Hi, I’m Chris

When I was 10, I felt like all I had was my diary to express my curiosities, frustrations, dreams, and worries. As a teenager, I often found myself listening to and supporting others—using blogs and poetry to hide my own fears, anxiety, and shame around growing up in Catholic and Filipino communities as a young queer person. When I moved from the Bay Area down to Southern California for college, I finally felt less alone.

Having the space to release the thoughts and emotions that I learned to repress deep within me made me less afraid to show up as my whole self. The opportunities to live out new stories about who I am influenced me to become a therapist so I could help others experience their own sense of freedom, curiosity, confidence, and creativity. I know first hand that being understanding, accepting, and less critical of yourself can take time.

I believe that how we show up in our relationships and manage our emotions is influenced by how we learned to survive, cope, and navigate an imperfect and unjust world. My role is to help you understand what parts of yourself have protected you and helped you make it this far, and explore the strengths and capacities that are already within you so that you feel more secure, creative, connected, and free to be all of who you are.

Outside of being a therapist I’m most likely playing with clay at a local pottery studio, biking along the LA river or exploring LA’s Hidden Stairs, at the library, resting, or being a cat dad to my sweet Benny boy.