I am passionate about helping Asian American adolescents and adults navigate life’s complexities — from relational and generational trauma to anxiety, depression, life transitions, bicultural identity struggles, and grief.
What was one of the most challenging experiences during your training to become a therapist. How did you overcome the challenge, and what did you learn from it?
Coming to the realization that I am not that powerful. I used to criticize myself daily in the earlier days of training because I did not believe I was an adequate therapist, that I was failing my clients. However, I came to believe that my clients are the experts of themselves and that I am right alongside them, guiding them wherever they need to go.
How have your personal experiences helped your work with your clients?
Growing up as an only child in a multigenerational household, raised by a single Vietnamese immigrant mother, I intimately understand the push and pull of holding space for clients’ families’ stories and traumas while trying to create room for clients’ own lives. I was not taught that vulnerability is a strength, but instead a weakness. Throughout my work with my clients, we have been able to shed light on what it means to be a cycle breaker – to unlearn survival skills like people-pleasing and emotional suppression that may have protected clients in childhood but no longer serve them as adults.
How do you approach the stigma surrounding mental health and therapy?
By normalizing the idea of leaning into discomfort, by shining a light on survival versus thriving behaviors, by acknowledging the trauma our first generation parents and ancestors endured and learning when to release pain that is not meant for us to keep.
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For more information, please visit www.therapywithyuki.com
Angela Nguyen is supervised by Yuki Shida, LMFT (License #126500).
Short Term (Solution-focused, etc.)
Ideal for those who are coming in with a specific problem they’d like to address and gain clarity on. Typically, short term therapies are present focused and do not dive deep into your past.
Structured
Structured therapies are goal and progress oriented. Therapists may incorporate psychoeducation and a specific “curriculum.” In order to stay on track, therapists may provide worksheets and homework.
Insight-oriented (Psychodynamic, Existential, etc.)
Exploring the past and making connections to present issues can help clients gain insight. Getting to the root of the issue and finding deeper self-awareness can help with long-term change.
Non-directive (Humanistic, Person-centered, etc.)
Going with the flow and seeing where it leads.
Behavioral (CBT, DBT, etc.)
Focuses on changing potentially unhealthy or self-destructive behaviors by addressing problematic thought patterns and specific providing coping skills.
Trauma Focused (EMDR, TF-CBT, etc.)
Recognizing the connection between trauma experiences and your emotional and behavioral responses, trauma focused therapy seeks to help you heal from traumas.
