My medicine is listening with empathy, increasing self-compassion, and cultivating resilience. I’ve been practicing therapy since 2009 and have supported people in healing their psychological and emotional wounds, stop numbing their pain (e.g., through drugs or alcohol), and live a life consistent with their values. 

 

While I'm incredibly proud of supporting my clients in being able to get back to a life worth living, what I’m most proud of is working towards dismantling racism and oppression in the institution of therapy and decolonizing mental health. 

 

But it wasn’t always this way. I didn’t even know psychology existed until I was 18 years old, when I randomly took a Psychology 101 class. Growing up, my family never talked about feelings, how to deal with stress, or anything related to mental health- that wasn’t even in my family’s vocabulary. Even though my parents and other family members had survived the First Indochina War and Vietnam / American War, growing up, they never talked about any of these experiences. It was likely a mechanism of survival- the only way they could move forward in a new country to create a stable life. 

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We tend to believe if we keep all our fears, anxiety, sadness, or shame to ourselves, we won’t burden our loved ones. If we keep all our pain to ourselves, others will still see us as strong and worthy of love, even if we don’t see that in ourselves. Or as children of immigrants and refugees, our pain isn’t comparable to our parents or caregivers who may have escaped atrocities, and so we shouldn’t talk about our problems.  
 

Has there ever been a time in your life where you were struggling, but felt like you couldn’t talk to your family or friends because you didn’t want to burden them? Where you didn’t want to be shamed for your struggles because of the decisions you made, so instead, you suffered in silence? And so maybe you covered up the pain by numbing out- maybe by alcohol, partying, or even staying busy, working or studying constantly without any breaks. 

 

When I discovered psychology and had my own therapy sessions, I finally understood the value in talking about our stuff- the stuff we’ve been told to keep to ourselves. I’ve deepened my understanding on how the trauma and pain of colonization, war, migration, racism, and other systemic oppression, have shaped my ancestors, parents, myself, and my community. That’s why I feel called to work towards decolonizing what I have learned about mental health, wellness, and healing.

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My mission is to provide a safe space for Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian | Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander on their journey towards radical healing, building resilience, and increasing capacity for being fully, beautifully human.