"Where is your fire? You got to find it and pass it on...The fire of living...The fire of loving...Catch your fire. Hold your fire. Learn your fire. Be the fire...Here is my hand. Catch the fire...and live."
~ Sonia Sanchez
Having an anxious tormented father and a self-sacrificing preoccupied mother molded me into a compassionate wounded healer at a very young age. In fact, I truly believe that psychology and psychotherapy chose me and not the other way around. Ever since my awkward middle school days, peers have sought me out for thoughtful advice, a non-judgmental ear, and a sensitive shoulder to cry on.
Since I have had the privilege of living in five different countries around the world, have worked in four, and visited twenty others, my nomadic lifestyle has helped me cultivate a multicultural, introspective, adaptive, open curious mind. A recurring theme throughout my life has been my liminality. I am caught in the space betwixt and in-between when it comes to my: biracial Filipinx-American identity, gender fluidity, sexual fluidity, multicultural Third Culture Kid reality, ambiversion, differing socioeconomic experiences, and fluctuating body size (just to name a few).
By constantly trying to negotiate a balance between socially regarded 'opposites,' I have grown to accept, honor, and welcome the knowledge that comes with the pain I have experienced due to my unique positionality. My liminal experience has allowed me to appreciate the struggles of those around me from all different walks of life and varying social locations. Also, dealing with everything that I have been through in my own life not only gives me special insight into human suffering, it allows me to genuinely connect with others on a deep empathic level.
I have, direct as well as indirect, personal and professional experience with developmental trauma, race-based trauma, gender-based violence & trauma, complex trauma, social anxiety, shyness, high sensitivity, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, chronic anxiety, major depression, substance use, codependency/confluence, body shame, asexuality, sex & love addiction, narcissism, borderline personality phenomena, and sexual disruption.
I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of California Davis with a minor in Women & Gender Studies (with a concentration in Sexuality Studies).
I graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology. I began my Gestalt training, completed my practicum, and finished a 1 year associateship at the Church Street Integral Counseling Center. I worked as an Elementary and Middle School counselor in Los Altos Hills for 2 years. Currently, I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (MFC #123554) at the Bay Area Gestalt Institute in San Francisco with offices in Berkeley and San Francisco. I am incredibly honored and grateful to be a Managing Partner at the Kensho Center for Multicultural Psychotherapy & Holistic Healing as well as the Clinic Manager of the Church Street Integral Counseling Center.
I co-facilitate an ongoing 10-week Social Anxiety, Shyness, & Sensitivity Group with a dear friend and fellow Gestaltist at the Bay Area Gestalt Institute.
I identify as a queer, genderfluid, pan, kinky, fattie, radical, witchy warrior womxn of color.
In my spare time, I enjoy learning about/trying new things, reading feminist graphic novels, collecting art toys, making up new words, diving deep, connecting through laughter and tears, meditating, chanting, collaging, traveling to tropical locations, dancing for hours and hours, belting out songs while driving in my escape pod, swimming in the ocean, spinning, visiting bizarre sea creatures at aquariums, watching psychological thrillers, hanging out with my partner and our two torties (Loki and Friggie), as well as eating yummy food and bonding with friends, family, and loved ones.
**Photo by Bonnie Rae Mills Photography**
Since I have had the privilege of living in five different countries around the world, have worked in four, and visited twenty others, my nomadic lifestyle has helped me cultivate a multicultural, introspective, adaptive, open curious mind. A recurring theme throughout my life has been my liminality. I am caught in the space betwixt and in-between when it comes to my: biracial Filipinx-American identity, gender fluidity, sexual fluidity, multicultural Third Culture Kid reality, ambiversion, differing socioeconomic experiences, and fluctuating body size (just to name a few).
By constantly trying to negotiate a balance between socially regarded 'opposites,' I have grown to accept, honor, and welcome the knowledge that comes with the pain I have experienced due to my unique positionality. My liminal experience has allowed me to appreciate the struggles of those around me from all different walks of life and varying social locations. Also, dealing with everything that I have been through in my own life not only gives me special insight into human suffering, it allows me to genuinely connect with others on a deep empathic level.
I have, direct as well as indirect, personal and professional experience with developmental trauma, race-based trauma, gender-based violence & trauma, complex trauma, social anxiety, shyness, high sensitivity, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, chronic anxiety, major depression, substance use, codependency/confluence, body shame, asexuality, sex & love addiction, narcissism, borderline personality phenomena, and sexual disruption.
I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of California Davis with a minor in Women & Gender Studies (with a concentration in Sexuality Studies).
I graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology. I began my Gestalt training, completed my practicum, and finished a 1 year associateship at the Church Street Integral Counseling Center. I worked as an Elementary and Middle School counselor in Los Altos Hills for 2 years. Currently, I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (MFC #123554) at the Bay Area Gestalt Institute in San Francisco with offices in Berkeley and San Francisco. I am incredibly honored and grateful to be a Managing Partner at the Kensho Center for Multicultural Psychotherapy & Holistic Healing as well as the Clinic Manager of the Church Street Integral Counseling Center.
I co-facilitate an ongoing 10-week Social Anxiety, Shyness, & Sensitivity Group with a dear friend and fellow Gestaltist at the Bay Area Gestalt Institute.
I identify as a queer, genderfluid, pan, kinky, fattie, radical, witchy warrior womxn of color.
In my spare time, I enjoy learning about/trying new things, reading feminist graphic novels, collecting art toys, making up new words, diving deep, connecting through laughter and tears, meditating, chanting, collaging, traveling to tropical locations, dancing for hours and hours, belting out songs while driving in my escape pod, swimming in the ocean, spinning, visiting bizarre sea creatures at aquariums, watching psychological thrillers, hanging out with my partner and our two torties (Loki and Friggie), as well as eating yummy food and bonding with friends, family, and loved ones.
**Photo by Bonnie Rae Mills Photography**