culturally integrative therapy for multicultural, bipoc, and queer or questioning individuals & couples in maryland, washington dc & international therapy
Finding a Therapist Who Understands Your Cultural and Personal Identity
During my early years of looking for a therapist, I really struggled to find a therapist who a.) was not white and b.) really understood my unique lived experience as someone who is multicultural, multiracial, and comes from a blended multifaith family. When I decided to become a therapist, it was in part to disrupt a system where it is estimated that up to 86% of therapists are white. Many therapists take cultural competence courses and on a cursory level may do some work around racial bias, however in my experience it is not the deep and embodied work that is necessary to confront whiteness and how that power shows up in their therapy practice and the therapy space.
The root of many Western models of therapy often diminish the profound importance that culture, race, queerness, and other identity intersections play in the impact on our mental health. Even beyond that, there is little discourse that holds responsible the role of systemic harm in endeavoring to keep our communities unwell. During my studies, I often found culture and race being added as a foot note or paragraph at the end of a chapter. This is why culturally integrative therapy means SO much to me, this is a term I worked hard on excavating because there was no traditional models that could really speak to what it means to infuse, permeate, and foundationally center culture in the therapy space while modeling their values in action.
To all my BIPOC, multicultural, LGBTQ+ queer or questioning, 1st generation, 2nd generation, adult children of immigrant parents, folk and kin- I so deeply resonate with the journey you are on to find a therapist who truly honors and understands your lived experiences.
At Calamansi Counseling, we offer culturally integrative, trauma-informed therapy, that integrates somatic and feminist approaches while drawing on cultural and ancestral pathways for healing.
Why Culture & Identity Matter in Therapy
Our mental health is shaped by so many different factors including but not limited to: family, community, generational patterns, societal expectations, systems of harm, colonialism, fascism, immigration and assimilation experiences to name a few. If you're:
A child of immigrant parents navigating two, three or more cultures. Maybe you identify as a third culture kid.
A queer or questioning person seeking a safe, compassionate, and nonjudgmental space to explore your queerness.
A BIPOC individual navigating chronic racial stress of what it means to be a person of color in the united states, microaggressions, macroaggressions, white privilege, or overt and covert experiences of racism.
A multicultural couple navigating conflict, intimacy, communication, or familial pressures impacting your marriage or relationship. Or you’re a couple that would like to explore premarital counseling.
Someone who is looking for politicized therapy, where the intersection of mental health and social justice meet, a mental health practice that provides liberatory healing.
Exhale, you are in the right place.
Who We Work With
At Calamansi Counseling we specialize in working with:
First or second-generation immigrants navigating the unique challenges of holding multiple cultural identities, who have experienced trauma, anxiety or depression in response to the political and global climate, the weight of cultural expectations, family wounds or conflict—alongside the everyday stress of balancing career, relationships, and a sense of self.
BIPOC professionals and students facing burnout, moral injury, imposter syndrome, or racial trauma.
Queer and questioning individuals navigating their relationship with queerness and self-acceptance
Multicultural individuals and couples ready to heal from intergenerational trauma and break cycles of silence and violence.
Whether you’re based in Ellicott City, Columbia, Baltimore, Silver Spring, Dupont Circle or anywhere in Maryland or Washington DC, we’re here for you — in-person in Ellicott City, MD or online. Many of our clients are looking for a therapist in the DMV and live right across the river in Virginia, Falls Church, Alexandria, McLean, or Arlington but work and play in DC or Maryland where we are licensed to see clients. Looking for an international therapist or therapy for someone living abroad? Reach out and let’s see if we can work together!
Ready to Begin Your Healing Journey?
For many adult children of immigrant parents, even thinking about starting therapy is already going outside of the norm. Growing up we might have heard things like ‘it’s shameful to share our family secrets or problems with other people.’ I totally get that. Many of our parents grew up in collectivist cultures, where maintaining the harmony of the family unit and the family’s image was ESSENTIAL TO SURVIVAL. Anything that could disrupt this harmony or ostracize them from the safety net of the wider community was a threat. However for many of us multicultural and diaspora kids, who grew up in the West between the pull of individualistic and collectivist cultures, it is no longer essential to our survival, and actually because we do not have the same level of support and community that the generations before us had, it puts us at HIGH RISK for isolation and internalizing feelings of shame which negatively impacts our mental health.
You don’t need to have everything figured out — just a willingness to show up and reaching out is the first step.
Serving Maryland, DC, and surrounding areas & offering international therapy in select countries
Contact us for a free 15-minute consultation
Online and in-person sessions available
