Jane Chiu

More than 15 years of experience in providing clinical therapy to individuals, couples, families, and children in a wide range of capacities, such as outpatient mental health clinic, residential settings, foster care programs, online/telemedicine, homeless shelter, city centers, county prison, non-profits, and my own private practice. I embrace compassion, respectfulness, warmth and modesty in conversations. Never will I claim to “know” your experiences fully and the extent in which problems have impacted you. It's important to me to be mindful of how my own personal experiences, cultural upbringing, and privileges may impact my views. Thereby, I aspire to always try to understand the unique circumstances you’re going through by asking questions instead of coming to my own conclusions. I understand the problems we encounter in life can often convince us that there is no way out and attempt to undermine our abilities and hopes. No matter how difficult the issues are or how frustrated and hopeless you feel, I’m dedicated to team up with you against the problems you’re facing and tackle them together with tireless persistence.

My practice embraces recovery-oriented approach such as Narrative and Post Modern Therapy, which focus on the meaning in which we construct our lives, the stories that influenced these constructions, and the socio-cultural-political forces that help shape our identities. Narrative Therapy holds the premise that our identities are informed by narratives, whether uniquely personal (e.g., the stories that we know and tell about ourselves and the stories that others know and tell about us) or culturally influenced (e.g., dominant cultural ideas about who we are, who we are supposed to be, how we should think/behave, and our worthiness). Depending on the kinds of identity conclusions we come to internalize and embrace, these narratives can either empower or subjugate our sense of who we are. I believe that we are "multi-storied" and that the emergence of problems reflect the distanced relationship with our own knowledge, skills, and commitments. Special attention is devoted to reclaim our lives from the problems and develop richer understandings of ourselves, in addition to deconstructing dominant discourses that may have undermined our abilities, efforts, and values. This is a non-blaming and non-shaming view that creates some breathing room from the challenges we're experiencing and regain a sense of control and agency back from the problems. This strength-based, meaning-based, and active approach lays the foundation for living in empowering ways and weaving together the threads of possibilities.

I look forward to working collaboratively with you to reclaim the directions of your life.

Our first session will focus on the concerns you’re currently experiencing. I also like to take time to get to know you, such as your background, upbringing, culture, and the experiences that have shaped who you are. This allows me to gain a more complete understanding not only of the challenges you’re facing, but also of who you are beyond those difficulties.