About

Growing up, I often felt out of place.

As a half-Chinese, half-white kid in primarily white settings, I looked different from many of my peers, and I didn’t quite fit in with either side of my family.

My family struggled with mental illness, and this made everyday life challenging. As an only child, I coped by reading books and diving into learning. I also had the good fortune to meet several caring adults who served as positive, nurturing role models. They accepted me for who I was and encouraged me to follow my interests, including foreign languages, travel, dance, and writing.

One of these adult mentors was a psychotherapist named Carol. I took care of her cat, Freud, when she traveled to far-off places like Thailand and Machu Picchu, and I also lived with her for a time during high school while my parents were going through a divorce.

What drives me as a therapist?

I am inquisitive and love helping people make connections to understand themselves better and see things in new ways. As a result of my multicultural background, I’m interested in cultural identity and how this impacts our self-perception and how we relate to the world.

It’s important to me that you can succeed in your personal, professional, and financial goals, so I’m interested in topics such as habit formation, and I practice leadership coaching.

At the core, I believe we’re happiest when we can freely express ourselves and speak our truth, even if it means disappointing some people. Ultimately, this is what drives me to do the work I do. I feel so strongly about this that I’ve even written a book on the topic.

My professional background.

I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and German from Bowdoin College and a Master of Social Work from Boston College. Before opening my private practice, I worked in various psychiatric settings, including McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA.

In treatment, I utilize a variety of interventions and approaches, including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). As a clinical social worker, I have a systems-oriented approach.

In addition to being a psychotherapist, I’m an ICF-credentialed coach working with corporate professionals and entrepreneurs on their careers, businesses, and lives. All of this is to say that I have an eclectic approach and use my intuition to integrate them.

When I’m out of the office.

I live in Rochester, Minnesota, with my partner, two kids (a tween and a teen), our labradoodle, Charlie, and two cats, Lavender and Bleu.

Loves include strong coffee, indoor house plants, novels, nonfiction books, visiting historical mansions and oceans (I’ll take lakes and rivers, too), being active, and Pilates Reformer.

I’ve recently developed a summer addiction to gardening. To my kids’ dismay, I love to name some of our plants, including a Crabtree named Mabel and a purple-flowering Clematis that I’ve christened Cherokee Velvet.