My therapy approach is emotion-focused, attachment-based, relational, experiential and somatic psychotherapy, and it is guided by AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy). AEDP is mainly informed by attachment theory, psychodynamic therapy, positive psychology and neuropsychology. (Read here more about AEDP)

When we can process our emotional truth and change our negative emotional patterns, we can feel your strong true self navigate your life more organically, and everything feels more aligned and “right” in your body and mind. We aim this transformance experience in sessions leads to your more connected and fulfilled life.

In addition to using the AEDP model, my approach is also culturally-informed and trauma-informed with anti-racist and social justice lens. Deeply understanding our culture and trauma, and how they affect our current life and emotions is crucial in your healing journey.

Culturally-informed

Understanding how our own culture has shaped who we are right now is a first crucial step to an exploration of our true-self. Many of us living between multiple cultures often struggle with balancing and respecting both cultures especially if you are 1st or 2nd generation of immigrants. Even in the same family, parents and children can have conflicting views of the familial culture. Language barriers also affect our relationships with our family, friends, partners and coworkers. In therapy with me, you can find what part of your cultures makes who you truly are, and explore how to honor each culture you experience.

Trauma-informed

I have extensive working experiences with people who experienced trauma both in their childhood and adulthood. When you experience excruciating pain, not receiving enough support and being alone with the pain is devastating. You do not need to suffer alone any more. I am here to create a safe and warm space for you to process your experiences, receive more support, and start your journey to heal from your pain.

After traumatic experience, our body and mind remember the pain and try everything possible to avoid the same pain by alerting us some potential threats around us. Sometimes it is helpful but sometimes it overworks and it makes difficult for us to know who or what is safe to trust. In our therapy, we can work towards understanding how our trauma works in our mind and body, and adjust our traumatic response so that you can fully experience your joy and happiness without unnecessary fear and anxiety.

Emotion-focused

Many of us tend to intellectualize our situations without paying attention to our emotions. Sometimes it’s hard to accurately know how we feel. We may feel guilty or ashamed to acknowledge our certain feelings. While our emotions are pushed aside or dismissed, we notice something does not feel right, and we wonder why. Our emotions contain valuable information about who we are and what we like, need, and desire. In our therapy, we focus on being attuned to your true emotions and learn how to effectively value and use our emotions to achieve a more connected and fulfilling life.

Relational/Attachment-focused

What we learned through our relationships with our caregivers during our childhood informs how we form attachments with others as adults. It means that we often repeat the same attachment patterns that we had with our caregivers in our relationships with others as an adult. Some people developed secure attachment but some people struggles with their anxious, avoidant or disorganized attachment styles that show up in our adult relationships. Through creating safe, trusting and secure relationship and corrective attachment style between you and me, you can learn and experience what it feels like to have a secure attachment with others and yourself.

Experiential

My therapy focuses on emotional experiences that happen in sessions in your mind and body. It means that we try to minimize intellectualizing your emotional experiences, but instead we try to experience your emotions in the here-and-now manner. That is because intellectualizing your experiences helps your understanding but it does not change how you feel, and deepening and processing your true emotions does. For example, I would ask “how are you feeling right now while you are sharing this experience with me here?” This process creates new corrective emotional experiences that you could not have by yourself, and it will guid you to change how you feel about your past experiences as well.

Somatic

We experience our emotions in our body first, but we tend not to pay attention to it while we are feeling “something isn’t right.” When we start paying attention, we notice how our body holds so many emotions and pains inside for example, you may notice when you are anxious, your shoulders feel tense or when you are sad, you feel a pit in your stomach. In my therapy, we try to track your somatic sensations of your emotions moment-to-moment so that we can carefully listen to what your body is trying to tell us. Once you can integrate your body and mind, you will start feeling differently in your body and mind such as feeing “right” or “lighter.”