Family Therapy

I am here to help interracial families in the Bay Area to improve the quality of their relationships through:

  • Improving listening skills (e.g., non judgmentally, no interruptions, and reflective listening)
  • Exploring how culture affects each member’s worldview (e.g., culture in home country, influence from the family of origin, generational differences, expectations, roles, etc.)
  • Exploring the difficulty around acculturation to the dominant American culture (e.g., discrimination, immigration challenges, linguistic challenges, independence vs obedience, familial influence over choosing majors, occupations, or marriage, etc.)
  • Creating more joyful encounters among family members
  • Teaching how to express needs in a way these will be met
  • Teaching how to negotiate better among family members
  • Facilitating the healing process between family members through apologies and forgiveness
  • Guiding clients in healing from traumatic experiences and/or managing illnesses

( I work well with families who have young adults of college age or older.)

The main reason why I decided to focus my family therapy practice on interracial families was because family therapy without cultural understanding seems to be less effective. Interracial or intercultural families have unique aspects that require unique ways of healing and a different therapeutic approach. I consciously practice multiculturalism.  Besides educating myself on different cultures, my focus is on learning about your life, culture, values and worldview through your lens.  It is very precious to hear that my clients felt that I understood them.  It’s my joy to see that my therapy alleviates stress and brings smiles to the family.

I will hold a safe space where each person can feel comfortable to share and to hear something difficult.  I will keep the conversation slow, check in frequently to ensure accurate understanding, and offer different tools, so that family therapy would not be overwhelming.

My family therapy focuses on the here and now, with very limited time spent on childhood or upbringing, unless the family requests so. 

It has been impactful to end each session by making a fun activity plan together with the family for the upcoming week.  In the following session, we review collaboratively how the activity went. Over time, families have reported that they spent more time on positive encounters rather than being in distress via this method.

I look forward to working with your family.