Therapy is a space where you can express your feelings and explore the areas of your life that have gone unspoken so that you can cultivate awareness and heal to cultivate life long changes and authentic connections with yourself and others. I believe that therapists are the experts of the process, and that clients are the experts of their own experience. I aim to create an empathic, compassionate and nonjudgmental environment, so that you can be unafraid to express any areas of you that have been tucked away. Therapy is a process of cultivating awareness, unlearn, and relearning so that you can lead healthier and more authentic relationships with yourself and others. I work with high achieving clients to identify and manage their critical thoughts and feelings, unlearn harmful beliefs, identify and break unhealthy patterns and tendencies in their relationships with the goal of healing, moving forward, and creating and maintaining healthy, positive change. While I utilize a trauma-informed, relational, and integrative approach, ultimately therapy will be tailored to your unique situation, needs and wants.

As a therapist, my style is to be collaborative, interactive, exploratory and practical. When appropriate I will nudge you to challenge your thoughts with gentle curiosity in the hopes of gaining insight, providing a different perspective, increasing awareness, and ultimately considering a different, healthier way of responding. With gentle curiosity and compassion, we will learn what it is that you need.

Throughout my career, I have worked with adolescents, young adults, LGBTQIA+ individuals, BIPOC, and the everyday New Yorker, with experience working in various settings throughout New York City, including hospitals and child welfare organizations. I currently work with individuals with various mental health concerns and diagnoses including depression, anxiety, trauma (racial, spiritual, intergenerational, childhood, interpersonal and sexual trauma), abuse, relationship issues (including family of origin issues), imposter syndrome, burnout, and perfectionism. In addition, I work with individuals around issues of boundaries, stress, low self esteem, and feelings of guilt, shame, anger, doubt, and loneliness. As a Korean American woman, I am deeply passionate about working with folx, surrounding themes of identity, perfectionism, empowerment and racial and generational trauma.

Research has shown that finding the right therapist for you is one of the most important factors for your growth and healing. Feel free to reach out for a free consultation, where we can chat about what brings you to therapy and see if we are a good fit. I’m excited to potentially learn more about you, your story, and work with you on this journey!

Areas of Expertise: Depression, Anxiety, Trauma/CPTSD (Racial, Spiritual, Intergenerational, Sexual, Childhood), Life Transitions, Relationship Issues, Feelings of Loneliness and Anger, Imposter Syndrome, AAPI Mental Health

I have lived experience in working through family of origin relationships, healing trauma (generational, religious, relational, racial), deconstructing and reconstructing my faith, my identity as a Korean American woman, in addition to my own struggles with anxiety and depression.

MY STORY

As the eldest daughter of a Korean American family raised in the New York Area and church, I always felt boxed in by what I “should” be doing and who I “should” be. Years of striving and of burnout led me to develop a string of health concerns, GI issues including IBS, chronic pain, insomnia, food sensitivities as a teenager and a young adult. Over these years, I became increasingly frustrated, helpless, and depressed by the lack of answers and support from the medical world and also my own personal network. I felt extremely alone and stuck in a vicious cycle. It was my physical health that ultimately forced me to confront my own mental health.

When I finally gave myself permission to truly heal I began to see how my experiences impacted my thought patterns, behaviors, tendencies, the people and careers I gravitated towards. The more I paid attention to the root of my pain, the more I discovered my most authentic self. I found the part of me that was always there but was never given permission to be; I quickly discovered a hunger that wanted to be happy, to live fully, to be in community, and to empower others. When it came time for me to consider my career again I knew what I wanted to do.

While I am much more equipped clinically, my lived experiences continue to inform my work. I strive to meet my clients where they are at, to walk alongside them in this process, and to give them the opportunity to heal and to live a life of health and abundance.