I received my Bachelor’s Degree In Psychology from the University of British Colombia and went on to pursue a master’s degree in couples and family therapy from the University of Hong Kong. For years I conducted research in family therapy, specifically, on the physiological response and trauma behaviors of children to family and couples conflict. The pursuit further opened my eyes to the confluence of sociopolitical and cultural stressors manifesting as psychopathology within the family microcosm, a powerful awareness that mirrored my personal experience and the suffering of loved ones, but that was rarely recognized nor talked about by mainstream educators and health service providers. I needed more clarity and pursued my master’s and doctoral training in clinical and counseling psychology at Columbia University in New York City.

The richness and multiculturalism of NYC provided invaluable opportunities to be mentored in a vast array of modalities to serve the complex needs of diverse populations. I embrace an integrative approach (i.e. psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness, interpersonal neurobiology, relational cultural therapy, feminist therapy, group therapy, and social justice perspectives) to address multilayered mental health concerns and the systemic issues from which the problems are embedded. I also value conversations that draw on collective wisdom, and ancestral knowledge, and promote dynamic cultural exchange to meet the ever-changing opportunities in our increasingly multicultural society. I was further led to opportunities to collaborate with marginalized communities to address issues central to their unique definitions of mental health. Over time, I was steered toward spaces of higher risk and acute symptomatology ranging from under-resourced and under-funded community outpatient care for clients with persistent mental illness, to inpatient and long-term state mental hospitals, to the mental observation units serving incarcerated men at Rikers Island Correctional Facility. Treatment, prevention, and advocacy with community members with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, developmental disability, and addiction intersecting with poverty, homelessness, unemployment, racial, class, gender, and sexual discrimination, community and gun violence, trauma, suicide, social justice reform, and crisis management became a part of my daily repertoire. It was a time when I met many formidable and resilient survivors, unsung community heroes, and civil rights advocates, all of whom I was lucky to work alongside.