Kamusta, I’m Jenn!

I am a second-generation Filipina-Californian and incredibly proud to be both. My dad immigrated to the United States by way of Hawai’i in the late 70’s. My mom joined him in California in the late 80’s, and I was born in Oakland. I lived in the Bay Area until I moved to Seattle in 2019, and I visit home often.

What brought me to work in the mental health field was my personal experiences with violence and trauma, witnessing generational trauma within my family, and how the impact has showed up in our collective relationship dynamics.

I have a five year old rescue dog named Poppy and we love snoozing, going to the beach, and playing fetch. She is usually in the background during sessions.
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Outside of work I enjoy baking, traveling, reading memoirs, and spending time with loved ones.

I graduated from the University of Washington’s Master of Social Work program with a clinical focus in June 2023, and hold a Social Work Associate Independent Clinical License (LSWAIC) in the State of Washington (SC61314809) and work under the supervision of Sile Grace Matsui, MSW, LICSW.

Most of my recent work experience has been at the intersection of gender-based violence and housing & homelessness fields— for the past five years I held direct service, administrative, and program management roles. Currently in addition to being a therapist in the private practice setting I am also an Emergency Department Social Worker with UW Medicine.

My overall therapeutic approach is integrative —I allow each client to guide the therapeutic space and I ‘ll offer relevant psychoeducation as it comes up. I am relational— the relationship between myself and a client is seen as a significant element of the healing process, as the therapeutic relationship develops clients can explore and understand their relational patterns. I believe that a therapeutic relationship is non-hierarchical— there is an implied power dynamic between therapist and client but I am only human too, I see my own therapist regularly (and have previously done EMDR), and I consult with peers often! I am direct but warm, more pragmatic than theoretical. I prefer bottom-up therapy, which emphasizes identifying somatic /sensory responses to stressors (body), than top-down therapy which focuses on cognition and reframing experiences of stressors (brain).

    • Domestic Violence Advocacy: Before going to school and being a therapist, I was a domestic violence advocate. I supported survivors of domestic violence in their process of self-empowerment by providing emotional support, connected to resources and services, and had a front seat to their healing.

    • Liberation Psychology: “to empower marginalized and oppressed communities to understand and confront the systemic injustices they face. It seeks to address the psychological consequences of oppression, including trauma, low self-esteem, and learned helplessness, by fostering critical consciousness and collective action. Liberation psychology aims to promote social change by challenging oppressive structures and advocating for social justice and equality.” -Nahid Nasrat, PsyD

      Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT): “built on the premise that, throughout the lifespan, human beings grow through and toward connection. We need connections to flourish, even to stay alive, and isolation is a major source of suffering for people, at both a personal and cultural level.”

    • Ecological Systems Theory: “concerned with the interaction and interdependence of individuals with their surrounding systems, assessing how individuals affect and are affected by such physical, social, political, and cultural systems.”

    • (Attended) PESI’s Polyvagal Theory in Action: Creating Safety & Connection with Trauma Clients, March 2025

      • Conceptualization of the autonomic nervous system and the emergent properties of different autonomic states to deepen the science that drives patterns of connection and protection, and explore how to help clients safely tune into their autonomic states, reshape their nervous systems, and rewrite the trauma stories that are carried in their autonomic pathways.

    • (Attended) International OCD Foundation’s Behavior Therapy Training Institute (BTTI) for Treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Communities of Color, May 2024

      • Intensive training course in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), a form of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), for treating individuals with OCD and related disorders.

    • (Facilitated) Domestic Violence Housing & Homelessness Resources Training, April 2024

      • In my former role as the DV Housing Systems Manager at the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence, I created and facilitated this training for gender-based violence advocates in the Greater Seattle Area to learn more about local DV-specific and mainstream housing & homelessness programs and related resources.

    1. Big Three: Aquarius ☀️, Aries 🌙, Leo ⬆️ (and 🐒 in Chinese zodiac)

    2. Favorite food: 😋🍲Filipino, Mexican, Thai

    3. First job: 📝 Grading homework packets at Kumon, I was 16 years old.

    4. Go-to karaoke songs: 🎤🎶 Weak by SWV, Santeria by Sublime, You’re Still the One by Shania Twain

    5. Favorite fictional characters: Sailor Moon 💖, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice 📖

    6. First car: 🚗 1996 Honda Civic DX (hatchback) 🚘

    7. Favorite Albums: 💽 First Impressions of Earth by The Strokes (2006); good kid, m.A.A.d city by Kendrick Lamar (2011); Bloom by Beach House (2012)

    8. Hidden talent: 🇵🇭 In undergrad, I choreographed and performed two traditional Filipino dances, 🥢Tinikling and 🕯️Pandanggo Sa Ilaw.

    9. Random fact: 🩸I have a BA in Biology and used to work at a blood bank lab and processed donated blood to send to hospitals for transfusions and surgeries. 🏥