Hi, I’m Canh (he/him).

You’re seeking a direct therapist who will challenge and interrupt you, so you don’t vent the entire session.

You’re seeking an active therapist who will talk with you in session like a real human being. I curse and laugh.

You’re seeking somatic therapy to embody the changes you want because you’ve been living in your head.

Your past wounds are causing you conflict in the present and you want to dive deep into your issues so you can have long lasting and transformational change.

You struggle in intimate relationships, being vulnerable, feeling good enough, with overwhelming emotions and/or negative thoughts, and the exhaustion of overthinking.

You find it easier to take care of others, but at the expense of your own needs and ultimately feel depleted and burned out.

You’re here because you’ve been dealing with the same issues for years, tried solving these problems on your own, and realize you need help.

You’re looking for long term solutions to long term issues.

While there are no quick fixes or solutions for long standing issues, there is hope.

Since 2018, I’ve helped hundreds of individuals and couples impacted by trauma, grief, loss, death, neglect, and chronic stress who yearn for more satisfying relationships with themselves and those they care about.

You hold the answers inside of you to heal and I am merely a facilitator of your journey.

You deserve a good fit therapist. This is not the right fit for all clients, especially those who prefer a more neutral, silent, and/or passive therapist.

I’m deeply invested and committed to your growth and transformation. I ask for equal investment and commitment from you.

I will not ask you to go somewhere I have not gone. I am in my own personal therapy, consultation, supervision, and believe I can only take clients as far as I have gone in my own healing journey.

At my core, my eclectic approach blends:

• Trauma informed and trauma specific therapy (understanding of impacts of trauma on human development and functioning)

• Parts/IFS work (to help integrate fractured/disconnected aspects of ourselves)

• Psychodynamic (impacts of early childhood upbringing and environment)

• Somatic/mind-body connection

• Relational therapy (attachment, mentalizing), and

• Experiential techniques (e.g. mindfulness, gestalt)

You can learn more about my approach by clicking here.

I love learning.

I regularly attending trainings in the areas of: grief, anxiety, somatic/mind-body therapy, trauma recovery, multicultural therapy, attachment, and relationship issues.

For the first 7 years of my professional career, I spent my time deepening my skills and knowledge in trauma recovery, PTSD, CPTSD, childhood abuse, emotional neglect, and attachment issues.

As of 2024, I am deepening my knowledge in facing our own mortality, death, grief, loss, somatic therapy, and dissociation.

I also regularly attend my own personal therapy, engage in peer and professional clinical consultation, and take time off so clients can receive the best care possible and for me to sustain my work long term due to the occupational hazards of being a therapist.

EDUCATION

• University of California, Post-Master’s Fellowship (Counseling & Psychological Services & Social Services)

• University of Washington, Master of Social Work (Mental Health Concentration)

• University of Washington, Behavioral Health Fellowship

• University of Texas, Bachelor of Arts

ADVANCED TRAININGS & EDUCATION

1. Internal lFamily Systems (IFS) Levels 1 & 2 & IFIO Basic Trained For Couples/Dyads

2. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Levels 1 & 2

3. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship For Couples/Dyads & Emotionally Focused Individually Therapy (EFIT) Levels 1 & 2

4. Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) Couples/Dyad Therapy Levels 1 & 2

5. Gottman Couples/Dyad Therapy Level 1

6. PRATI Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

7. MDMA Therapy Training Program

8. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Basic Trained

9. Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator Certificate - The Embody Lab

10. Somatic Experiencing (SE) For Trauma Resolution 3-Year Certificate Program (2nd Year Completed February 2025, 3rd Year Begins January 2026)

11. Trauma-Informed Care Training Certificate: Working with Female Survivors of Violence

12. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

13. Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

14. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

15. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

16. Psychodynamic Therapy

17. Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1)

18. Level I: The Complexities of Complex Trauma - International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD)

19. Death Doula/End of Life Education and Planning Training

20. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

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2026 Trainings

• WBCP Psychoanalytic Fellowship Program (24 hrs)

