I’m Sam.
I began my clinical career in New York City on the Mobile Crisis Team at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, supporting individuals experiencing acute psychiatric distress. I later worked at Jacobi Medical Center, helping patients manage depression alongside complex medical and psychosocial challenges.
After leaving New York, I transitioned into corporate work as a Change Management consultant with Fortune 500 clients and alongside that built a small business. That experience broadened how I understand systems, behavior, and the process of change outside of traditional clinical settings.
Today, I continue my clinical work in both intensive and outpatient environments. I work at Lido Wellness Center in Newport Beach, an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) providing structured, trauma-informed care. In this setting, I support clients as they stabilize, build insight, and strengthen their ability to function and connect in daily life.
Beyond the therapy room, I bring lived experience as a wife, a mother of two young children ( a mini labradoodle), and a small business owner. I understand the realities of code-switching, intergenerational expectations, and the juggling act of modern life. Having navigated “two under two” myself, I deeply relate to the overwhelm, shifting identities, and the need for genuine support that many couples and individuals face.
Across all settings, my focus is consistent: helping people move out of reactive, repeating patterns and into greater emotional clarity, regulation, and meaningful change. My experiences strengthened my integrative, whole-person approach and deepened my relational and family systems lens. Mostly, I am known for practicing from a non-pathologizing perspective and for meeting clients with curiosity, compassion, and respect.
Education, Training, and Licensure:
Education:
UCLA: Sociology and Asian American Studies
NYU: Masters of Social Work and Masters of Public Administration
NYU Clinical Theory in Paris Program: international perspectives on depression, bereavement, sexuality, and sexual disorders through a clinical and theoretical lens, with a focus on conceptual and diagnostic frameworks in mental health.
NYU’s Alternative Breaks Program: Travel to Ghana for community outreach focused on health education, including HIV/AIDS prevention, malaria awareness, and sanitation practices to help reduce the spread of communicable diseases.
Clinical Training:
EMDR: EMDR Professional Training
EFT: International Center for Excellence in EFT
IFS Circle, IFS Level 1 - starting August 2026
Licensure:
Associate Clinical Social Worker: ASW #127932
About My Practice
My work is rooted in the belief that meaningful change happens when we slow things down enough to actually understand what’s happening beneath the surface and then turn that awareness into something you can use in your life.
I support individuals and couples who feel stuck in relationship challenges including emotional overwhelm, disconnection, burnout, or repeating relational cycles that are hard to break on their own. Together, we look at what’s happening in real time, emotionally, relationally, and internally, so we can shift patterns at their root rather than just manage symptoms.
My approach is grounded in attachment-based therapy and integrates IFS, EFT, Gottman Method couples work, and EMDR. I pay close attention to the emotional and nervous system patterns that show up in the room, especially the protective strategies that once helped but may now be getting in the way of connection.
What I’m Like in a Session
Clients often tell me they feel both seen and guided in our work together. My sensitivity allows me to notice and hold space for subtle, complex emotions, while my grounded approach supports clients in turning insight into meaningful change in their daily lives. I offer a compassionate space to slow down, reconnect, and move forward with intention.
At my core, my goal is to help you move from patterns that feel stuck to a way of relating to yourself and others that feels more grounded, connected, and intentional.
WHO I WORK WITH
We might be a good fit if you are looking for help with:
Repairing after infidelity (or any kind of betrayal where there is lost of trust)
Intimacy issues
Discernment on whether you should stay in your relationship
Breaking out of your cycle of miscommunication with your partner
Couples intensives
Postpartum support for moms and dads
Intergeneration trauma (special welcome to Vietnamese refugees)
Students adjusting to moving away from home
Entrepreneurs experiencing unique yet immense stressors that present themselves to those with an entrepreneurial spirit
Parenting of neurodivergent children