About Aika
Licensed in Texas, California, Massachusetts
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An Asian American, multiracial/multicultural, Japanese speaking therapist who loves yoga, hiking and cooking!
My mother is a Japanese immigrant and my father is a white American. I grew up in Japan and moved to America when I was 9 years old. Between living in Asia and America, I experienced the realities of belonging to a minority group in both countries. My experiences being bi-racial and bi-cultural led me to become passionate towards working with minority groups.
I come from a family of teachers, so I automatically assumed I should pursue teaching as my career trajectory. When I became a preschool teacher, I realized that I loved to get to know each student through one-on-one interactions, more than managing a classroom full of students with no time for intimate conversations. Around the same time, I started to remember my experiences seeing a therapist in college for anxiety and panic attacks. Through my experience as a client and being fully attended and listened to, I become passionate to provide the same experience to others. I still remember how I felt in my therapist’s comforting, non-judgmental presence and how healing it was to be seen and heard!
Because of my background in teaching, I initially pursued working with children and parents in several non-profit mental health agency. When I switched my career path to work in a private practice, I started to see more couples and adult individuals. I realized that I loved working with relationships of all types! Through working with adult individuals and couples, I started to realize how much trauma and adverse childhood experiences affect relationships into adulthood. The more I worked with adults and couples, the more I got inspired to get trained in trauma-informed, attachment-informed approaches to better support my clients process their past experiences that is preventing them from building relationships in preferred, mindful ways.
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Trainings/Certifications:
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Certified EMDR Therapist
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Certified Clinical Trauma Professional (CCTP)
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Certified First Responder Counselor (CFRC)
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PREPARE/enrich Certified
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Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and individuals (EFT and EFIT)
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EMDR and Ego state therapy with Complex Trauma
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IFS informed EMDR (IFS: Internal Family Systems)
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Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
Affiliations:
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International Centre of Excellence for Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT)
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Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing International Association (EMDRIA)
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American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
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Austin Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT)
Education:
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B.A. Human Development @ University of California: San Diego
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M.S. Marriage and Family Therapy @ San Diego State University
Pricing:
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Individual Therapy $175
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Couples Therapy $195-245
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