• Imago Clinical Training For Couples/Dyads - Level 1 (32hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Advanced Levels 1 & 2 (72 hrs)

• The Big Picture: Prolonged Grief Disorder Treatment (PGDT) (6.5 hrs)

• Practice-Focused Training in Prolonged Grief Disorder Treatment (PGDT) (14 hrs)

• Level I: The Complexities of Complex Trauma - International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) (30 hrs)

• Prolonged Exposure (PE) for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (14 hrs)

• 7-Day Mindfulness and Liberation Meditation Retreat – Foundations of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (21.5 hrs)

• Grief /End of Life Training

  • Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy in Relation to Patient Trauma (1 hr)

  • Ensuring Palliative Care For All: Optimizing Access for LGBTQ People (1 hr)

  • LGBT-Inclusive Hospice & Palliative Care (1 hr)

  • Faith In terms of Death & Dying (1 hr)

  • Understanding Depression in Palliative Care (1 hr)

  • Depression & Anxiety In The Seriously Ill (1 hr)

  • End-Of-Life Through A Cultural Lens: Lessons Learned & Best Practice Suggestions (1 hr)

  • Embracing Cultural Humility In End-Of-Life Care (1 hr)

  • Bereavement: Unmasking & Expressing The Contributing Factors That Affect How One Grieves (1 hr)

  • Anticipatory Mourning At End-Of-Life (1 hr)

  • Understanding Anxiety In Palliative Care (1 hr)

  • Culturally Competent Approach to Hospice, Palliative Care, And End-Of-Life Care For the LGBTQ Population (1 hr)

  • Treating Traumatic Grief (1 hr)

  • Understanding and Treating Grief and Diverse Losses (1 hr)

  • Reclaiming the Holidays: Coping with Grief and Trauma (1 hr)

2025

• Death Doula/End of Life Education and Planning Training (40 hrs)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (50 hrs)

• Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1) (25 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Intermediate Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Grief /End of Life Training

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

  • Intro to Perinatal Loss: The Presence of an Absence (2 hrs)

  • Perinatal Loss and Prolonged Grief Treatment (1 hr)

  • Immigration: Trauma & Grief (1 hr)

  • Loss, Grief, and Domestic Violence: The Power of Transformation (2.5 hrs)

  • Loss of Autonomy: Working With Differently-Abled Individuals (1.5 hrs)

  • Nutrition and Hydration Near the End of Life (1 hr)

  • Advanced Cancer and End of Life (1 hr)

  • Perspectives on Cultural Considerations in Goals-of-Care Conversations (2 hrs)

  • Embrace, Engage, Empower: Cultural Awareness in End-of-Life (1 hr)

  • Advanced Lung Disease: Prognostication and Role of Hospice (1 hr)

  • Veterans Nearing the End of Life: Distinct Needs, Specialized Care (1 hr)

• Trauma and Dissociation/CPTSD Informed Internal Family Systems (IFS) - A 5-Day IFS Retreat With Joanne Twombly (32 hrs)

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) (14 hrs)

• Narrative Therapy Training (12 hrs)

• Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (6 hrs)

2024

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 2, Deepening & Expanding (42 hrs)

• Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) Basic Training For Couples/Dyad Therapy (72 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Beginner Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Shame & Guilt (2 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Chronic Pain (2 hrs)

• Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator Certificate - The Embody Lab (32 hrs)

• Psychedelic Education Certificate (MDMA, Psilocybin, Ketamine, and 5-MeO-DMT) - Psychedelic Support (20 hrs)

• Trauma-Informed Care Training Certificate: Working with Female Survivors of Violence (40 hrs)

• 7-Day Silent Retreat: Befriending Mortality: Living An Awakened Life Through Mindfulness of Death

• Cultivating Focused Attention: An Intensive 7- Day Mindfulness Retreat for Mental Health Professionals

• 7- Day Silent Meditation Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Compassionate, and Responsive Heart

• Mentalizing and Mentalization-Based Treatment with Adults (MBT Adult): An Introduction (6 hrs)

