Dr. Saeromi Kim

Please call me Saeromi or Dr. Kim, up to you. I am a licensed psychologist with over 20 years of clinical experience. I received my PhD from Clark University and my BA at Brown University many moons ago. I believe good therapy involves science, art, philosophy, spirituality, creativity, and playfulness. In therapy, we learn and practice new ways of living more fully and freely.

In addition to my mental health specialties, I have significant experience working with Trans/Nonbinary and LGBQA+ people, college and graduate students, transnational people, and high-achieving individuals. My clients often describe me as engaging, compassionate, present and responsive. I see my greatest strength as my ability to easily connect with many different kinds of people, develop trust and rapport, and upon this foundation, build positive working relationships that promote healing.

I use an integrative therapeutic approach that includes Acceptance and Commitment, Psychodynamic, Narrative, Humanistic, CBT, and compassion-based modalities. I am guided by the particular needs and personality of each client, as it is my strong belief that one size does not fit all. Across all modalities, a strong therapeutic relationship is vital, as well as the expansion of psychological flexibility.

For me, it is essential to incorporate the particular cultural context of each person's experience of distress. We will identify areas of distress/difficulties and examine them in current and historical contexts. Greater understanding of why or how we "feel stuck" can then guide us to address suffering, overcome obstacles, and move towards desired changes. During this process, we also learn to develop a deeper appreciation of who we are, our strengths and our own resilience.

More practically speaking, I ask many questions, listen intently, share hypotheses and adjust them with your input, provide psychoeducation as needed, and offer suggestions and strategies when appropriate. I flow between supportive listening to more participatory/guided therapy depending on the stage and focus of our work, client preferences, and my own clinical intuition of what may help us move forward.