I am a Japanese American clinical psychologist who was born in New York but grew up in Tokyo for the first 10 years of my life. My family moved back to the States when I was 10 years old, so I am fluent in both English and Japanese. I received by Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in 1987, completed my Masters in Psychology from the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah) in 1994, and obtained my Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Utah in 1999. My doctoral dissertation topic was on PTSD in female civilian population.
My work history has been mostly in community mental health settings and have specialised in both substance abuse and adult mental health. I was a clinic director at a rural community mental health centre for 3 years in Moab, Utah, prior to moving to Queenstown, New Zealand, where I resided for 11 years before moving to Auckland, New Zealand in 2021. My interests include drug court programmes, depression/anxiety management, personality disorders, Asian populations, and effects of exercising in mental health wellbeing. I currently work as a senior clinical psychologist for Habit Health in Auckland.
