New to Grow
I’ve spent much of my life trying to fit into boxes that were never built for me. As a first-generation Filipina-American, I know the bone-deep exhaustion of trying to be everything to everyone—the "perfect" daughter, the "reliable" professional, the "good" Christian. I know what it’s like to negotiate between two worlds, hoping that if I just performed well enough, I would finally feel like I belonged. But I’ve learned that life isn't a straight line, and your identity isn't a project to be finished. My own faith is the ground I stand on, yet I know how painful it is when your Christian faith gets tangled up in cultural pressures or church systems that leave you feeling displaced and unseen. If you are tired of masking your neurodivergent heart or rebuilding your reality after the fog of narcissistic abuse, I want you to know: you don't have to "fit" here. In our sessions, the performance ends. I’m not here to "fix" you, because I don’t believe you are broken; I believe you are a person of inherent, God-given dignity who is simply tired of carrying weights that weren't yours to bear. My role is to offer you a warm, steady space to look at the architecture of your life—to honor the parts of your culture and faith that give you life, and to gently let go of the expectations that no longer serve your soul. Here, you don't have to be a machine. You just have to be you. When I’m not in the therapy room, I’m hosting the Sincere Practice Podcast, where we continue the conversation about what it means to live a life that is honest, creative, and fully inhabited.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
The first time we meet is about finding our footing. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, we’ll take a breath and look at the big picture of your life. We will talk about your history—your family, your culture, and your work—to understand the hidden weights you’ve been carrying. Whether you are dealing with church hurt, a creative block, or the exhaustion of navigating a neurodivergent world, this hour is for us to map out where you are and where you want to go. You won’t leave with all the answers, but you will leave with a clear plan and the relief of knowing you don’t have to figure it out by yourself anymore.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
Being a first-generation Filipina American has taught me that no one exists in a vacuum. I look at your world through a wide lens, not just to see who you are, but to see the architecture of the world that built the room you’re standing in. When you come to me with a creative block, a sense of spiritual displacement, or the bone-deep fatigue of neurodivergent masking, I don’t see glitches to be fixed. I see them as trailheads—urgent signals from a deeper story that is finally asking to be told. While traditional therapy often tries to quiet the alarm, my work is to help you understand why the alarm was triggered in the first place. My method is inherently contextual. We examine your internal blueprints together: the cultural expectations you’ve inherited, the spiritual narratives you’re untangling, and the unique way your specific brain processes reality. We aren't just looking for a reduction in symptoms or a return to "productivity." We are looking for alignment. The success of our work is found when you stop performing your life and start actually inhabiting it—moving from a state of survival into a life of genuine self-sovereignty and creative flourishing.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I am best positioned to serve those who feel like they are living a life designed by someone else. My ideal clients are often first-generation individuals, creators, and neurodivergent thinkers who find themselves at a breaking point with "the performance." You may be carrying the unspoken weight of inherited family expectations or the quiet shame of a brain that refuses to follow the standard rulebook. You are likely asking yourself questions like, "Who am I if I’m not being productive?" or "Is there a way to hold onto my faith without staying in a place that hurts me?" You are probably looking to untangle relationships built on duty rather than desire, or processing the disorientation of a toxic partnership where your reality was constantly edited by someone else. You’ve likely spent years "masking" your ADHD or your true feelings to keep the peace, and now you’re left wondering if anyone actually knows the real you. I work with people who are ready to stop being the "reliable one" at the expense of their own soul and want to move from a state of survival into a life of genuine self-sovereignty. If you are tired of the internal "is it just me?" loop and are ready to look at the architecture of your life with honesty, we will be a good fit.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
My specialization in culturally sensitive therapy is driven by a deep commitment to acknowledging and integrating the diverse backgrounds, values, and experiences of each individual into the therapeutic process. I recognize that culture profoundly shapes mental health, coping mechanisms, and treatment expectations. By adopting a culturally sensitive approach, I ensure that therapy is not only respectful and affirming of a client's identity—including race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation—but also maximally effective. My goal is to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model, co-creating a healing space where clients feel truly seen, understood, and validated in the context of their unique cultural framework.
Attachment-based
Attachment-Based Treatment (ABT) serves as a cornerstone of my therapeutic practice, providing a robust framework for understanding and addressing deep-seated emotional and relational patterns. By focusing on the client's internal working models—the unconscious blueprints of relationships formed in early life—ABT helps to illuminate how past attachment experiences influence present-day relational distress and emotional regulation.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS (Internal Family Systems) is integrated into my practice to gently guide clients toward recognizing and understanding their psyche as comprised of various "parts"—each with positive intent. This model allows clients to differentiate from extreme or burdened parts, accessing the core Self, which is inherently compassionate, calm, and clear. By operating from the Self, clients can heal wounded parts (Exiles) and harmonize protective parts (Managers and Firefighters). The primary therapeutic goal is to foster internal cohesion, self-leadership, and self-compassion, transforming internal conflict into collaboration. Ultimately, IFS empowers clients to establish a secure, compassionate relationship with their whole internal system, leading to sustainable emotional regulation and authentic self-expression in the world.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based approach centered on developing psychological flexibility by changing a client's relationship with difficult internal experiences. My practice integrates ACT's six core processes—Acceptance, Defusion, Being Present, Self-as-Context, Values, and Committed Action—to help clients navigate struggles while pursuing a rich life. A foundational element is clarifying personal values, which serve as a compass for setting goals and taking value-consistent actions. Ultimately, ACT moves beyond symptom reduction to increase resilience, reduce emotional suffering, and enable clients to actively build a life of meaning. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a practical, science-backed approach that helps you stop fighting difficult thoughts and feelings. Instead, we work on changing how you react to them, building "psychological flexibility." In my practice, I use ACT's core tools to help you navigate life's struggles while actively building a rich, meaningful life. A key part of this is figuring out what truly matters to you (your personal values). These values act as your inner compass, guiding you to set goals and take actions that align with the life you want to live. Ultimately, ACT is about more than just reducing symptoms; it's about increasing your resilience, reducing emotional pain, and empowering you to actively create a life full of purpose.
Christian Counseling
My approach to Christian Counseling is not about offering rigid rules or easy answers; it is about creating a sacred space where your faith and your humanity can finally breathe together. For many, especially those navigating first-generation cultural pressures or the exhaustion of "church hurt," faith has often become entangled with high-stakes expectations and performance. My own faith is the ground I stand on—it is the source of my belief in your inherent, God-given dignity—but I lead with a wide, compassionate lens that honors the complexity of your journey. I view our work as an integration of psychological insight and spiritual depth. We won't ignore the parts of your story that feel "messy" or the questions that feel "un-Christian." Instead, we look at the architecture of your beliefs to distinguish between the life-giving heart of your faith and the systemic or cultural burdens that have weighed you down. Whether you are deconstructing old narratives, untangling your identity from narcissistic religious systems, or simply trying to find a version of faith that feels like home, my goal is to help you move toward a relationship with God that celebrates your true, creative, and neurodivergent self—one where you are no longer performing for grace, but living from it.