I am a licensed clinician who is passionate about mental health and driven to design, supervise and deliver high-quality mental health programs. As a clinician, I am passionate about forming  therapeutic relationships and continuously look for opportunities to consult, educate and collaborate. Growing up in Singapore, my introduction into mental health and the helping industry was formed in my youth, as the middle child of five siblings and a twin gave me early insight into others’ behaviors. In the Southeast Asian culture, emotions were not a topic for a discussion nor expressed or understood. For example, the colloquial jargon used to describe anyone that is not “normal” is closely understood to be “crazy” and, there is not even a word in Mandarin for mental health. 

I was always interested in psychology and, maybe because of the stigma, was curious about  human interactions and dynamics. When I was in secondary school in Singapore, two of my peers died by suicide because of the intense pressure to be successful and the lack of healthy supports and access to mental health. At the time, no one spoke about these incidents and I did not know how to make any sense of them. 

At 16 my family moved to the US and settled in Houston where I had the opportunity to study Psychology and earned my bachelor's at University of Houston-Downtown and my master's at University of Houston where I learned a lot about myself. Being published as an undergraduate student affirmed my commitment towards using evidence-based best-practice interventions in psychology. 

I have always connected with people, trying to understand their needs and what makes them tick, and have challenged myself to work in multiple environments to get a broad spectrum of experience. I interned and got my first clinical position at The Women’s Home, worked as a therapist in a residential substance use disorder facility, then in eating disorder partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient. I spent some time in California overseeing various community mental health programs in the Inland Empire and then came back to Houston to work as the Clinical Director of an inpatient psychiatric hospital.

I continuously pursue education and my interests include working with adults and adolescents, struggling with mental illnesses such as affective disorders and dependencies – like addiction and eating disorders– with the use of evidence-based best-practice modalities such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), and many others. My approach to clinical care is individualized, innovative, and strengths-based with a focus on intentional and meaningful treatment planning that includes Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI).

I enjoy working with people who know something is not working well in their lives but who are not sure how to make changes. I practice from a space of non-judgmental curiosity and am passionate about helping people tap into who they are meant to be using different modalities, especially those that support individuals in connecting to their own strengths and intuition. My values and worldview are shaped by multiculturalism. I learned early on that mental health is not about what you learn in a textbook. People inform us about what makes them different and what motivates them to make meaningful changes. With my background as an immigrant, I am deeply aware of the stigmatism attached to mental health disorders. In my own journey I have experience as an outsider looking in and have had to overcome assimilation barriers and acculturate. This allows me to have a high sensitivity for individual differences and I speak English, Mandarin, Spanish, and Cantonese - I truly believe that different mental health disorders have their own languages.

In essence, I love applying processes and finding solutions and to improve access to healthcare as much as I love helping my clients find a path towards recovery & wellness through the lens of empathic client-centered intuitive changes. On a more personal note, I am married with two rambunctious fur babies. I am a soccer fan and I enjoy cooking and homemaking. 

"Recovery is a process and not an event." I would be honored to join you in your journey of recovery.