Virtual Asian American Therapist across New York City & State
Meet Dr. Angela Chen, MPH, Ph.D., Culturally-Attuned Asian American Therapist
Reconnect with what matters and live the life that feels more like your own.
You’ve spent your whole life striving. Now you’re wondering: striving for what?
A lot of the individuals I work with are high-achieving women in their 20s and 30s who are used to showing up, doing well, and carrying a lot quietly. On paper, they may have done everything right. They worked hard, built a successful career, met expectations, stayed responsible, and kept going. But inside, they often feel exhausted by the pressure to keep holding everything together.
And, perhaps you relate. You may:
Feel tired of overthinking, people-pleasing, and never quite feeling like you’re enough.
Have a hard time setting boundaries without feeling guilty or second-guessing yourself.
Look fine from the outside, while your mind keeps running and rest never truly feels like rest.
As an Asian American therapist, my work is especially resonant for Asian American women navigating cultural expectations, family pressure, identity tension, and the quiet burden of always trying to be good, grateful, and high-performing. I also work with other high-achieving individuals who strongly relate to these patterns.
Therapy can help you reconnect with what matters to you and build a life that feels more grounded, more sustainable, and more like your own.
Therapy that helps you feel more grounded and more like yourself
This work is about helping you step more into who you are. Specifically, it’s about helping you step away from organizing your life around pressure, performance, or other people’s expectations.
Together, we may work on:
Setting and maintaining boundaries without spiraling into guilt.
Quieting the overthinking and harsh self-criticism.
Learning how to rest without feeling like you have to earn it.
Responding to anxiety in a more flexible way.
Being less hard on yourself when things don’t go exactly to plan.
Making decisions based on your values instead of fear or obligation.
Building a fuller sense of self that isn’t held together by achievement alone.
How we’ll work together
My style is warm, practical, and direct in a kind way.
I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and exposure-based behavioral work to help clients move from insight into meaningful change. That means we won’t just talk about what feels hard. We’ll also look closely at the patterns and habits that are keeping you stuck, then practice responding differently in real life.
Our work may involve:
Getting better at catching anxious overthinking before it pulls you in.
Practicing small, values-guided behavior changes.
Reducing people-pleasing, overexplaining, overpreparing, or reassurance-seeking.
Learning how to tolerate discomfort, uncertainty, guilt, or rest without letting them run the show.
Building routines that support your life, not just your productivity.
Many of the women I work with are already insightful. They have reflected a lot, read a lot, and can usually explain exactly why they do what they do. What they often need is support moving beyond insight and starting to change the patterns that keep showing up in daily life.
A little more about how I work
I draw from the following three approaches in a way that fits your goals, your patterns, and the kind of change you’re wanting to make.
-
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is often called ACT.
ACT helps us notice difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them run the show. Instead of waiting to feel completely confident, calm, or certain first, we work on making room for discomfort while taking steps toward the kind of life you want.
In our work together, ACT may include:
noticing anxious thoughts, guilt, and self-pressure without automatically obeying them
learning how to stay more present instead of getting pulled into overthinking
making choices that are guided by your values, not just fear or avoidance
building a life that feels more meaningful and more like your own
An example might be:
saying, “I can’t do Saturday, but Sunday works,” then making room for the guilt or discomfort that comes up instead of backing out right away
-
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is often called CBT.
CBT helps us look at the patterns in your thinking and behavior that may be keeping you stuck. The goal is not forced positive thinking. It is to better understand the habits of mind that make anxiety, perfectionism, or self-criticism feel bigger and harder to step out of.
In our work together, CBT may include:
recognizing the kinds of thoughts that make stress spiral faster
looking at whether those thoughts are accurate, helpful, or pulling you deeper into pressure
learning skills to respond more clearly and calmly in difficult situations
building more confidence in your ability to handle challenges without automatically going into overthinking or over-functioning
An example might be:
noticing the thought, “If I leave at 6, I’ll look like I’m not pulling my weight,” and testing that fear in a realistic way instead of automatically staying late
-
Exposure and Response Prevention is often called ERP.
ERP is an evidence-based therapy for anxiety that helps you respond differently to fear, uncertainty, and the urge to do something that brings short-term relief. That might look like reassurance-seeking, over-preparing, checking, people-pleasing, or trying to control every possible outcome.
In our work together, ERP may include:
choosing small, realistic experiments based on what matters to you
practicing not automatically doing the thing that anxiety is pushing you to do
going at a pace that feels challenging but doable
learning from what actually happens, rather than only from what anxiety predicts
An example might be:
delaying email checks for an hour and noticing that you can tolerate the discomfort without immediately giving in to it
Hi, I’m Angela (she/her).
