Susan Hea Jin Ko

I know how easy it can be to look like you’re doing fine on the outside while feeling completely overwhelmed on the inside.

I’m Susan Hea Jin Ko, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the owner of Grow & Grace Therapy. I’m licensed in California and Colorado and registered to provide telehealth in Florida. I offer online therapy for postpartum anxiety, working-mom burnout, perfectionism, and AAPI mental health. I primarily work with women and moms who are used to being the capable one—the one managing work, family, relationships, and everyone else’s needs. Many of my clients come to therapy feeling anxious, exhausted, guilty, stretched too thin, or simply not like themselves anymore.

I have a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Syracuse University. My background includes specialized training in perinatal mental health, anxiety, and relationship stressors. I have a particular passion for supporting women through pregnancy, postpartum, fertility and IVF, returning to work after having a baby, and the many identity and relationship shifts that can come with motherhood. I also work with women navigating anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, relationship stress, and the constant feeling that they should be doing more or handling things better.

As a Korean American therapist, I also understand that family, culture, and expectations can add another layer to what you’re carrying. I enjoy working with AAPI clients who are navigating identity, family dynamics, boundaries, and the experience of growing up between different cultures.

You don’t need to be in crisis to come to therapy, and you don’t need to have everything figured out before you start. Sometimes you just need a place where you don’t have to be the person holding everything together.

I’m warm and supportive, but I’m also an active therapist. I’ll listen and give you space to process, but I won’t just sit back and leave you wondering what to do with everything you’ve shared.

I tend to ask questions that help us slow things down and understand what’s actually happening underneath the anxiety, guilt, resentment, perfectionism, or overwhelm. We might notice that you’re constantly second-guessing yourself, putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own, feeling guilty when you set a boundary, or holding yourself to expectations you would never put on someone else.

From there, we’ll work on what might actually help. Sometimes that means learning practical tools for anxiety or emotional overwhelm. Other times, it means understanding yourself differently, practicing boundaries, making room for uncomfortable emotions, or learning how to respond to yourself with a little less criticism.

My work is informed by CBT, ACT, DBT, mindfulness, self-compassion, and trauma-informed approaches, but I don’t expect you to fit into a particular therapy model. I want our sessions to feel useful, personal, and connected to what’s happening in your real life.

You don’t need to prepare for our first session or know exactly where to start. A lot of people come in knowing that something doesn’t feel right, but they’re not quite sure how to put it into words yet. That’s completely okay.

I’ll guide us with questions about what’s been going on, what feels hardest right now, and what life has looked like leading up to this point. We’ll talk about what brought you to therapy and what you’d eventually like to feel different, without putting pressure on you to come up with the “right” therapy goals on day one.

Mostly, I want our first session to feel like a conversation where you can start putting down some of what you’ve been carrying. By the end, I hope you feel like I understand you, that we have a sense of where to begin, and that you don’t have to figure all of this out by yourself.