• General Psychiatric Management (GPM) for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (6 hrs)

• Clinical Supervision Training: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know (18 hrs)

2023

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1 (72 hrs)

• PRATI Foundational Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Training (30 hrs)

• MAPS (Now Lykos) MDMA Assisted Therapy Training (30 hrs)

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (14 hrs)

• Introduction to Military Culture, Families and Deployment (6 hrs)

• Overview of Military Service-Related Behavioral Health Challenges (7 hrs)

2022

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples/Dyad Therapy (PACT) Level 1 (30 hrs)

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples/Dyad Therapy (PACT) Level 2 (30 hrs)

• Transforming Resistance - Yearlong Seminar in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) (18 hrs)

• Mental Health Suicide in 2022: An Update for Professionals (6 hrs)

• Socratic Dialogue: A 4-Stage Model of Discovery (1 hr)

• 2-Day Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Training - PESI (12.5 hrs)

• In Depth Trauma Training (27.5 hrs)

  • Healing from Childhood Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Trauma and Couples Therapy: Treading through Contentious Waters (3.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Care (3 hrs)

  • The Neurobiology of Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • How Deep Does Pain Go?: The Impact of Violence Across

    One's Lifespan (4 hrs)

  • The Elephant in the Room: Interventions to Treat Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Joy and Sorrow in the Same Cup: Addressing Grief, Loss & Trauma in Adoption (1.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Responses to Sexual Violence (1.5 hrs)

  • Life After Death: Overcoming Childhood Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • The Impact of Childhood Trauma Across the Lifespan (3 hrs)

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

2021

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 2, Essential Skills (80 hrs)

• Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) Levels 1 & 2 (24 hrs)

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (12 hrs)

• Seeking Safety Training (Substance Use & PTSD) (6 hrs)

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills: Introduction (12 hrs)

• Community Resiliency Model (CRM) (6 hrs)

• Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) (12 hrs)

• NICABM - The Treating Trauma Master Series: A 5-Module Series on the Treatment of Trauma (10 hrs)

2020

• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship (28 hrs)

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (27 hrs)

• All Patients Safe: Suicide Prevention for Medical Providers (6 hrs)

2019

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 1 Immersion (30 hrs)

• Trauma Informed Care & Practical Approaches To Managing Trauma Responses In Eating Disorder Treatment (12 hrs)

• Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills Training (22 hrs)

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) Boot Camp/Immersion (32 hrs)

2018

• Motivational Interviewing Skills (MI) Training (12 hrs)

• Gottman Couples/Dyad Therapy Level 1 (12 hrs)

• Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) (14 hrs)

• Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Core Competencies for Mental Health Professionals (6 hrs)

• Essentials of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) (5 hrs)

WE MIGHT BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU VALUE:

01. Being Challenged & Interrupted At TImes

• Rather than venting every session and have me nod in silence

• I believe there is a limit to how much endless validation can help you grow

• Most of the clients I see provide me feedback that their previous therapist did not provide them structure and education on therapy, and instead just allowed them to vent without guidance.

  • Therapy with me is a deliberate process where we will address what you’ve been avoiding gradually. I will provide you ample education and rationale for why we are doing what we are doing, so you don’t feel lost.

02. Are Active In Therapy

• Come in with things to talk about, practice skills/tools outside session, open to trying new things.

• Therapy works best if the client is motivated, open, and engaged to used the session to confront their challenges so they can grow.

• Change is rarely comfortable and pleasant. It is my job to support you with compassion, empathy, and professionalism.

• Research shows about 40% of the change from therapy occurs outside of session, is due to client related factors (e.g. personality, motivation), and other systemic and contextual factors (e.g. time, money, home life, support).

• Forcing yourself or being forced to attend therapy rarely yields positive results. It’s your decision to decide if therapy will be a helpful tool for you.

03. Direct Communication & Soliciting Feedback

• Therapy is most helpful when you communicate with me your disagreements, your requests/wants, and when you give me feedback on what is and isn’t helpful. I’ll do the same.

