MY BEGINNING

My education in holistic nutrition began at a young age. In my food-loving Chinese family, the wisdom of “food as medicine” was passed down over generations. My parents and grandparents shaped my thinking and habits, imparting culinary and wellness knowledge, skills, and immense joy around food along the way.  The greater social and cultural environments of Hong Kong and Taiwan of my youth provided the larger historical and philosophical contexts surrounding nourishment, medicine, and nurturance.  Professional training, practice, and ongoing development enable me to integrate my heritage and beliefs in the healing powers of food to support my clients.

 

Motherhood, my experience as a schoolteacher, and interactions with my clients have opened my eyes to the many deeply rooted and powerful ways in which food and our relationship to it shape us and form the foundation of overall well-being. Like many before me who entered the healing field, I was initiated by personal health challenges and those of loved ones.  My own experiences and supporting others through complex health struggles and life transitions have taught me to value the uniqueness of every individual's needs.  I have also learned that we all carry wisdom and immense healing powers within ourselves – a conviction I hold sacred.

 

 

MY APPROACH

One of my goals as a holistic nutrition therapist is to help clients recognize and utilize their innate wisdom and strength.  Education is one way to support this goal.  By empowering my clients with information, they develop the confidence and conviction to choose and enact changes in ways that suit their needs and circumstances, at a pace and degree that is realistic and sustainable. 

 

Educators are taught to scaffold their teachings.  When I think about scaffolding, I often picture the traditional bamboo scaffolding used in Hong Kong for building construction and maintenance.  Every conjunction in this kind of bamboo structure is manually secured, using knots that have been tested over generations.  I draw inspiration from this practice and strive to translate its essence, passed down over generations from master to apprentice, into my therapeutic process with my clients.

 

Like the bamboo scaffolding that is meticulously built from the ground up, the therapeutic structure I create for my clients begins with a solid foundation.  My process starts with deep listening, open discussions, and thorough data collection, which enable us to identify areas that require targeted interventions and education.  I strive to make every step of this therapeutic process like one of those carefully executed scaffolding knots – a trustworthy, secure and reliable human touch.  The result is a web of support that is light-weight, agile, and resilient, able to bend and sway and weather the elements.  It is adjustable and adaptable, neither rigid nor permanent.  My goal is for my clients to amass practical tools and develop healthful and flexible strategies that are sustainable.

 

 

MY TRAINING

I received my certification for Nutrition Therapy Master (NTM) from the Nutritional Therapy Institute, where I received an in-depth and well-rounded education in areas spanning anatomy & physiology, biochemistry, nutrition science, clinical nutrition in pathology, dietary testing, herbology, supplementation, health coaching, personal relationships with food, and ethical health and business practices.  My multi-lingual and multi-cultural upbringing, education and life experiences have also gifted me an unquantifiable and unqualifiable training and sensitivity that help me connect with clients of all ages and cultures from all walks of life.

 

 

ONGOING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I am currently in training to be credentialed as an Oncology Nutrition Consultant (ONC).  Other areas of formal and self-guided continuing education include:

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• Nutritional Psychiatry

• Trauma-sensitive Therapeutic Practices

• Nutrition in Traditional Chinese Medicine

• Nutritional and Integrative Medicine for Mental Health Disorders

• Nutrition Practices in Functional Health and Functional Blood Analysis