Our Mental Health Professionals

Meet the mental health professionals supporting our mission through expert insight, compassionate perspectives, and a shared commitment to emotional wellbeing.

Nancy Phung-Smith, LMFT

Nancy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Founder and Clinical Supervisor of SOULFLO Therapy, a group practice specializing in trauma-focused therapy. The group also partners with Riverside City College (RCC) Psychological Services to provide free therapy sessions to students. As an LMFT, her goal is to understand both the cultural context and the clinical tools to help people heal, not just cope.

My parents were boat people, I am second-generation. I did not understand or speak English until I was in 1st grade. Growing up in a Vietnamese family, I witnessed firsthand how much pain gets carried in silence. Mental health wasn’t something we talked about—you pushed through, you kept going, you didn’t burden others. Over time I came to understand that what looked like strength was often unprocessed grief, trauma, and stress being passed down and held in the body. That recognition—that so many of us were suffering without language for it or access to help—became the foundation of my calling. I wanted to be the person I didn’t see growing up: someone who understood both the cultural context and the clinical tools to help people actually heal, not just cope.

There are values in Vietnamese culture that I hold with deep respect — collectivism, resilience, sacrifice, family loyalty. But these same values can become barriers when it comes to mental health. The emphasis on not bringing shame to the family, prioritizing everyone else’s needs before your own, and the tendency to express distress through physical symptoms rather than emotional language — these create a particular kind of invisible suffering. Many in our community also carry intergenerational trauma from war, displacement, and refugee experiences that was never named or processed. When mental health is seen as a luxury or a sign of weakness, that suffering gets inherited by the next generation without anyone realizing it’s happening.

That healing is not a betrayal of your culture — it’s an act of love for everyone who comes after you. There’s a myth that seeking therapy means you’re weak, broken, or ungrateful for what your family survived. I’ve seen the opposite to be true: when you do your own healing work, you stop passing the pain forward. You show up differently for your children, your parents, your community. The resilience our ancestors modeled got us here — but we don’t have to keep suffering to honor them. We can choose to be the generation that breaks the cycle.

I’m Nancy Phung-Smith, LMFT, and I’m part of Soulflotherapy, a group practice based in San Diego. We specialize in trauma-focused therapy using EMDR, IFS (Internal Family Systems), and Brainspotting. We accept most major insurances, so accessing culturally responsive care doesn’t have to come with a financial barrier.

We also partner with Riverside City College (RCC) Psychological Services to provide free therapy sessions to students because we believe healing should be accessible to the next generation of our community, not just those who can afford it.

For those who are ready to go deeper, I offer therapy intensives — concentrated, immersive sessions designed to do in one or a few days what traditional weekly therapy might take months to reach. This format is especially meaningful for people who feel stuck or who don’t have the luxury of waiting. Learn more at soulflotherapy.com.

I also want to highlight a few resources I trust and encourage our community to explore:

Anise Health (anisehealth.co) is a platform I love pointing people to. Built specifically for the AAPI community, Anise Health was created to make therapy culturally attuned, accessible, and truly effective — so clients don’t have to educate their therapists or set aside their cultural identity at the door. They offer a combination of one-on-one therapy, coaching, and self-service digital tools that acknowledge cultural context and address your unique needs as part of the Asian community. We’re proud to be a partner practice; you can find our Soulflotherapy clinicians listed directly on their platform.

The Asian Mental Health Collective (asianmhc.org) and NAMI’s AAPI resources are also excellent starting points for anyone looking for a provider who truly understands your background.

BOOKS:

Permission to Come Home by Dr. Jenny T. Wang – This book takes Asian Americans on an empowering journey toward reclaiming their mental health, weaving personal narrative as a Taiwanese American with clinical insights and evidence-based tools. It’s the book I most often recommend to clients and community members as a starting point.

Where I Belong by Soo Jin Lee & Linda Yoon – Written by two therapists who witnessed how mental health issues often went unaddressed in their own immigrant families, this book places Asian American experiences front and center to help readers process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma.

What Happened to You? by Oprah Winfrey & Dr. Bruce Perry T – Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” — a reframe that opens the door to understanding our past, building resilience, and healing. This is a beautiful, accessible read for anyone who is just beginning to explore their trauma story—especially for community members who may not yet have the language for what they’ve been carrying.

Trang Phan, M.A., LMFT

Trang is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Founder of Depth Psychotherapy San Diego. She has 16 years of experience specializing in trauma-informed and culturally-competent care. Her work spans schools, medical clinics, hospitals, community and virtual spaces, with a deep focus on supporting trauma healing through integrative methods. She is also part of the Trauma Recovery Network, offering probono services to disaster survivors and first responders.

When I was a child, I experienced recurring night terrors, which I imagine were connected to the struggles my family was navigating at the time. My parents were Vietnamese immigrants rebuilding their lives in America after war, while facing racism, isolation, financial hardship, and the emotional weight of survival.

During those night terrors, I could hear hundreds—if not thousands—of people crying for help. Even as a child, I felt deeply impacted by human suffering, and from that point on, I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to understanding and alleviating it.

Because of the acculturation challenges and instability my family experienced, I moved frequently throughout childhood, attending three elementary schools, three middle schools, and three high schools. In many ways, I became the quiet observer—deeply intrigued by human behavior.

This curiosity eventually led me toward psychology, philosophy, and deep self-inquiry. I later studied abroad in Paris, retracing my father’s footsteps while studying contemporary French thought and Western philosophy. During graduate school, I found myself increasingly drawn toward Eastern healing traditions and philosophies, particularly Buddhism, Taoism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, yoga, massage therapy, and the sutras.

