IFS Therapy for AAPI & BIPOC
I help AAPI & BIPOC clients navigate the complex process of embracing the heirlooms of their culture that they want to preserve and releasing the burdens they no longer want to carry, all while learning how to be authentically themselves.
The type of work we might do together:
These are just a few examples of some topics that my AAPI & BIPOC clients often bring into our work together. I don’t expect these experiences to resonate with every client; my priority is listening to your story and meeting you exactly as you are.
✤ Navigating conflicting cultural expectations, pressures, and values — “I feel stuck between what I want to do and what my family thinks I should be doing”
✤ Processing racial trauma and the impact of racialized identity on work, community, and personhood
✤ Deepening understanding of intergenerational trauma and patterns, and learning how to not pass them on
It can feel like a big sigh of relief when you are finally working with a therapist who gets your experience.
This is often mentioned when I’m connecting with Asian clients, children of immigrants, or people working in fields where representation is lacking. However, I don’t assume that because I share an identity with you that I can know your experience completely. We all have intersectional identities and levels of privilege that create unique positions with which we move in the world.
Whether we share identities and experiences or not, I am committed to meeting you from a place of humility, curiosity, and intentionality. Far too many people are turned off from therapy because of a therapist’s microaggressions (sometimes macro) or harmful assumptions. This, on top of the huge stigma around therapy often present in AAPI & BIPOC communities, can create a narrative that “Therapy isn’t for people like me.”
That could not be farther from the truth.