“I would have wanted her to be curious. And willful, unstoppable even… but with enough compassion to heal the world… just a little bit.”
Hi! I’m Hannah (pronounced Hah-nah/하나). I’m a born and raised Austinite, 2nd gen biracial Korean American, queer, neurodivergent, and social worker. I attended the University of Texas at Austin for both my Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Social Work. I remained here after graduation and have spent the last 8 years in a variety of settings including inpatient psychiatric hospitals, medical settings, education, and community mental health. I find video games to be extremely therapeutic, and when I am not gaming I can be found hiking greenbelts, terrorizing local arcades, traveling, or making dubious food with my husband. I adore all my precious animals, my two geckos (Ancalagon and Alduin), my two Shiba Inus (Zelda and Shayera), and my chinchilla (Shere Kahn).
MY STRATEGY GUIDE
My work is rooted in anti-racism, anti-oppression, disability justice, and decolonization. I utilize a trauma informed approach in addition to being neurodivergent affirming, LGBTQIA+ affirming, and strengths-based. I believe that you are inherently worthy of care, you are valuable just as you are, and that your story is important. All your identities, all your parts are welcome and integral to our work together. I believe that healing through humor is just as important as sitting with discomfort and hurt. I utilize both empirically reviewed research as well as my own personal lived experiences in my practice. As a therapist, it is not my job to tell you what to do, but rather like a companion in a video game, to guide you with compassion, trust, and honesty towards your next objective. Therapy can be a collaborative, multiplayer approach, and the right therapist can make all the difference. Let’s connect!
My Skill TreeI consider my approach to therapy to be eclectic and ever-evolving to honor your unique needs and experiences. While I consider myself to be more casual than clinical, I wanted to share a few frameworks in my inventory that I equip frequently:
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Narrative Therapy uses the client's storytelling to indicate the way they construct meaning in their lives, rather than focusing on how they communicate their problem behaviors. Narrative Therapy embraces the idea that stories actually shape our behaviors and our lives and that we become the stories we tell about ourselves. There are helpful narratives we can choose to embrace as well as unhelpful ones. Although it may sound obvious, the power of storytelling is to elevate the client--who is the authority of their narrative--rather than the therapist, as expert.
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Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) may assist individuals who struggle with mood disorders, anxiety, or feelings of shame and self-criticism, often stemming from early experiences of abuse or neglect. Through exercises like role-playing, visualization, meditation, and activities that promote gratitude for everyday life, CFT teaches clients about the mind-body connection and guides them in practicing awareness of their thoughts and bodily sensations. This helps clients cultivate self-compassion and compassion for others, which can help regulate their emotions and foster a sense of safety, self-acceptance, and comfort.
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Feminist therapy is an integrative approach to psychotherapy that focuses on gender and the particular challenges and stressors that non-cis het folks face as a result of bias, stereotyping, oppression, discrimination, and other factors that threaten their mental health. The therapeutic relationship, based on an authentic connection and equality between the therapist and the client, helps empower clients understand the social factors that contribute to their issues, discover and claim their unique identity, and build on personal strengths to better their own lives and that of others.
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Culturally sensitive therapy is an approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes the therapist's understanding of a client's background and belief system as it relates to their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or other important elements that make up someone's culture and/or identity.
Additional Approaches