Hi, I’m Juko
Why I became a therapist
I know what it means to lose things, and I know what it takes to keep walking when the path is anything but clear.
Like many people drawn to this field, my interest is both professional and personal. I have witnessed how illness, loss, trauma, relationship challenges, and unexpected life changes can knock you down so hard you lose the will to get back up. I have also seen that healing rarely comes from forcing ourselves to move faster than our capacity allows.
I do this work because there are so many people who need to be witnessed without judgment, to have their efforts and stories held with compassion and respect, and to know they are not alone as they restore resilience and balance to their lives.
I became a therapist to create space for people to hold what feels like too much with patience and great love.
Like many people drawn to this field, my interest is both professional and personal. I have witnessed how illness, loss, trauma, relationship challenges, and unexpected life changes can knock you down so hard you lose the will to get back up. I have also seen that healing rarely comes from forcing ourselves to move faster than our capacity allows.
I do this work because there are so many people who need to be witnessed without judgment, to have their efforts and stories held with compassion and respect, and to know they are not alone as they restore resilience and balance to their lives.
I became a therapist to create space for people to hold what feels like too much with patience and great love.
My approach to our work
I specialize in sitting with hard things and teaching clients how to be with big changes that sometimes move faster than their capacity to adapt. I see our sessions as a lab where possibilities for expansion, insight, and finding new relational patterns are experienced, not just discussed.
I draw from an array of tools and training, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Process Therapy, Person-Centered Psychology, Narrative Therapy, Somatic Therapy, and Yoga-Based Self-Awareness (YBSA), a framework I developed that integrates psychology, contemplative practice, and embodied awareness.
Rather than focusing only on symptom reduction, I help clients develop the capacity to remain present with difficult experiences without becoming overwhelmed by them.
I draw from an array of tools and training, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Process Therapy, Person-Centered Psychology, Narrative Therapy, Somatic Therapy, and Yoga-Based Self-Awareness (YBSA), a framework I developed that integrates psychology, contemplative practice, and embodied awareness.
Rather than focusing only on symptom reduction, I help clients develop the capacity to remain present with difficult experiences without becoming overwhelmed by them.
|
Training and credentialsI have worked in mental health, education, and wellness settings for more than two decades, including training at Women’s Clinic in Los Angeles and with the Antara Institute in Santa Cruz under the supervision and mentorship of Dr. Pat Katsky.
I have a BA in International Relations from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and completed an MA in Clinical Psychology with a specialty in Marriage and Family Therapy from Antioch University in Los Angeles, California. I earned a Ph.D in psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology-Sofia University in Palo Alto, California. The title of my doctoral study is Stories Are Medicine: Responding to Deep Sadness with Spirit, which focused on the lives of women who lived with persistent depressed and low moods and the tools they used to achieve remission and states of thriving. My other workI have been ordained as a lay Buddhist in the Soto Zen tradition for seventeen years and have led an ongoing weekly meditation practice group online for over six years. I offer meditation mentorship through Ease Mountain Yoga, focused on bringing inner yoga to everyday people.
When I am not sitting with people going through hard shit, you might find me tending to trails or painting. I am a visual artist who has shown work in exhibitions and galleries in California, New York, and Ohio. I founded The Care Forest Project, a redwood conservation initiative that emphasizes human connection to the environment in 2018. I split my time between a small rural town in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California and a small rural town in Oaxaca, Mexico. And I love dogs, especially Chihuahuas. |