About Karen, Therapist in San Francisco
I’m a first-generation Asian therapist in San Francisco with a deep affinity for serving Asian, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ teens and adults, and for intercultural and inter-racial couples navigating power differentials and cultural differences.
My perspectives on therapy were shaped by experiences of migrations and acculturation across continents, classes, and disciplines. Prior to training in psychology, I worked as an academic in STEM in Canada, the USA, and Denmark. Originally from British Hong Kong, I have a double consciousness of cultural differences between East and West, and I bring to therapy cultural humility and curiosity about the impact of history, ancestry, race, class, and gender on your lived experience.
I work primarily from a psychoanalytic and liberation psychology lens, which means I listen deeply - to both conscious and unconscious communications, attune to your social and historical contexts, and uplift the marginalized or silenced parts of you. Together, we’ll explore the root causes and layered meanings of your symptoms, towards creating the life and relationships you truly desire.
Orientations I draw from: Decolonial, Fanonian, Gestalt, Hakomi, Liberation, Nondual, Psychoanalytic, Relational, Somatic
“The clinician is as much a link between the collective and the individual as much as between the unconscious and conscious.”
— Caesar Hakim, as quoted in Psychoanalysis Under Occupation, Practicing Resistance in Palestine
Professional Background:
I’m a Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (AMFT #156535) with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. I have an MA in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, which weaves in Western depth- and behavioral- oriented therapies with Eastern, Buddhist-inspired, and somatic practices.
Workshops and Trainings to further my professional development include:
San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis Seminars on Neurodivergent and Transgender Psychoanalysis
Conferences and seminars in social and radical psychoanalysis with the Psychosocial Foundation, Red Clinic, APA Division 39, and The Asian American Center for Psychoanalysis
ISAPZurich Conferences on Jungian Psychology in Dialogue with Buddhism and Embodied Jung
Decolonial psychology courses with Bayo Akomolafe and ongoing decolonial consultation group
Trauma Recovery with Linda Thai and Internal Family Systems Model for Trauma with Richard Schwartz
Emotionally Focussed Couples Therapy with David Goldman