Conversations with Gabriella Panjaitan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriella Panjaitan.

Hi Gabriella, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My journey started in Indonesia where I was born and brought up. I had witnessed most of my friends focus on a career path that seemed very well-defined, while I was still searching for mine. Little did I know, my late night chats with friends, being a big-picture deep thinker, and the overall capacity to hold space for others (aka being my friends’ ‘dumpster’ of drama) BECAME the career lol. I proceeded to choose Psychology as an undergrad major, then a Masters in Counseling degree focusing in Marriage & Family Therapy and also an MBA in Leadership & Management. As you can see, connection with people is my biggest commodity. Over time, I found my love for working with various populations and have since been a trauma-informed, culturally-sensitive clinical therapist, treating clients with depression, anxiety, PTSD, adjustment problems, self-esteem and identity-building issues, among others. I’m currently providing services all over Southern California through telehealth. I like to think that my work impacts more than just my clients but also the hundreds of lives they touch, then the next hundred, and the next hundred. The ripple effect of mental health work can be exponentially staggering, not to mention extremely fulfilling.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Where do I start with this one? Haha. Like other 1st Gen immigrants I faced challenges to get to where I am today. I had to pay for college and grad school out of pocket – with the exception of some grants – so shout out to my parents who intentionally worked to give me a life of no school loans. On top of that, getting licensed as a clinical therapist takes an exorbitant amount of money and time (3,000 clinical hours to be exact). And of course life had its twists and turns in the personal and emotional realms along the way. Through it all, I try my best to be present in the moment, intentional in my steps, and practice gratitude daily. Life has hit me hard a few times but I’m privileged to have remained afloat through the help of my support systems

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist or LMFT for short. My focus is in trauma work, and I am trained in EMDR which is a way that one desensitizes and reprocess their trauma. I am happy to be working with such amazing individuals, and proud of the work I do, but when a client meets their goal and sort of ‘graduates’ from treatment, that special feeling never gets old. That’s a chef’s kiss moment 🙂 I’m constantly evolving and learning new methods in my practice, but my work essentially starts with a genuine human connection.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was always that quirky one in the corner, reading and observing people from a young age. Adult interactions fascinated me as a child. I expressed myself through unique hairstyles, and my inner child was pretty much an old soul. I grew up in a Christian household and we are a family of musicians, so I sang and played piano more times than I can count, first at church then it evolved into weddings and gigs, as well as producing my own music album with my dad. As a family we also loved to travel, so by the time I was in highschool I was quite well-travelled. To this day I am still involved in music, especially with my latest project with friends called Archipelago Vocal Project, which is a collective of singers in SoCal who want to amplify Asian-American culture through music and art.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archipelagovocalproject?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Image Credits
Wanderlust Creatives