Today we’d like to introduce you to Hieu Pham.
Hi Hieu, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My roots in the San Gabriel Valley as a child of Vietnamese refugees sets the stage for my journey into the field of Social Work. I grew up informed by the narrative of those who fled their war-torn country by boat knowing they were to face precarious scenarios before settling in America with hopes of fulfilling the American Dream.
Surrounded by Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in an ethnic enclave determined safe and secure “enough” for what we needed at the time, my family was able to assimilate into the American society and its social expectations because of the help available from our community. Our community understood our cultural values and our norms. Simultaneously, staying so close to our community brought up disparities that hindered our abilities to fulfill greater needs to fully acclimate to expectations of our new society. These barriers became much more evident to me in my adulthood as I left the security of our ethnic enclave to explore and establish an identity in a new community strikingly different from home.
When I left my childhood home to study in San Diego, CA, I continued to grow in my independent era. I realized then how personally informed I was by my childhood narrative, and I am grateful for the professional opportunities that I had working as a Community Organizer with communities displaced by war and conflict from Mexico, the Middle East, African, and Southeast Asia. While working in this capacity, I was exposed to the resilience of the families whom I served and their passion to reclaim their narrative. Most importantly I came to witness that one’s ability to rewrite one’s narrative in a helpful way is attained through provision of resources that juxtapose the balance of the resources meeting their unique needs and meeting the established goals and needs of their greater society.
I had established early on in my adolescence that I wanted to serve my community in a career that emphasized recognizing human dignity and securing a healthy sense of self, specifically through exploring intricate and untapped needs in the space of therapy. In my adulthood, I came to understand the importance of also focusing on generational trauma and its impact on an individual sense of security and attachment to self. I became more passionate about providing a “safe enough” space to balance the nuances of biculturalism and the complexities of displacement by any means of trauma into my work as I support others who desired to rewrite their narratives and reestablish their identities.
Through this experience, I have dedicated a large part of my career today in a private practice that supports individuals who seek to better understand themselves in their journey to reestablishing their identities. I strive to do so by holding nonjudgmental and curious space in our work so that they can learn to trust themselves through both the lens of the narrative that was once told to them and through the lens of attaining the current needs that they determine are important to becoming who they desire to be today.
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?
I believe that each obstacle and barrier placed before me has been set there for a reason.
As a child of refugee parents who prioritized survival in a foreign society, I grew up quite early on, on a technical level. However, without the culturally appropriate resources or opportunities to unpack and process the impact of profound generational trauma on my sense of self, I began my journey into this helping profession with internal habits and patterns that eventually caught up to me and derailed me.
My academic career is that of a “super senior’s”, with many delays in both my undergraduate and graduate studies that forced me into periods of pause and reflection. Fortunately, along the winding road, I had community beside me who reminded me of my strengths and reinforced in me the permission to make the changes I needed to make to be truly successful.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I have a private practice that serves clients both in person at my office in Orange County and virtually within the state boundaries of California. I support individuals who seek me out to walk alongside their mental health journey.
I especially enjoy working with young adults and individuals who are struggling to make decisions, who are facing periods of major change, or who are experiencing relationship challenges that are perhaps rooted in unresolved challenges that they faced from an earlier period in their lifetime. As a therapist who is Certified in EMDR Therapy, I specialize in trauma, specifically attachment wounds and the impact of unprocessed generational trauma on one’s sense of self.
I am most proud of my ability to provide services fluently in Vietnamese, as I am bilingual and bicultural. I have been able to bridge the gap and soften the stigma around receiving mental health support in my own community because I speak the language of my elders and was raised in the traditions and practices that transcended their emigration stories. At the same time, I was born and raised in America, therefore I have an understanding of how our rich culture impedes on the vulnerable journey of seeking help.
Having a professional foundation in Community Organizing where I worked alongside displaced communities to rewrite their narrative trough identification of needs and establishment of resources to secure self sufficiency, I am different from other therapists. I approach my clients through a lens of humility where you come in as an expert in your life and your needs. I aim to provide a safe enough space where you feel unjudged while I invite you with curiosity to teach me about your life, your unique challenges, and your needs as I support you in reaching your goals in therapy.
Any big plans?
My goals are to maintain consistency and stability at my practice so that my clients can continue to work on the goals we established in treatment, while also establishing my role as a Practicum Instructor for Social Work graduate students at local community colleges and universities.
I have always enjoyed learning, so as of late, my next professional pursuit is completing my program to become a Certified Perinatal Mental Health Professional. I believe supporting parents adjust through challenges faced early on in their parenting journey coincide naturally with my passion to support individuals heal from childhood attachment wounds.
Beyond my passion to learn and to support individuals in their mental health journeys, I am invested in mentoring future helping professionals. Social Work is such a versatile field. Having walked both paths as a community organizer and as a clinician, to now being an entrepreneur with my own private practice, I understand the depth of how the skills of a social worker can be applied in various ways in the helping profession. I am excited to offer my wisdom from my varied experiences to young professionals as they begin their phase of career development and discernment.
Meanwhile, I do look forward to my next adventure in Mother Nature. You may find me looking for rainbows in a storm, frolicking in a field of flowers, brushing my way through a lush green forest to chase a waterfall, or leaf peeping my way across America. Self care is essential to feeling grounded for my clients and my students, and I find myself most grounded in the elements!
Pricing:
- $185 / standard 50-min session of Individual Therapy
Contact Info:
- Website: https://crossingbridgestogether.com/
- Other: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/hieu-pham-garden-grove-ca/715201
