The journey of having a baby, from getting pregnant until around a year after birth, brings changes and challenges that we could not possibly anticipate. 

When you become a parent, everything changes. Even before the baby arrives, seismic shifts in our priorities, hopes, and fears begin. Our identities, our relationships, even our daily routines can feel like they've been blown up. Self-care feels impossible, and the learning curve can be overwhelming. It's no wonder that welcoming a new baby into the family often goes hand-in-hand with stress, anxiety, depression, and other painful thoughts and feelings. Many new parents find this transition can bring up old wounds or patterns they're carrying from their own childhood. This can be both painful and unexpected. Therapy can help clients heal childhood wounds so you can show up as the parent you want to be.

I can help you, from figuring out whether you want to have a baby, through the challenges of getting pregnant, to the hormonal rollercoaster and seismic shift in body and identity pregnancy and postpartum bring. I have advanced training through Postpartum Support International, an amazing organization with a huge variety of resources available.

As a woman who struggled with fertility and pregnancy loss myself, I get how hard the journey toward parenthood can be, and I understand how challenging it is trying to have a child. Walking the line of maintaining hope while managing expectations, all while being hyperaware of every change you feel in your body, injecting yourself with medications, attending innumerable appointments, repeated gynecological exams, waiting on results, and huge expense…it’s a lot. 

To suffer loss of a pregnancy or an infant - words can’t capture the devastation. I can help you find your way through this process, grieve, feel your painful feelings without  being dragged under, and figure out how to navigate your path forward.

It is hard enough to figure out your way into parenthood, without adding the complexity of juggling your multiple cultures and familial expectations. I can help you figure out how you want to be a parent, honoring and bringing along the parts of your culture you love, grieving the parts you’ve lost connection to, and leaving behind legacies that don’t serve you and your growing family. You are not alone in figuring out culture clashes with your family of origin or your partner’s family, whether you are a second generation Asian American or if you are in an interracial or intercultural relationship.

Are you flooded with anxious energy like heart racing, trouble breathing, and feeling faint? Are you battling for sleep, your mind racing anytime you are not busy with something else? Do you sometimes struggle to maintain focus, with your mind going blank?

You are not alone - anxiety is the most common emotional problem in the United States, and has been on the rise. I have helped many people move past their anxiety, finding ways to pull themselves out of sticky, looping, spiraling thoughts. We will figure out together how to start approaching all the things that are important to you again, and to pinpoint what those are in case you’re not sure anymore. You can lead a full and meaningful life, taking control back from anxiety.

Depression looks different for different people. From high functioning to struggling to find joy or pleasure in everyday things. From negative self-talk and sleepless nights to difficulty focusing.

Your depression could be sparked by something you can identify, like a difficult loss, life transition, personal trauma or it could seemingly come out of the blue. If you are a person of color, the weight of generations of trauma and pain can spark grief, sorrow, and rage turned hopelessly inwards.

I can help you find the small steps needed to move toward a valued life, even if for now it doesn’t feel connected or meaningful. We want to create the possibility for a life worth living while witnessing, validating, and learning from emotional pain. We’ll work on reconnecting with yourself and finding ways to spark self-compassion.

Knowing who you are is not as simple as that - many have been adrift since childhood, especially children of immigrants caught between cultures and worlds. You may have felt steady and grounded in who you are, and then a big change happened. 

Whether it was planned or unplanned, wanted or unwanted, change is hard and can throw you off, especially if the change was rooted in who you believe you are. I can help you center in your sense of self as you navigate life transitions, such as graduation, job changes, job loss, relationship loss, getting married, getting divorced, becoming a parent, losing loved ones, and big moves. 

I'm especially interested in helping Asian Americans, multicultural people, and BIPOC folks navigate their relationship to themselves in the context of their cultures, communities, intergenerational trauma, and systemic oppression.