Luca J. Chang
Hi, I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Oakland and online throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California. In my practice, I work with high-achieving, people-pleasing, and over-functioning adults who identify as LGBTQ+, trans, genderfluid & nonbinary, and/or children of immigrants. As an integrative therapist, I use a comprehensive mind-body approach that allows you to feel safe enough to let go of fear and control. You’ll learn to liberate yourself from self-abandonment and trust your inherent intuition for guidance. Whether we’re meeting in person in Oakland or connecting through online therapy across the SF Bay Area & California, you can expect a space where you’re invited to return, over and over again, back to yourself.
First session
In our first session, we'll explore the concerns that feel most pressing for you in order to determine what we need to prioritize. We'll get a better sense of how we fit and collaborate on a plan that aligns with your goals.
Strengths
My strengths as a queer, trans, mixed race therapist come from my ability to view your suffering in context. I honor the wisdom and brilliance of learning how to survive emotionally neglectful and oppressive environments. I am not afraid to sit with the parts of you that are on their less-than-ideal behavior, and witness your earnest and honest attempts to protect wounds that never got to heal. My work is not about quick fixes, but about transforming insight into lasting change.
Ideal clients
I enjoy working with people who are curious to learn more about their thoughts, feelings, and patterns. They don’t just want to bring more awareness to their inner world; they want to understand themselves with genuine compassion and build trust with their intuitive selves so that they can make choices from a place of love instead of fear. The clients I work best with know that relief from suffering doesn’t come from quick fixes. Healing on a deeper level asks us to be courageous enough to look honestly and earnestly at what’s beneath our behaviors and patterns, and to surrender to who we can become when we let go of what’s no longer working. The answers may not be clear and the path may have some stumbles, but my clients are willing to rise to the task of meeting themselves—strengths, imperfections, and all—more openly and fully. I love being with them along the way.
Treatment methods
Attachment-based
We explore your early childhood relationships to understand how you learned to feel safe and connected, as well as what it was like for you to experience disconnection and emotional pain. As adults, we tend to repeat relationship patterns in our close relationships, whether that be romantic or otherwise. With an attachment-based approach, I can help you move out of unhelpful patterns, re-align your behaviors with your values, and heal attachment wounds, freeing you up to build the mutually supportive, meaningful relationships you want in your life.
Gender-affirming therapy
I have extensive experience working with people exploring their gender identities, or navigating existing identities as they relate to other parts of life, such as romantic relationships, family, work, friendships, and school. I support with clarifying your feelings, normalizing fears and concerns, and soothing discomfort that may occur in the process of exploring gender. As an openly queer and trans-identifying therapist in Oakland, I offer a compassionate, playful, and expansive healing space to deepen the authentic connection with your gender identity and lived experiences shaped by gender.
Psychodynamic
Relational psychodynamic therapy focuses on returning to our past to gain insight into our present feelings and relationships. In addition to exploring early childhood experiences and relationships, this approach considers how the therapy relationship can activate our attachment system. The therapy relationship becomes an opportunity to safely practice being vulnerable, and to notice how we relate to each other, including what allows our connection to flow and get stuck.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a non-pathologizing, empowering approach to understanding the different parts that make up who we are and how we feel and act. With IFS, you learn to notice the parts of you that are trying to get your attention. These might be parts that are afraid to feel your emotions, surrender control, and set appropriate boundaries. Learning to be with those parts of you creates greater internal harmony and balance.
Somatic
When we rush through life because of anxiety or overwhelm, we often miss important cues from our body to slow down and take care of ourselves in the ways we need. Somatic therapy is a way to slowly focus attention to the here and now, moment by moment experiences of our bodies and feelings. This approach includes relaxation techniques, guided visualizations, and breath work.
Location
Virtual sessions
In-person sessions445 Bellevue Ave, Oakland, CA 94610