Welcome!
I’m Jeanne and through my work as a therapist and in my own personal journey, I’ve learned that our conditioning, traumas and intergenerational traumas, do not necessarily lead to fixed states of being.
I’m a psychotherapist licensed in Washington State (LF 60231152) and New York State (001218-01) with 15+ years of experience. I’m also a trauma informed registered yoga teacher (RYT 200) with Yoga Alliance since 2022. I studied International Studies and French at the University of Washington before taking a 180° turn and pursuing counseling and psychology.
It has been my deep privilege to walk with my clients, through their own journeys of healing and growth.
I’m also a second-generation Korean-American, born in Chicago and raised in the Pacific Northwest. The view of Mount Rainier was as familiar to me as kimchi with dinner and Saturday Korean school. I grew up skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer, while my parents tracked the tide for clam digging. On these seemingly all American road trips, they would occasionally stop to forage for a specific type of fern alongside the freeway. It was a unique ingredient for Korean banchans (side dishes) and soups that weren't readily sold at the store. We laugh about this now, but at the time, it was just one example of what I knew I could talk about with some, and needed to hide from others. Within the idyllic setting of my childhood (rain included!), I learned very quickly that relational adapting, adjusting and compartmentalizing, were extremely important and useful survival skills. Inevitably, it took some time to find my authentic self and a sense of belonging. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that, while my story of displacement is different in some ways, it is completely universal in others.
Fortunately, our conditioning, traumas and intergenerational traumas, do not necessarily lead to fixed states of being. In fact, the true gift of self-awareness is recognizing our full agency and choice, within the context of our lived reality. Grappling with these tensions between what we can change and what we must grieve is, indeed, a lifelong process. However, engaging from a place of conscious empowerment, rather than survival instincts, can be profoundly life changing.
Alongside this analytical process, I tried my first yoga class a little over a decade ago. My first class felt like torture, but by the fourth, I was hooked. There was something about yoga that my body had been craving. The mindfulness, the movement, the breath, these all seemed to invite me back into my body, and have that felt experience be safe. Yoga continues to be transformative for me and integral to my sense of wellbeing. It has taught me that mental health is inseparable from physical health, and that the resilience of this connection is vital to feeling whole.
My Approach
My style is collaborative, warm, empathetic and engaging. I’m naturally curious and seek to join each client in a nonjudgmental inquiry of their story.
There are several theories that frame my work as a therapist. Interpersonal Neurobiology, AEDP, Polyvagal Theory, and Attachment Theory have all been invaluable treatment models. I also utilize CBT, Internal Family Systems and Brené Brown’s work on courage and shame,
The events of recent years in the U.S. continue to highlight long standing structures of power and oppression. Psychotherapy is another unquestionable space where injustice needs to be acknowledged, named and to the extend possible, repaired. To that end, I strive to maintain a position of humility, dignity and respect for the inherent and universal humanity of everyone.
