New to Grow
I am a bilingual and bicultural Vietnamese American Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I am an immigrant who have lived, studied and worked in the US since 2003. I have practiced mental health counseling since 2010. I am married and have a grown daughter who has "flown away and be free." Outside of work, I love going fishing whenever I can and taking long walks daily.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
The first session is for both you and I to get to know each other, and to see if we are a good fit to embark on a journey of healing and growing. I often tell my client that therapy is a very intimate relationship; therefore, finding a therapist that is a good fit for you might take time and patience, very much similar to dating experience.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
This is your journey, and you will take the lead on WHAT goals you want to accomplish. I will assist you in HOW to achieve those goals by providing helpful tools, coaching, and emotional support. We will start where you are, and progress at your pace. It is absolutely necessary to take breaks and celebrate success. My approach to therapy is an eclectic approach that centers around you, my client. Based on your strengths and potential, we will tailor a treatment plan specifically for you to cope with life challenges and to achieve your goals. I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and OCD treatment provider.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
My clients come from all walks of life who bring with them cultures, religions, sexual orientation, etc., as diverse as the real world we are living in.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I strongly believe in both accepting who we are and where we are at, as well as committing to improving and bettering ourselves.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
This is the bedrock for change. How we think / perceive ourselves and the world affect how we feel and interact with others.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I have found that ongoing suffering is from our difficulties in radical acceptance, emotional regulation and distress tolerance. DBT has many skills to address these difficulties.
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
This is the gold standard treatment for OCD. My clients have achieved sustained relief from OCD working with me using this modality. To start, I will ask you to list out all your obsessions and all your compulsions. Then I will ask you to rank your obsessions and accompanying compulsions from the easiest for you to not engage in compulsion to the most difficult one. We will use this hierarchy to work up your ability to refrain from doing the compulsions and break the OCD cycles.
Experiential Therapy
I will do in-session small exercise WITH you, depending on your symptoms and issues. And I will assign homework accordingly.