• This is why many clients “ghost” their therapist when there is a disagreement, rupture, or conflict and they end up feeling misunderstood, hurt, or invalidated.

• Or at worst, this is why sometimes clients stay in therapy that is ineffective for them longer than they need to due to fear, anxiety, or worries of some sort and wish their therapist could read their mind and address the implicit issues in the room haunting the therapy session.

• If you struggle with assertive communication and want to learn this, I can help you.

04. Dialectic or Balance

• I try to balance things in therapy:

  • Balancing validation with challenge

  • Balancing insight with learning skills

  • Balancing listening with interrupting

  • Balancing acceptance with change

• Life is a dialectic. Both things and multiple things can be true at the same time.

05. Other Methods Outside of Talk Therapy

• Such as mindfulness, experiential therapy, psychodrama, somatic therapy

• There is a limit to how beneficial talk therapy can be, especially you are an intellectualizer who values logic, data, theories, and cognizing over emotions, sensations, and experiences

• As Steven Hayes states, “Get out of your head and into your body”.

05. The Healing Power of Relationships

• We will use our therapeutic relationship as a template for learning new healthy experiences and opportunities for repair and growth

• The relationship patterns you struggle with outside of therapy will inevitably show up in our sessions, between me and you.

• These challenges give us insight into why you struggle as well as what you need to change and grow into the sort of person you want to be toward meeting your therapeutic goals. We will interrupt these patterns with new experiences and patterns.

  • Example: If you are a people pleaser, you will most likely use people pleasing strategies in therapy which will get in the way of therapeutic progress. Intervention: People please less and have the option to utilizing assertive communication (vs. passive, passive aggressive, or aggressive communication styles) so you can ask for what you want without guilt.

  • Example: If you fear conflict, you will most likely try to avoid conflict in therapy, which is impossible because conflicts are a normal part of any relationship. Intervention: Understand the root of why you fear and avoid conflict. Normalize conflict by learning healthy communication, healthy relationships, communication skills, and accessing your emotions and sensations.

  • Example: If you struggle with feeling, naming, and being aware of your emotions, you will most likely struggle with accessing your emotions in therapy. Emotions are important and provide us data, like thoughts. Intervention: Understand the strategies for why you struggle with accessing your emotions. Slowly build the capacity to feel, name, and express your emotions so you can have a more meaningful life based on connection vs. disconnection.

06. Want to Learn How to Become Your Own Therapist Long Term

• My goal is for you to gain insight and understanding into why you do what you do, interrupt unhelpful cycles of sabotage, and learn skills/tools to manage future conflicts

WE MIGHT NOT BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU:

01. Expect Perfection

• I’m not perfect, will make mistakes, and will communicate directly when this occurs toward resolution

02. Expect Me To Do All The Work

• Examples: Solve your problems, tell you what to do, consistently have to ask you what you want to work on in session, am more curious about you than you are of yourself

03. Cancel Sessions Often

• Therapy works best with consistency

04. Don’t Take Accountability

• Confronting our shadows require honesty about our humanity and limitations

05. Don’t Liked Being Challenged

• Of course, I will be gentle and compassionate, but in my experienee, endless validation is not going to be helpful long term

06. Demand Instant Change Within 3-4 Sessions

• While relief can come in a few sessions, long term change requires compassion, practice, patience, and repetition

07. Want to Get Rid of All Your Feelings & Thoughts

• Pain is inevitable in life

• My goal is for you to learn to accept and manage life stressors, pain, and grief with more compassion, nuance, and acceptance.

• If we get rid of painful feelings and thoughts, we also then will have a difficult time accessing joy, love, and peace. What we resist persists.

• Moreover, there are things in life that cannot be forgotten, forgiven, or rid of such as the loss of a loved one or traumatic experiences

08. Aren’t Interested in Exploring Your Past, Childhood, or Upbringing

• There are other therapists who focus only on the present moment with an emphasis on skill building and generating quick solutions that may be a better fit (CBT, DBT, ACT)

I specialize in 3 areas: 1) Childhood Trauma & Neglect/Adults Abused & Neglected as Children, 2) Grief & Loss, and 3) Relationship/Attachment issues.

