What I hope clients know about working with me is that therapy is something we build together. In our first few sessions, I want to understand what brings you to therapy, what has been happening in your life, and what you hope might be different. I also want you to get a sense of me and decide whether this feels like a space where you can be open and yourself. I don’t believe progress in therapy always looks like a straight line. Sometimes it means feeling better or getting through a difficult situation; other times, it means noticing a pattern you had never seen before, understanding yourself with a little more compassion, or making a different choice in a familiar situation. I may offer reflections, questions, or exercises to think about between sessions when they feel useful, but I don’t view therapy as a series of assignments to complete. I enjoy working with people who are curious about themselves and willing to explore what may be underneath the concerns that bring them to therapy. Whether you are navigating anxiety, relationships, life transitions, questions of identity, or simply feeling stuck, I hope to create a space where we can slow things down, make sense of what is happening, and work toward changes that feel meaningful to you.

I tend to work well with people who are curious about themselves and want to better understand what is going on beneath the surface. Many of the people I work with come in with a fairly simple goal: they want to feel better, have healthier relationships, feel less stuck, or make sense of something that has been difficult for them. Sometimes they know exactly what they want to work on; other times, they just know that something is not working and want to figure out why. I especially enjoy working with clients who are open to taking a closer look at their experiences and patterns, while also wanting to make meaningful changes in their everyday lives. For some, that may mean gaining more confidence or a stronger sense of direction. For others, it may simply mean feeling more at ease with themselves. Wherever they are starting from, I hope to help them better understand themselves and work toward a life that feels more like their own.

Growing up in China and later moving to the United States, I have had the experience of living between two different cultural worlds. Over time, I became more aware of how much our understanding of ourselves is shaped by the environments we grow up in—our families, culture, relationships, and the expectations around us. The same experience can carry very different meanings depending on the context. This has shaped the way I approach therapy. I try to stay curious about where a person’s beliefs and ways of relating come from, rather than assuming that there is one right way to live or understand oneself. My experience as a straight man has also shaped the way I think about identity and the expectations we carry. I grew up with many of the familiar messages about what it means to be a man—to be independent, strong, capable, and not always show vulnerability. I have come to recognize how these expectations can influence the way we relate to ourselves and to others, sometimes without us even realizing it. In the therapy room, this makes me interested in the space between who we are and who we have learned we are supposed to be. I want clients to have room to explore those expectations for themselves and decide what they want to keep, what they want to question, and what feels genuinely their own. Ultimately, these experiences have taught me to value curiosity, humility, and openness. My own experiences give me a perspective, but they do not tell me what another person’s experience should be. For me, cultural sensitivity means being willing to recognize what I may not understand, ask rather than assume, and let the client be the expert on their own experience.

I also believe that therapy is not always comfortable, and I don't think it should necessarily be. Sometimes, understanding ourselves means being willing to look at things that are difficult to sit with, or to question patterns that may have once served a purpose but are no longer working for us. Change can come with some growing pains. My role isn't to push someone into discomfort for its own sake, but to help create enough safety that we can approach those difficult places together, at a pace that feels manageable.