My Story

My journey to becoming a psychotherapist is deeply rooted in my own early experiences of displacement, attachment, and the search for belonging. Born to migrant parents in a Chinese city far from their roots, I spent my childhood navigating the margins of a community. The experience of constantly adapting to new cultural norms as an outsider became the foundation of my cross-cultural empathy today. Growing up in a non-traditional family structure and semi-foster care environment, I learned early on that biology is not the only prerequisite for deep attachment and love. This complex family dynamic gifted me with an intuitive ability to read emotional landscapes, quickly adapt to shifting cultural norms, and deeply understand others' unspoken needs. What were once my childhood survival skills have now blossomed into my core clinical strengths. Through these formative years and life’s unpredictable transitions, my Christian faith became the cornerstone of my resilience, anchoring me and ultimately guiding my calling to walk alongside others in their pain.

Before diving into clinical social work, my academic roots began with philosophical and religious studies in Beijing, which gifted me with a profound capacity to sit with life's existential questions. Later, as an international student navigating the U.S. academic and professional landscape, I pursued an M.A. in Health Communication in Indiana. This experience taught me how powerful language and narratives are in shaping our psychological well-being. Whether working as a journalist capturing human stories, a copywriter crafting messages, or a medical interpreter bridging language gaps in vulnerable moments, I realized my true calling was in social work, where I could move beyond observing pain to actively facilitating deep healing.

My transition from an international student to a licensed practitioner in the U.S. felt, in many ways, like a continuation of my childhood migration. I intimately understand the acculturative stress, the identity fragmentation, and the silent survival anxiety that many immigrants face. Because of this, my therapy room is a space where you never have to justify your lived experiences. My philosophy is simple: healing happens when you are fully seen, safely held, and unapologetically yourself.