I am a woman, an immigrant, a person of color and mixed heritage, a "survivor", and am advocate. I was born and raised in a multi-ethnic household in Japan; and had also lived in Brazil and Thailand by the age of seven. Although I did not understand this at the time, my immigrant mother suffered from untreated complex trauma and mostly self-medicated with alcohol, disordered eating and I grew up witnessing my own mother's mental health deteriorating. These early experiences with various languages, perspectives, and cultures, as well as with the stigma and discrimination leveled against people of mixed heritage and those suffering from mental illness in Japan at the time, created in me a deep curiosity about diverse human identities, and a passion for how these could create path toward inclusion and healing for all.
Following this passion, I left Japan at the age of 18 to pursue higher education in Southern California, which I had learned as a Mecca of tolerance for diversity and nurodivergence. While studying there was an enriching and crucially formative experience with many positives, I of course also discovered Southern California was home to its own complex set of stigmas-stigmas grounded in cultural ignorance that oversimplified my identity to the point that it was no longer meaningful, even to educators and those who were guiding me and help me succeed. Leaving my home country at such a young age to move to the US, followed by a series of struggles and challenges that I had to overcome because of adaptation, acculturation issues will always be a part of my story and journey. As a young international student at UCLA, I sought psychotherapy in order to explore my past and identity which transformed my life to this date. If you are looking for a therapist who has lived experiences or such and someone that really gets you, you can schedule a free 15 miutes consultation to see if I would be your good fit.
During my intern years and pre-licensure career: I have had the previlede of working with diverse populations and in a wide variety of settings. I interrned at the San Diego LGBT Center, where I learned a great deal about strengths, perseeverance and challenges facing persons with complex minority identities. I have also served persons suffering from severe mental illnesses in an in-home case management role, those experiencing substance dependency at a methadone clinic, and a large number of clients and families experiencing low socio-economic status working for a large college campus, community mental health organization, and virtual mental health clinic. Through these experiences I have learned that the thrapy process can be both painful AND transformative; and I have both observed and experienced countless transformations. I am truly in awe of those that I've had the pleasure to walk alongside; and witnessing such human resilience has helped me understand and integrate my own identity; and instilled in me a renewed sense of hope. These have been the most rewarding aspects of my career.
My wish is to spread this sense of hope in each client through out work together, and I beliebe that only through a combination of empirically proven treatment and a safe, nurturing space in whicj the client cam feel empowered so that everyone has the opportunity they deserve to explore and reclaim their identities.
"We are not just what happened to us"
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