Josephine Suh

Hello!

I’m Josie, a licensed psychotherapist, grief counselor and brainspotter—trained in the east coast (Philly, NYC), now practicing in the Bay Area. 

I’m passionate about helping people find what they need to move from psychological pain to a meaningful life.

If you’ve ever…

• felt dread at the passing of time, at the thought of another day feeling the way you feel

• fantasize incessantly about how different your life could be

• asked yourself “Why can’t I seem to…?” “Why does it feel this way?” “What’s wrong with me?”

• read every blog post and book out there on mental health, overthought and overanalyzed your problem to death but can’t seem to make any meaningful change toward the kind of life you want to live

• felt guilty that everything in your life is great but your feelings don’t match up to your reality

• wonder if the way you’re grieving or feeling numb inside is “normal” or if you’re “overreacting”

I truly believe that therapy can help. I know because I’ve experienced this firsthand.

As a therapist and human being, I understand the feelings of powerlessness that come with being at your wit’s end.

Years before I became a therapist, I was a college student dealing with a mental health problem. Despite my efforts to tame it with hard work and discipline, the values that seemed to work for me in every other area of life, it grew worse.

What I found most challenging about my own experience was that my struggles didn’t make sense—to me, or to anyone else around me. It didn’t fit with everything I knew about myself and my life up until that point. Such mystery wouldn’t be an issue if I was dealing with some abstract research topic, but this was my life. Not understanding what was “wrong” with me meant also that I felt so helpless in the areas that make life worth living: my sense of purpose in the world, my experience of self, my relationships with others.

In the midst of my confusion, I made a choice that you are perhaps at the crossroads of making today: a choice to seek help from a therapist.

Slowly and over many years, both as a client and therapist, an entire universe opened up for me, one with its own rules and theories. I was like Alice falling down a rabbit hole, trying to make sense of the wacky and wonderful world of emotional and mental health. Through my own therapy and years of training, I’ve learned that…

sometimes up is down and down is up, but there are discernible patterns and tools, ones that we can use to help us make changes in our inner and outer lives.

And ultimately, through this crazy adventure, I’ve found my way to a fulfilling life, one I feel so grateful I wake up each day to live. :)

Calling all…

• high school students, college students, emerging adults/adults in transition

• adult professionals (I have experience working with clients in the following professions: healthcare, publishing, finance, film production, and academia.)

• survivors of loss struggling with bereavement, prolonged/complicated loss, anticipatory loss, pet loss, end of a relationship, traumatic loss (due to accident, suicide, etc.)

• overthinkers, intellectuals, and creatives who feel like their mysterious mental health problems are standing in the way of a productive life or fulfilling relationships.

• BIPOC, mixed-race, transracially adopted, international student, or first/second/third/fourth generation immigrant - people who feel in part or wholly “invisible” to the dominant culture, dizzy from code-switching, want to know how their histories affect their present mental wellness. 

• Koreans, Korean Americans, and Asian Americans seeking a therapist who understands how social-cultural-family dynamics work in their country of origin (I speak Korean with conversational fluency. 조금 서툴지만 한국어로도 상담이 가능합니다.) 

• bicoastal individuals and couples who split their time between SF Bay Area, LA & NYC for school, work, or long-distance relationships (I am licensed in both CA & NY).

• associate level therapists who are trying to manage difficult countertransference, understand how their personal histories affect their work, or want a dedicated space where they can receive care while giving care to others. 

For more information about my approach and credentials, expand the menu below or visit my website! https://www.jsuhtherapy.com

• Specialties

  • grief in all its forms - traumatic, complex, prolonged (over one year without any change), bereavement, pet loss, multiple/compounded, anticipatory

  • existential crises

  • racialized psychological processes, issues of identity and not fitting “neatly” into prescribed categories.

  • trauma, acute & complex

  • constant worry even when things are “good,” out-of-nowhere panic

  • low self-esteem

  • compulsive bingeing of food, media

  • depression, perfectionism and emotional “numbing”/depersonalization

• My Approach

  • I approach therapy from a neurobiologically-informed, psychoanalytic perspective. In other words, I am highly attuned and sensitive to your unconscious processes and relational dynamics while remaining grounded in research on how our physical brains and bodies actually function.

  • I am also informed and aware of the effects of intergenerational trauma, gender norms and racialized psychological processes on your mental health. I invite your exiled parts/selves to be a part of your healing journey. I understand and hold myself accountable to the history of and potential of mental health systems in causing harm rather than healing. I am queer affirming.

  • I have experience working with trauma & traumatic grief and loss. I started my pre-therapy career working with survivors of domestic violence and therapy career working with survivors of homicide and gun violence in Philadelphia. I’m not a shrinking violet, I can be your support through some heavy shit.

  • I am a Christian with a deconstructed and reconstructed faith. I have worked with people from many faith backgrounds and am open to including spirituality in our work if it’s helpful to you.

• Training & Education

  • Brainspotting Phase 1

  • Prolonged Grief Disorder Treatment, Columbia University

  • Gottman Method for Couples Therapy Levels 1 & 2

  • Foundations in Psychoanalysis at the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles

  • Internship at the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, a community mental health clinic for traumatic grief

  • M.S.W. from the University of Pennsylvania

  • LCSW in CA #119081  and NY #110932

Ready to get in touch?

I can’t wait to hear from you.