I currently offer individual psychotherapy sessions for adults 18 and older in Washington state and Colorado. At present I offer telehealth sessions only in Colorado and offer both telehealth and in-person sessions for clients living in Washington State. My current in-person office address is located by Seward Park in South Seattle. If you are interested in in-person sessions, please inquire more upon our consultation.

You are here, so let’s talk individual therapy. If you haven’t been in therapy before you must be wondering what this truly encompasses?! Well, there could be many ways to describe individual therapy. However, to me it is a process by which we explore together the many different identities, variations, and experiences a person encounters. These could include past and present traumas, the many internal narratives, and scripts we learn to navigate through, intergenerational and generational trauma and anything else you deem relevant in your healing process. Some common themes you can expect to explore are shame, guilt, self-worth, self-doubt, self-confidence, identity, you name it; these are all the themes of the many different conversations and topics we broach in the individual therapeutic space.

As humans we naturally learn to treat ourselves based on the negative internalized scripts that are often learned through association, experiences, or environmental influences. At some point we recognize when these negative narratives start affecting our interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships and this is when we activate our minds to look for a solution. I cannot and will not say individual therapy is a straightforward, effortless, or painless process. In my experience and from what I have witnessed from treating clients and in being in therapy myself, this process can be a bumpy road. In order for us to get anywhere, I believe that embracing discomfort is necessary for you to experience personal growth! If you are here and reading this, you have already surpassed the first initial stage in recognizing the things that make you uncomfortable and I applaud you for making it here!

Gosh, where do I even begin with this one? Relationships are challenging, complicated, and unique in their own dynamics and vary from one couple to another. There is no straightforward way to say it other than RELATIONSHIPS ARE SCARY AND HARD! What I do know and understand is that when we put ourselves out there to explore this part of our lives, we do it with intention and with the need to feel loved and cared for. But what happens when we do not receive that or find it challenging to have our needs met and/or feel challenged to meet our partner’s needs?

It is amazing how much I have seen in couples therapy with my own clients and their ability to show up for one another when given the right tools. At the core of any relationship dynamic is the toughest challenge we face and this challenge that I am referring to is COMMUNICATION! We often forget how difficult it is to navigate relationships, especially when we start to get comfortable within them. We are talking about two different beings with two diverse backgrounds, identities, and experiences coming together to meet somewhere in the middle!

Well, my goal in couples therapy is to show up as authentically and honestly as possible to help you work through the issues you both have been struggling with. I will use our space together to build a trusting relationship without making you feel judged while also giving you the tools to reflect and work toward an improved and healthier relationship dynamic.

But first, for us to even establish why it is that you are here and what the trajectory of your relationship is, you both will have to come to an agreement to show up and want to be in couple’s therapy. After this, it is a process of getting to know you both individually and together, understanding your history, and establishing some set goals and boundaries to work toward.

Men, I see you and I am here for you! I understand the burdens you have had to carry on your shoulders for decades. Generations and generations of being told that you must be strong and be able to financially support your families and all the “arbitrary rules” within society that come with these gender roles. It has not been easy for you all and I can acknowledge that. Sharing emotions, feelings, and thoughts can sometimes come with the fear of being judged as weak and/ or “too emotional.” But, as a human being, you too have the right to explore and openly discuss your emotions and feelings without feeling judged. You are not weak nor are you too emotional if you feel sad, angry, or bothered. As you and I know, suppression of emotions and feelings year after year only increasingly makes it that much more difficult for you to explore healthy coping mechanisms and patterns.

If you feel like you tend to shut down, push a loved one away, go silent for a while from those around you or experience outbursts and anger/aggression, and you know that these unhealthy coping mechanisms are only causing more damage to your interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships; I am here for you! These reactions are valid because I know they are a learnt way of releasing emotions. Men’s mental health has never really taken much precedence in general and due to the limited resources and attention; society cannot really blame you for not having the right tools to express your emotions and feelings.

Now, you may be wondering why I specialize in men’s therapy. Well, my experiences in observing and dealing with men in my family, and personal life have been identical to these reactions I described above. These experiences have led me to want to learn and support the efforts in hopes of helping you build healthier coping mechanisms and skills. I think it is limiting enough not having enough resources for the male population within the mental health realm, so my main purpose and aim is to open a space where you can feel safe enough to express and navigate through these suppressed emotions and feelings. I will work with you to provide a safe, nonjudgemental, stigma free, shame free, and guilt free space for you, where your feelings and emotions can be validated and affirmed while also helping you build a healthier relationship with yourself and others.

The immediate thing that jumps out at me when I think about South Asian therapy is YES, we finally get to recognize it! I cannot emphasize how thrilled I get when I get to reflect and identify how important it is to acknowledge South Asian therapy as something unique to its own ability! Despite all that we hear through online resources or through our famous Bollywood movies and shows, there is something different about living the real life of a South Asian person, whether we were raised in the Western world or elsewhere.

I can think about many different scripts and narratives all of us South Asian folks have heard throughout our lives! But above all, it is this narrative of being told to never share any parts of our personal lives that holds the strongest stigma in our community! We assume this narrative because we fear how our community might perceive us and this is what makes us feel more resistant to the idea of seeking therapy. Therefore, from an exceedingly early age we have been programmed to suppress our emotions and feelings to please the eyes of the beholder. Our fate is dependent on how we appear within our community. If we show ourselves to be weak and unpresentable, then that depicts our life circumstances, relationships, and future trajectory. This is how most of us view ourselves, in the light of others’ approval. So, when we finally take that first step and start sharing our personal lives with our therapists and friends, we start to feel shame and guilt! Yes, I said it, we feel shame and guilt because we now are suddenly going against the narrative of what was told of us. We suddenly become concerned about our aunties and uncles finding out and what they will think of us because as far as what we have learnt to be our truth, therapy equates to “having a problem” and/or “something must be wrong with us” to explore this option.

Well, this is where I jump in and EXCLAIM, sharing how you feel with someone trusted who can help you build a safe space to explore these emotions, feelings, and thoughts while setting healthy boundaries is acceptable and should not make you feel judged!!!

Suppression of emotions and feelings only continues to take a toll on our bodies and minds as we have witnessed and experienced from generations before us. Yes, we can consider this ‘resilience’ at its greatest force, but this resilience too has a tipping point. The tipping point I am referring to is when we start to see it show up in our relationship dynamics, our physical and mental health, and in our lack of understanding who we truly are. These unhealthy coping mechanisms serve as a temporary fix until we start repeating similar generational patterns that we witnessed in our families and vowed to ourselves we would never repeat! We use external validation to determine our purpose because yes, as a collectivist culture, we want to feel accepted by our community. However, this has detrimental impacts and further confuses our truest form of acceptance that comes from within. Now, if this all made sense to you and you have felt the urges of the push and pull between your culture, community, identity, and individuality, I am here to provide you with some guidance on how to create a healthy balance between your individuality and conformity. Heck, I know I love my culture and all these pieces who make me, me! But I also know the struggle of fighting between wanting to be my own person while also straddling my culture and its needs on the other side!