THERAPIST IN SAN DIEGO, CA
This is a place to go beyond coping skills and “quick fixes.”
I WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS & COUPLES WHO…
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You're dependable, capable, and someone people can rely on. At work, you handle things well, and in your relationships, you show up and make an effort. But sometimes, being the person everyone relies on means carrying more than your share, leaving little space for yourself.
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You've reflected, tried all the tips, and maybe even talked about your experiences in therapy before. You might be able to name your own tendencies—overthinking, people-pleasing, shutting down—but when you're in the moment, you still find yourself falling into the same patterns.
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It might start with something small, but it quickly turns into a familiar back-and-forth. One person pushes while the other shuts down, and afterwards, nothing actually feels resolved. Instead, you’re left trying to piece together the same puzzle over and over again without ever really moving forward.
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Even when something is important to you, speaking up or holding your ground can feel uncomfortable. You might worry about disappointing people, creating tension, or being “too much,” so you hold things in longer than you want to.
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Whether it’s family, culture, or the roles you’ve taken on, it’s not always as simple as “just set a boundary.” You want to do things differently—but not in a way that disrupts everything or distances you from the people you care about.
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You’re both still here, and you both still care—you just don’t know how to stop repeating what’s not working. You’ve tried approaching things differently, or promised yourselves, “we’re not doing this again,” only to somehow end up right back in the same place.
How I Work
I don’t see people as the problem. Most of what you’re experiencing makes sense in the context of your life.
My work is grounded in the understanding that the way you think, feel, and show up today didn’t happen in isolation—it was shaped by your relationships, your environment, and the expectations you’ve learned to navigate over time. Much of our work together involves stepping back and looking at those influences more clearly:
Roles you’ve taken on in your family
Messages you’ve internalized about responsibility, success, or worth
Cultural expectations that shape how you show up every day
It’s important to understand these things at a deeper level, not so you can reject them, but so you can decide what actually fits for you now. Because of this, I don’t subscribe to a rigid, formulaic approach. I’m not going to hand you a workbook and tell you to follow step one, step two, and step three. I take what you’re telling me, pull from my training and experience, and help us expand into the deeper patterns and experiences connected to it.
I draw from multiple modalities to help you make sense of your experiences in a way that feels relevant to you. This is integrative work, so I’ll use approaches like EMDR, Narrative Therapy, and parts-based work to help you understand not just what is happening, but why—and how those responses may have once served you, even if they’re no longer working in the same way.
Collaboration, flexibility, and directness are part of this work. This allows me to pay attention to what you really need—sometimes that means slowing down and processing, and sometimes it means intentionally challenging the patterns that keep getting in your way. The goal is always the same: to help you move through your life in a way that feels more aligned, sustainable, and connected to who you actually are.
CULTURE, IDENTITY AND CONTEXT
As a Southeast Asian therapist, I bring both personal and professional understanding to the complexity of navigating family expectations, cultural values, and identity. Together, we’ll explore family dynamics, immigration experiences, personal identity, or the expectations you’ve internalized growing up. We don’t work to force anything here—this work is about finding a way forward that feels aligned with you and the world you live in.
I know that growth isn’t always as simple as setting boundaries, adding more self-care to your routine, speaking up, or “just doing things differently”...especially when those changes impact important relationships or cultural dynamics.
You don’t have to choose between where you come from and who you’re becoming. There is a way to explore and embrace both.
Education & Licensure
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), licensed since 2012
Trainings & Certifications
Certified EMDR Therapist
Gottman Method Level 2 Training
Frank Anderson’s IFS Trauma Treatment Program
AAMFT Approved Clinical Supervisor (2018)
Professional Affiliations
Member, American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
Member, EMDR International Association (EMDRIA)
Your next step starts here
Sessions available in-person in San Diego and online across California