Our Philosophy in Counseling

Benefits of Counseling

At times you don’t feel like yourself, and it’s affecting your sleep, your health, and your peace of mind. You hope and pray that your stress issues will lighten up. But, unfortunately, nothing changes on its own. You are not alone. There’s hope!

With each counseling conversation, you will be able to better understand what works and what doesn’t work, eliminate the negative thought pattern that gets you stuck, and find strategies to resolve your problems. Nobody’s life is completely worry-free, but your concerns can be manageable and they don’t have to control your whole life. Your life may seem complicated and you may feel badly now…Things can get better.

You don’t need to do this alone

Research have shown that psychotherapy can help many people. Many of my clients report relief from stress, depression, anxiety, and relationship issues…as well as finding a greater sense of peace and happiness. While some people may well be able to handle this alone, I believe that having an unbiased third party—who only cares about you—can make the process easier and sometimes faster. With support, encouragement, and tools that counseling provides, you are more likely to engage in the healing process and the pace of growth is greatly accelerated.

We believe there’s strength within us

We never think anxiety and depression are flaws. You might call them your “imperfection” but we call them “outdated coping strategies” that no longer fit your situation now. We see gems in those “imperfections” and we focus on your strengths as building blocks for problem solving and future success.

We use both science and common sense

Our approach to well-being and psychological health is influenced by almost a decade of experience applying science and best practices in community mental health.  Our practice is “empirical-based”, it just basically means we use scientifically proven therapy tools that works.  At the same time, we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all approach and solution. Together we will find strategies to help you tackle life problems that works for you.

We take a whole-person approach

The mind and body are in-sync with each other. Drawing from our experience in community mental health, we understand that physical health is very essential to anxiety and depression treatment. Sometimes underlying health concerns or hormonal imbalance can affect our mood and outlook on life. We can work with your endocrinologists, psychiatrists, family doctors, yoga/meditation practitioners to find ways to help you achieve optimal physical health as well as mental health.

It’s not all talk

Sometimes words can’t describe how we feel and the best way to express feelings is by non-verbal yet creative means. We can use various modalities from art to hypnotherapy to help clients process their emotions indirectly.

Our priority is to make you feel at ease in our therapy sessions

The moment you walk into the Women’s Therapy Institute, you’ll know you’re in a safe, secure and supportive environment. You should feel right at home.

Our responsibility is to tune in to your needs and feelings…and make sure you do the same. That makes it easier for you to express yourself and work on your own problems and concerns. We will be right at your side, sympathetic, compassionate, and helpful…while you heal and make the changes that you want.

You will have nothing less than our full attention

We strive to make things easy to understand and never to talk down to you with jargons and vocabularies. Women we have worked with have told me that we have a calming influence and that it’s easy to talk with me.

We focus on YOU in each therapy session…to hear your story, discuss what has and hasn’t worked in the past, offer education about your issues, and help you develop and practice new and healthy ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Our Style

While we have been influenced and tap into by many therapy approaches, there are three that I primarily use:

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  • Strategic Intervention (SI)

All of the approach we use help guide you in process difficult emotions/events in a meaningful way. We will deal with what is relevant to you and your problems in the here and now, and only when you want to.

Have a little fun while you’re at it

Of course, therapy is serious. But, we don’t believe in gloom-and-doom. I am upbeat and often use a little humor in therapy. People have long said that laughter is the best medicine, and we know now of its many positive physiological effects. Laughter is known to reduce pain, reduce stress, increase our body’s resistance to disease and improve the function of blood vessels and increase blood flow, which can help protect us against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems. It’s all good, right?

Same goes with counseling; a little laughter eases the tension and sometimes allow us to see our situations from another vantage point. Counseling should be fun, inspiring and uplifting.

Client’s Role

Therapy works best when you are committed to wanting a better life and be willing to work towards getting it. The deeper the problem, often the more work required in order to change it…but also the deeper the rewards will be.

It is important to be open for you to gain insight into your role in your situation and learn to take charge of the changes you want. We’ll work together to find a solution that works for you, so you can feel better and move towards to the place where you want to be in and where you feel true joy.

Having a great life on your own terms is no mystery. Allow me to show you how.

Call the Women’s Therapy Institute at (650) 272 – 0388 or

Schedule A Free Consultation