My Story

I was born and raised in southeast Michigan, an enthusiast for nature, reading, writing, and art. Growing up, I was fascinated by the emotional world of the people around me. Later, I took my interest in the human condition, and focused on classes in literature, psychology, and spirituality at the University of Michigan.

After graduation I took time to learn new ways of understanding the self, and began a Vipassana meditation practice. I attended retreats at various centers including Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village and also lived in the Ann Arbor Zen Temple for a year.

Later, I moved to Oregon and then Vermont and worked as a Waldorf kindergarten teacher. I loved learning about childhood development, and found that I wanted to know more about all stages of life. This interest led me to the field of psychotherapy, where I found that I could fulfill my wish to help people feel healthier and happier, and for others to experience what I gained in therapy: profound insights into my patterns, motivations, hopes and fears.

I found Naropa University’s programs suited my desire to combine psychology and meditative practices, so my next move was to Colorado. I graduated in 2018 with an M.A. in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Counseling. It was here that I learned about IFS (internal family systems therapy) and after graduation, delved deeper into the Enneagram personality system.

Within IFS and the Enneagram I found two systems that combined psychology and spirituality in a way that spoke perfectly to my perspective and my personal growth. I am passionate about sharing these perspectives with those who wish to understand themselves more deeply and experience new levels of vitality and well-being.

My mother is Korean and my father is Ashkenazi Jewish. I am an in-betweener, racially, culturally and spiritually.

As I’ve met more in-betweeners in my adult life, I have found that we often share the same experience: the richness of coming from multiple backgrounds, weaving the cultures of both sides of our families, eating different foods, celebrating different holidays and having family in different parts of the world.

We also tend to share the same feelings of not belonging anywhere, something one of my mentors calls being “racially homeless”. We learn to be chameleons in order to feel some level of belonging as we walk between worlds where most everyone else belongs to their group. This is a special pain that in-betweeners carry, and I have found that part of my life’s work as a therapist is to be someone who understands the challenges and the beauty of being in between without you having to explain a thing.

TRAININGS

IFS: Healing Preverbal Attachment Trauma, online training 2022

Enneagram: Journey of Growth (levels) Workshop, online training 2022

IFS Skills and Competency Intensive, online training 2021

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Level 1, online training 2021

IFS Great Lakes Retreat, online training 2020

EDIT Certification (Eating Disorder Intuitive Therapy), Winter Park, CO 2018