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Sapphire YuehChun Chao, LCAT, ATR-BC

She / Her

Tier III Therapist 

Life is a journey, a continuous process. Some processes can be difficult to deal with. Maybe it is a struggle with a relationship or maybe it is about a life transition. We may feel confused, anxious, stuck, or even have difficulty breathing. Allowing someone to support this challenging process can be a great relief and insightful. 

 

Partnering with me, we can gain better insight into your feelings, emotions, and thoughts and how you adapted them to your roles in relationships and to your perspectives on your surroundings. When we have unprocessed feelings and emotions, we may experience repetitive patterns and find it difficult to pinpoint the reason. With your permission, we will pay close attention to your physical sensations, embodied emotions, and internal world. The process of feeling “feelings” sometimes can be uncomfortable. You may find it difficult to verbalize your internal world. We can use a combination of art, and creativity, and talk to work through it with new perspectives. 

 

I speak Mandarin, Taiwanese, and English.

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Partnering with me, we can gain better insight into your feelings, emotions, and thoughts and how you adapted them to your roles in relationships and to your perspectives on your surroundings.

My Story

Moving from Taiwan to the States, my immigrant background helps me attune with immigrants and their families, and Asian-Americans, to work through depression, anxiety, trauma, cross-cultural adjustment, codependency, and/or perfectionist tendency. 

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I have a great experience with developmental trauma, relational challenges, and cross-generational differentiation with couples and families. We all have the desire to be heard and seen in a relationship but sometimes our own insecurity and miscommunication can be a block. I facilitate a compassionate and collaborative space for couples and families to enhance assertive communication and embrace the difference and similarities in a relationship.

Therapeutic Approaches

As an integrative therapist, my approach is holistic and humanistic, incorporating a combination of art therapy and psychotherapy. I am trained in evidence-based techniques such as: Mindfulness, Trauma Focussed Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), and Internal Family System (IFS). My approach is multi-culturally informed, attachment-based and emotion-focused to help individuals and couples integrate their internal conflict and external stresses toward healthy relationships and mind-body wellness.

 

In art therapy, making pretty things is not a priority. Art therapy is more about how we use art to express ourselves and our perspectives. Art-making is a mindful and fun process in a contained space to engage in your internal world with sensations and somatic experiences. As we explore your artwork, we gain deeper insights into the story behind your art. Once we allow those discomforts to speak to us, we are able to make sense of it and eventually have compassion for ourselves. I will hold a safe space for you to trust our therapeutic alliance so you will connect your creativity and curiosity through art. 

 

Seeing a therapist may sound intimidating, but sharing your story with a supportive professional allows your story to be heard and seen. I believe with holistic support throughout the sessions you are able to embrace your own resilience which motivates you to take the lead in your journey.

Specialties

Anxiety, depression, high achiever, internal conflict, trauma, attachment, life transition and adjustment, sexual identity, relationship issues, couples & parent-child therapy, grief, self-harming & suicide prevention, low self-esteem, parenting coaching (pregnancy to early childhood)

Credentials 

  • License: New York State / Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT) #002513

  • American Board Certified and Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC) 

  • Degree: Long Island University/Master’s in Clinical Art Therapy and Counseling

  • Degree: Taipei Municipal University of Education/Bachelor of Counseling Psychology

  • Certificate: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

  • Certificate: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

  • Certificate: Parent-child Intensive Certification (Ackerman Institute for the Family)

  • Certificate: Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) Core Skills

  • Advanced training: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Intensive Supervision (ongoing)

  • Advanced training: Internal Family System (IFS) Circle

  • Advanced training: Integrating Internal Family Systems and Art Therapy

  • Advanced training: Integrating Art Therapy with Psychodrama

Professional Experience

  • Clinical Supervisor for Masters Level NYU and SVA Students

  • Stuyvesant High School Contracted Therapist

  • University Settlement Early Childhood Center

  • Taichung Veteran Hospital Community Suicide Prevention 

  • Kadimah PROS Psychiatric Outpatient Program 

  • Kids Esteem Montessori School

  • Taipei LongAn Elementary School

  • Taipei Municipal Hospital Psychiatric acute unit and outpatient

  • Hulan Immigrant Community Foundation Play Therapy Support

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