Do you want therapy that affirms your cultural identity, helps you heal from cultural or racial trauma, and empowers you to define and live into your true self?

I am passionate about collaborating with multicultural and mixed race individuals, adult children of immigrants, and people of color. In our work, we can explore the texture of your identity today and attune to where it feels shaky. You get to decide what is important to you and why. You can share your story of how you live and place yourself in the world, your family, your community, and where it feels lacking. I will attend to the potential intersections between your cultural identity and the challenges you face. From there, you can determine what needs pruning, what needs healing, and what needs fresh soil, fertilizer, and water.

Interpersonal neurobiology and attachment research tell us that what works in therapy is the accompaniment of a secure, understanding, kind companion with whom to walk through the joys and challenges of life. It would be my great privilege to be that person for you. I care about this work, because I myself identify as multicultural and mixed race. Continuing to explore my cultural identity as a mixed race Filipina and Caucasian American has been deeply healing, generative, and meaningful for me. I would love to offer you this same space to validate and join you in exploring this integral part of your personhood.

You may find that some weeks, cultural identity is a big part of the explicit work we do in the session, and other times, it may simply exist in the background. Either way, we will be mindful of how cultural concerns impact your unique path to healing and wholeness.

Some challenges multicultural clients may face:

Multicultural or Multiracial Individuals

Your parents are from two or more different racial, cultural, religious, etc. backgrounds. People may ask you, “What are you?” You realize that growing up in the United States or outside of your home culture led you to leave out important parts of yourself. Parts you’re now struggling to connect with in an authentic way. Perhaps now you are considering how to pass down your culture to your children, to share it with your loved ones, or to relate with your family. You’re not sure where you belong or where to begin.

Adult Children of Immigrants

You grew up in the United States or outside of your parents’ country of origin. People regularly ask you, “But where are you really from?” Perhaps you grew up not wanting your friends to visit your house. You didn’t see models for how to live with respect to your racial identity and your cultural experience. You struggle to discern between your parents’ or extended family’s values, your own, and those of the majority culture.

People of Color

You and your family have spent generations in the US, but still you’re told you don’t belong. Whether overtly in the grocery store or waking down the street, or more subtly, as you shop for clothes that fit your body, take a standardized test, or apply for that promotion. Daily, you feel the weight of dozens of misunderstandings and assumptions and try to work against them, ignore them, or adapt. If you voice this burden, you’re told to “Stop being so sensitive.” It’s exhausting.

I want to affirm that:

You are working so hard. You haven’t imagined your situation, and you aren’t complaining. Research on cultural identity tells us that while identity development is complex, multiracial or multiple heritage identity is inherently more complex. There are often no roadmaps for how to live within this complexity, because you are walking in brand new territory. That would be hard enough as it is, but it can feel even more difficult, because it’s typically an unseen struggle.

While it can feel challenging, I also want to affirm the beautiful complexity that you inhabit. You live in multiple realities and translate between them with relative fluidity. That’s often why others don’t give you credit. You make it look easy. In a world that is growing more and more diverse, you have an important perspective to offer. Let’s work together to empower you to recognize and hardness your voice.