While studying Jungian psychology and participating in a visualization exercise, the image of Kuan Yin emerged—her eyes cast downward, embodying “she who hears the cries of the world.” That image became a cornerstone of my approach to healing and compassion: the importance of witnessing suffering with presence, humanity, self-compassion, and care.

Over time, these experiences expanded my understanding of healing beyond the mind and into the body and nervous system. Today, my work is a synthesis of these experiences—an integrative and holistic approach shaped by both formal training and lived experience. My hope is to help others in our community cultivate greater self-awareness, emotional safety, compassion, and healing within themselves and their relationships.
I believe many cultural values within the Vietnamese community deeply shape how we approach mental health today. Values such as collectivism, compassion, resilience, respect for elders and lineage, loyalty to family, and perseverance are beautiful strengths that create strong communities and support systems.

At the same time, some of these values can unintentionally make emotional expression or receiving help more difficult. There is often an emphasis on sacrifice, endurance, achievement, and “saving face,” which can lead individuals to suppress emotional pain, prioritize others over themselves, or feel guilt and shame around vulnerability. Many first-generation families also carry intergenerational trauma related to war, displacement and survival, yet emotional processing was not always culturally modeled or accessible.

I believe our community is now in an important transitional space—one where we can continue honoring our cultural values while also creating more emotional safety, authenticity, and openness around mental health. To me, healing is not about abandoning our culture, but about evolving it in ways that better support the well-being of future generations.
I wish more people in our community understood that mental health is just as important as physical health.

Emotional safety and emotional processing are essential to psychological well-being. When we are unable to fully process our experiences, trauma responses can become stored within the body. Our nervous system develops survival adaptations that shape the way we think, feel, relate, and move through the world. When we are empowered with knowledge and understanding of these processes, we gain greater agency in the choices we make.

This understanding is universal because it is rooted in human biology, not limited by culture or background. At the same time, community, authentic connection, and emotional honesty are also vital for mental health. In many cultures, including Vietnamese culture, there is often an emphasis on “saving face.” While this may come from a place of protection, survival, or respect, it can sometimes come at the cost of authenticity and emotional safety within the family system.

I also wish our community understood that behind many of our choices are deeply rooted values and beliefs—many of which have been passed down through generations. These inherited beliefs often become the invisible forces shaping the lives we create. Without conscious awareness of them, we can end up living reactively rather than intentionally, repeating patterns we did not consciously choose or feeling obligated to continue them out of loyalty, duty, or respect for our elders.

I believe it is important to hold reverence for where these beliefs came from and why they emerged, while also allowing space to adapt and evolve them. As we step into new and ever-changing environments, we must ask ourselves which values continue to serve resilience, connection, and well-being for future generations.
My clinical work focuses on healing intergenerational trauma and reforming core beliefs that shape the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the world around us. To support this process, I take an integrative and holistic approach to psychotherapy—working with both the mind and the body.

As a first-generation Vietnamese American therapist, I am especially passionate about supporting other mothers and working women. I believe that in order to help future generations thrive, we must also support the women carrying the emotional, cultural, and relational responsibilities of those generations. Many first-generation individuals carry unspoken burdens tied to survival, sacrifice and adaptation. However, healing these patterns requires not only insight, but also emotional safety, connection, and community.

Therefore, in addition to psychotherapy, I offer nervous system and trauma-informed wellness experiences designed to help individuals step outside of old patterns by reconnecting with themselves in restorative, nature-based environments—primarily near or in the ocean through experiences such as yoga, breathwork, snorkeling and freediving, in collaboration with trained water guides. These offerings include women’s circles, women’s wellness and spa workshops, and ocean immersion retreats centered around megafauna encounters, embodiment practices, nervous system education and integration.

These experiences are designed to cultivate body awareness, nervous system understanding, authentic connection, and practical tools for living with greater presence and intentionality. My hope is to create spaces that support both individual healing and collective resilience within our community.

depthpsychotherapysd.com –wellness offerings are found on wellness page.

Tri Nguyễn, PhD, LMFT

Tri is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Founder of Constructing Possibilities. With over 15 years of experience in community mental health, non-profit and military populations, he’s passionate about providing culturally-responsive therapies, increasing access to care and promoting resiliency with clients.

I wanted to work in mental health because I have had a deep interest in the human mind and want to be able to help people overcome life challenges. Personally, I grew up in a very violent home, witnessing much of it between my parents and how substance use destroyed my father. The lack of accessible mental health services and the stigma of help-seeking in our culture also played a role in my effort to help bridge the gap in mental healthcare.

I think the values of hard work (sacrifice) and shame play a big role in how our community approaches mental health. Hard work and sacrifice are two values that most Vietnamese people embrace because it’s based on confucian traditions, war history and immigration experiences. These values teach resilience and toughness but they also create barriers/stigma against seeking help for mental health challenges. People would often downplay their suffering and wait until the problem gets really bad before they seek help, which can be much more difficult to treat. Especially for the older generation, shame or “saving face” is a cultural value that greatly contributes to the stigma of mental health for our community. Because we often believe mental problems as “bad luck or curse or bad deeds from past events..” we often take steps to protect the family name by not seeking outside help. Furthermore, lack of culturally responsive care in mental health care in the US greatly reduce help-seeking due to lack of trust from the community. 

Mental health is normal and is just as important as physical health. If we go to the doctor because we have high blood pressure then we should also see a therapist when we feel depression or anxiety that’s impacting our daily functioning. Therapists are bounded by confidentiality laws so family secrets are often respected and not disclosed to anyone who are not priviliedged to know. 

Join us for the 3rd annual Vietnamese Mental Health Conference on October 9, 2026 in Orange County and Boston, more info at vietnamesementalhealth.org.