Hi, I’m Yoko.
I’m really glad you’ve found your way here.
I’m a Holistic & Integrative Psychotherapist and Clinical Social Worker Offering Virtual Therapy Across Massachusetts to help you feel lighter.
I specialize in supporting women of color, mixed-race and third-culture adults (TCKs), immigrants and children of immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ clients navigating trauma, anxiety, identity exploration, perfectionism, and relational stress—including consensual non-monogamy and complex family systems.
While these communities are the heart of my work, I also welcome anyone who has ever felt unseen, overwhelmed, out of place, or like they had to be “the strong one.”
If you’ve carried too much on your own or learned to blend in to survive—this space is for you.
How I Work
I hold space with honesty, care, and deep respect. In our sessions, you’re met with presence, not pressure — so you can grow at a pace that feels grounded and right for your nervous system. I use trauma-informed, energy-aware, and identity-inclusive lens.
My approach is holistic and integrative, blending:
Brainspotting
Somatic therapy & nervous-system work
Depth-oriented psychotherapy
Parts work
A spiritually grounded, culturally responsive lens
This means:
I trust your inner process.
Your body already carries its own wisdom and capacity to heal.
My role is to stay attuned, walk with you, and follow what naturally arises — nothing forced, nothing rushed.
This work helps you:
Reconnect with your body’s signals, intuition, and inner voice
Release perfectionism, self-criticism, and long-held survival patterns
Heal trauma at the root with clarity and compassion
Feel more grounded, regulated, and emotionally steady
Live with more ease, sovereignty, and presence
Curious how Brainspotting works? [Learn more →]
👉 Your next chapter begins here — Schedule your free consultation.
Additional Ways I Support Individuals & Communities
Alongside individual therapy, I also offer:
Therapeutic groups and healing retreats
Workshops and trainings for nonprofits, community organizations, and educational institutions
All services are grounded in culturally responsive, nervous-system–informed, and embodied healing.
👉 Let’s collaborate. Reach out to create a healing experience for you or your team.
Why Work with Me?
Talk therapy offers insight, coping strategies, and important clarity — and I value that deeply.
But over the years, I noticed something: insight alone didn’t always create the lasting change my clients wanted.
When I began integrating Brainspotting and somatic healing, everything shifted.
Clients shared things like:
“I feel different.”
“The things that used to trigger me don’t hit the same.”
“I feel lighter… like my body is finally catching up to my mind.”
That’s the kind of transformation I want for you —
healing that is felt, not forced.
Release Trauma. Thrive with Support.
What Shapes My Work
Before I became a clinical social worker and a psychotherapist, I earned a Master’s degree in International Education and worked in higher education designing & facilitating experientially-based intercultural programs.
I spent years helping people understand themselves, navigate belonging, and build meaningful connections across cultures.
Those experiences taught me how identity, migration, and systemic pressures shape our emotional worlds — and how the nervous system is always responding to environment, history, and relationships.
This foundation now informs my work as a holistic therapist: culturally grounded, relational, and attuned to the whole of who you are — mind, body, lineage, and lived experience.
My Story
I grew up moving between cultures, languages, and roles—always sensing the “in-between” spaces. As a Japanese immigrant and third-culture kid, I learned early what it feels like to search for belonging while carrying more than I should have had to.
These experiences shape the way I hold space today: with cultural humility, relational depth, and trust that your nervous system carries its own wisdom for healing.
I honor the feather—with respect for Native American traditions—as a symbol of balance and truth, and the ocean as a reminder of resilience, expansiveness, and our connection to something larger. I also acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional homeland of the Massachusett people, whose presence continues today.
My role isn’t to fix you, but to walk with you as you reconnect to what’s already inside you—your clarity, voice, and inner truth—at a pace that feels safe, spacious, and grounded.
If you’ve ever felt unseen, in-between, or like you had to hold everything together to belong, you’re not alone. You belong here.
“Your nervous system is actually responding in an appropriate way to the environment for the majority of the time. There's nothing wrong with you. ”
-Linda Thai, LMSW ERYT-200, Trauma Therapist
My RESUME
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Graduate Degrees:
Smith College - Master of Social Work
SIT Graduate Institute - Master of Arts in International Education
Undergraduate Degree:
Aoyama Gakuin University - Bachelor’s degree in International Economics
License:
License #123067 LICSW (The Common Wealth of Massachusetts)
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Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Primary Care
Hebrew Senior Life, Long Term Chronic Hospital Unit
Simmons University Counseling Center - Internship
Brigham and Woman’s Hospital, Faulkner Hospital Inpatient Psychiatry - Internship
Duke University, International House
Boston University, International Student and Scholars Office
Banco do Brasil - Tokyo Branch, Human Resources
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Certified Brainspotting Therapist
Brainspotting Trainings and Workshops
Brainspotting Phase 1 Attuning to BIPOC Experience, John Edwards and Linnea Swanson
Brainspotting Phase 2 Attuning to BIPOC Experience, John Edwards and Linnea Swanson
Brainspotting Phase 3 BIPOC with David Grand
Brainspotting Phase 5 BIPOC with David Grand
Brainspotting BIPOC Masterclass with David Grand
Developmental Trauma model of Brainspotting Digging Roots 1.0 BIPOC, Steve Sawyer
Brainspotting with LGBTQIA2S+ clients, Specialty Workshop, Cindy Smith and Pie Frey
Brainspotting with Relationships, Specialty Workshop, Jaegil Lee
Brainspotting with Children and Adolescents, Specialty Workshop, Monika Bauman
Posttraumatic Growth: Brainspotting & Parts Road Map to Liberation, Specialty Workshop, Cherie Lindberg
Harmonic Brain Healing, Specialty Workshop, Cynthia Schwartzberg
How to do Intensives, Specialty Workshop, Lisa Larson
SEBI Webinar: When the Body Fights Itself: Autoimmune Conditions and Brainspotting
SEBI Webinar: Sensory Gating & Dissociation with Dr. David Grand
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Linda Thai’s Certificate in Somatic Embodiment & Regulation Strategies
EMBODY LAB Integrative Somatic Trauma Therapy
Memory Reconsolidation: Translating Neuroscience into Art by Juliane Taylor Shore, LPC, LMFT, SEP via Academy of Therapy Wisdom
Intro to Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy
Foundations in Embodied Somatic Abolitionism by Dr. Resmaa Menakem
NCORE: National Conference on Race and Ethnicity organized by the University of Oklahoma University Outreach
NSGP: Northeastern Society for Group Psychotherapy Annual Conferences since 2015
Participation in Observation Group at the Brookline Community Health Center
One academic year of Weekly Experiential Group (interpersonal process group) organized by NSGP
The Power of Group: Prioritizing Connection in Fractured Times by NSGP and BGSP: The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis
Learning about Groups from Inside Out: A Day of Experiential Groups by NSGP and BGSP
Hospice & Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts Conference
Reconstructing Palliative Care: A Beginning Workshop
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Conference
AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) Immersion by Diana Fosha, PhD
A Soulful Warrior’s Six Session Journey to Transformation Through AEDP by Jerry Lamagna, LCSW
REIKI:
Usui Reiki Level 1 (2008)
Usui Reiki Level2 (2012)
Certified Usui Reiki Master Teacher (2023)
Vipassana 10 days Silent Meditation