About Dr. Shianling Weeks (she/her)
Hi, I’m Shianling.
I have always wanted to be a haven for those who are alone, to lend an empathetic ear and help people toward a life worth living. I’ve worked and learned so I can help you have a better relationship with yourself, practice acceptance, and make meaningful change.
I’m continually in awe of the endless abundant ability of people to make change in their lives by connecting to themselves and others. I strive to help people who go through struggles I have experienced, too - not because I will then know what they are going through - I don’t, because everyone’s so unique - but there are aspects that I can tap into at a fundamental level and understand differently from someone who has not had that experience. Therefore, I specialize in anxiety, depression, identity shift with parenthood, pregnancy and postpartum, infertility, trauma, acculturation, experience of AAPI and BIPOC people, loneliness, shame, people pleasing, not liking yourself, not thinking you deserve things… I’ve lived trying to be grateful for what I had without striving for more, shooting down my own hopes and ambitions before I even started, and I have forged a way through.
As a person who felt deeply alone in my experience, it was transformative to find my people and spaces where I could thrive and use what I learned in an enlivened relationship with myself to spread change to the rest of my life. How to let go of emotional pain, while letting it through. Letting myself feel anger, sadness, grief, shame, guilt, without judging myself, putting myself down, making myself small. Daring to take chances, figuring out what I wanted by experimenting, and heading in new directions. That’s what I want for you.
I have worked in a wide range of settings, from forensic psychology to group private practices. I have been privileged to help people from all different backgrounds across a huge spectrum of challenges. I have lived change and facilitated change. I take all I have learned from this wealth of humanity, the empathy I’ve cultivated and grown, the ability to be nonjudgmental and curious, and apply it to you. I am passionate about social justice and supporting Asian Americans, BIPOC people, and multicultural folks, and center cultural awareness and intersectionality in therapy. If we could all feel less alone, comfortable in our own skin, liking and even loving ourselves, being more compassionate, having community with our people - what kinds of lives would we lead?
I will be here, be present, be open, be nonjudgmental. I will be someone who sees you and does not turn away, minimize, or desperately jump in with quick fixes. We will build you up together into what you want to be, after we figure out what that is.
The world would be less lonely and more connected if we weren’t as chained to “shoulds” from our upbringings, our society, and the people around us.
I have been helping people change their lives for 17 years, and it has been my privilege. I would love to help you, too.
Treatment Approaches
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Clarify your values and build your life in those directions. Find ways to step back from emotional pain and struggle, while choosing to act in ways that matter most to you. Use mindfulness to be here right now, since this is the only moment you can control.
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Prolonged Exposure, Exposure and Response Prevention, Imaginal Exposure, In Vivo Exposure… these treatments are about facing what you fear head on in a manageable way, loosening the stranglehold avoidance has on your life. These treatments are particularly used for PTSD, trauma, anxiety, and OCD - I also apply exposure to help overcome shame.
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This therapy teaches amazing skills for mindfulness, getting through hard emotions without making things worse, learning about emotions and what they do for us, taking care of your body to take care of your mind, learning to ask for what you want and need, and learning to say no. I use the behavioral approach to break down actions you’d like to change into smaller pieces, so we can figure out what would help most to make change. DBT emphasizes nonjudgmentalness and validation of human experience, which is a crucial piece of being understood and motivated to reach for change.
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This type of therapy explores the connection between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. I am versed in a number of cognitive behavioral therapy treatment for issues such as depression, anxiety, panic, agoraphobia, insomnia, chronic pain, and OCD. I fold them into our work together as needed.