs)

2023

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1 (72 hrs)

• PRATI Foundational Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Training (30 hrs)

• MAPS (Now Lykos) MDMA Assisted Therapy Training (30 hrs)

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (14 hrs)

• Introduction to Military Culture, Families and Deployment (6 hrs)

• Overview of Military Service-Related Behavioral Health Challenges (7 hrs)

2022

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) Level 1 (30 hrs)

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) Level 2 (30 hrs)

• Transforming Resistance - Yearlong Seminar in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) (18 hrs)

• Mental Health Suicide in 2022: An Update for Professionals (6 hrs)

• Socratic Dialogue: A 4-Stage Model of Discovery (1 hr)

• 2-Day Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Training - PESI (12.5 hrs)

• In Depth Trauma Training (27.5 hrs)

  • Healing from Childhood Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Trauma and Couples Therapy: Treading through Contentious Waters (3.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Care (3 hrs)

  • The Neurobiology of Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • How Deep Does Pain Go?: The Impact of Violence Across

    One's Lifespan (4 hrs)

  • The Elephant in the Room: Interventions to Treat Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Joy and Sorrow in the Same Cup: Addressing Grief, Loss & Trauma in Adoption (1.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Responses to Sexual Violence (1.5 hrs)

  • Life After Death: Overcoming Childhood Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • The Impact of Childhood Trauma Across the Lifespan (3 hrs)

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

2021

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 2, Essential Skills (80 hrs)

• Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) Levels 1 & 2 (24 hrs)

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (12 hrs)

• Seeking Safety Training (Substance Use & PTSD) (6 hrs)

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills: Introduction (12 hrs)

• Community Resiliency Model (CRM) (6 hrs)

• Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) (12 hrs)

• NICABM - The Treating Trauma Master Series: A 5-Module Series on the Treatment of Trauma (10 hrs)

2020

• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship (28 hrs)

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (27 hrs)

• All Patients Safe: Suicide Prevention for Medical Providers (6 hrs)

2019

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 1 Immersion (30 hrs)

• Trauma Informed Care & Practical Approaches To Managing Trauma Responses In Eating Disorder Treatment (12 hrs)

• Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills Training (22 hrs)

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) Boot Camp/Immersion (32 hrs)

2018

• Motivational Interviewing Skills (MI) Training (12 hrs)

• Gottman Couples Therapy Level 1 (12 hrs)

• Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) (14 hrs)

• Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Core Competencies for Mental Health Professionals (6 hrs)

• Essentials of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) (5 hrs)

I want to…

• Interrupt patterns of self sabotage.

• Understand why I do what I do.

• Heal from the impacts of trauma, grief, and loss.

• Learn how to manage my traumatic triggers and flashbacks.

• Learn how to manage stress, anxiety, panic, and overwhelm.

• Learn how to be kinder to myself and practice self compassion.

• Become more aware, name, express, and feel my emotions.

• Learn how to manage overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

• Have a more intimate, strong, and robust relationship with myself and others.

• Have a space for myself because I usually internalize my thoughts and feelings.

• Become more comfortable with vulnerability.

• Learn to ask for what I need and when I need help.

• Learn direct and assertive communication.

• Learn healthy and flexible boundaries.

• Work through feelings of shame and guilt.

• Increase my sense of Self (confidence, esteem, acceptance, love, compassion).

• Find more meaning and value in my life.

• Have an outside perspective to my issues.