I am especially interested in how these 3 areas intersect.

• Joy & Liberation

• Childhood Trauma/Adults Abused as Children

• Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families

• Adults Raised By Emotionally Immature Parents

• Generational Patterns

• Chronic Stress

• Couples/Dyad Therapy

  • Infidelity & Betrayal

  • Communication Issues

  • Grief & Loss

  • Intimacy

  • Multicultural Issues

• Attachment Styles

  • Fear of Intimacy & Commitment

  • Emotional Unavailability

  • Mistrust & Trust Issues

  • Self Sabotage & Destructive Behaviors

  • Fear of Abandonment

  • Difficulty With Criticism & Rejection

• Self Esteem

• Grief, Loss & Death

  • Befriending our Mortality

  • Physical Death

  • Loss of Safety & Security

  • Loss of Ability

  • Loss of Health

  • Loss of Identity

  • Death Anxiety

• Anxiety & Panic

• Racial Identity

  • Internalized Racism

  • Belonging & Community

  • Impostor Syndrome

• Southeast Asian Immigrants & Refugee Diasporas

  • Children of Immigrants

  • 1st, 1.5 and 2nd Generation Immigrants

  • Cultural Double Bind

  • Perfectionism

  • Model Minority Myth

  • Acculturation

  • Cultural Brokers/Translaters

  • Generational Trauma

• Gay/Queer Men & Men’s Issues

  • Emotional Intelligence

  • Socialization, Pressures & Expectations

  • Minority Stress

  • Anger

  • Shame & Guilt

  • Belonging & Community

• Somatic/Mind-Body Healing

Clients who work best with me often seek a trauma, relationship, anxiety, and/or grief specialist.

I work with…

1. Couples/dyads who want to learn assertive communication skills, fight more effectively, and rebuild more intimacy and trust in their relationship

2. Chronic over thinkers who intellectualize their problems, are self-aware to a fault, and find it hard to connect to their feelings

3. Those in the midst of a major life transition (becoming a parent, empty nest syndrome, divorce, separation, starting school, changing jobs, new diagnosis, recent loss, etc.)

4. Men who want to become more aware of their emotional world, increase comfort with vulnerability, and learn to ask for what they want in healthier ways

5. Those who want to explore their own mortality, discuss the practicality and emotionality around their own death, anxiety/fear of death, and continually mourn their losses and grief

6. Healthcare professionals, therapists, and social workers who are wounded healers

7. Those who are exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, experiencing compassion fatigue, and want to take better care of themselves

8. Adults abused as children, emotional neglect, sexual violence/assault, attachment/developmental trauma, and those who grew up in dysfunctional families

9. Survivors of trauma who are parents who want to parent healthier children and break the cycle of trauma

10. Immigrants and children of immigrants who want to break unhelpful generational patterns, and break free from guilt

11. Queer/gay people who want to learn to love themselves unconditionally, feel more at home in their bodies, and unlearn harmful messaging from family, society, and our larger culture

12. Those seeking exploration of their intersectional identities, processing existential issues, and finding more meaning and value in life

I want to…

• Interrupt patterns of self sabotage.

• Understand why I do what I do.

• Heal from the impacts of trauma, grief, and loss.

• Learn how to manage my traumatic triggers and flashbacks.

• Learn how to manage stress, anxiety, panic, and overwhelm.

• Learn how to be kinder to myself and practice self compassion.

• Become more aware, name, express, and feel my emotions.

• Learn how to manage overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

• Have a more intimate, strong, and robust relationship with myself and others.

• Have a space for myself because I usually internalize my thoughts and feelings.

• Become more comfortable with vulnerability.

• Learn to ask for what I need and when I need help.

• Learn direct and assertive communication.

• Learn healthy and flexible boundaries.

• Work through feelings of shame and guilt.

• Increase my sense of Self (confidence, esteem, acceptance, love, compassion).

• Find more meaning and value in my life.

• Have an outside perspective to my issues.