I’m a clinical psychologist, a second-generation Taiwanese American Millennial, and the eldest daughter of immigrants.
I know what it’s like to grow up around high expectations for success, sacrifice, and not disappointing the people who love you. I also know how easy it is to build a life that looks good on paper while quietly feeling anxious, overextended, disconnected from yourself, or like no matter how much you do, it still doesn’t quite feel like enough.
My practice centers on helping high-achieving women in their 20s and 30s, especially Asian American women, who feel stuck in cycles of overthinking, burnout, people-pleasing, and self-pressure. Many of the women I work with are thoughtful, capable, and used to carrying a lot while looking like they are handling it well. What is harder is slowing down, setting boundaries without guilt, and figuring out how to stop living in a way that feels driven by pressure more than by what actually matters to them.
As an Asian American therapist, I’m trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and I work from an Asian American-affirming, culturally attuned lens. Therapy helped me come home to myself. Now, I want to help you do the same in a way that feels grounded, compassionate, and real.
-
Licensed Psychologist, New York State Education Department, PSY 023466
M.A. & Ph.D., School Psychology, Michigan State University
M.P.H. Maternal & Child Health, UC Berkeley
A.B., Smith College, English Language & Literature, Pre-Health
-
American Psychological Association
Asian American Psychological Association
The New York City Cognitive Behavior Association
-
More than 10 years of clinical and teaching experience across clinical and academic settings
Evaluated and treated hundreds of patients across school, hospital, and clinical settings
Mentored psychology trainees in school and hospital settings
Led multiple research projects, yielding published articles and presentations at regional and national conferences
How to tell if this is a match
This work is a good fit if you’re looking for…
✔️ Loosening perfectionism and people-pleasing patterns without lowering your standards or becoming “checked out”
✔️ Support with boundaries, guilt, and work stress that’s hard to leave at the office
✔️ A mix of insight and real-life change, not just talking
✔️ Small, doable experiments between sessions
✔️ Weekly therapy, with follow-through on between-session practice over time
✔️ A therapist who is warm and direct, and who will name patterns gently and help you shift them
This may not be a great fit if you’re looking for…
✘ Urgent, higher-acuity support, or a higher level of care
✘ Frequent between-session contact each week
✘ Infrequent check-ins, rather than ongoing therapy we can build on
✘ Therapy that stays purely supportive, without practicing anything between sessions
✘ A quick fix rather than gradual, sustainable change
✘ Therapy that never challenges you
To check whether this therapy also fits logistically, refer to my Fees & FAQs page, where I’ve listed my fees/insurance, availability, location, session frequency, practice policies, and more.
If you’re unsure of whether this work would be the right fit, you’re welcome to reach out. A brief consult call can help us figure out fit.
Reaching out to a therapist can feel like a big step, especially if you’re used to handling a lot on your own. These FAQs share a little more about my background, my style, and how we can decide together whether this feels like a good fit.
FAQs about working with me
-
No. My work is especially resonant for Asian American women because of my lived and clinical understanding of cultural pressure, family expectations, identity tension, and achievement-based self-worth. I also work with other high-achieving women and individuals who strongly relate to these patterns, including runners dealing with anxiety, perfectionism, and performance-related stress.
If you’re unsure whether we’d be a good fit, we can talk through that in a brief consultation.
-
A good fit often feels like feeling understood, not feeling judged, and being able to imagine opening up more over time. If you read my website and it feels relatable, that is often a good sign.
In our early work together, it can help to notice how you feel before, during, and after sessions. Do you feel seen? Do you feel comfortable being honest? Do you leave with something concrete to reflect on or practice?
I welcome open conversations about fit. If at any point it seems like another type of therapist would better support your goals, I will do my best to help you find one.
-
We’ll start with a free 15-minute consultation so we can briefly talk about what is bringing you to therapy, what you’re hoping for, and whether this seems like a good fit.
If we decide to work together, we’ll begin by getting a clearer understanding of what has been feeling hard, what patterns you keep getting pulled into, and what you want to be different. In the first few sessions, I’ll also get to know more about your background, what may have shaped these patterns, and how they’re affecting your day-to-day life.
Therapy with me is warm, thoughtful, and practical. I want you to feel understood, but also helped. Over time, our work will focus not only on insight, but on making changes that feel realistic and meaningful in daily life.
-
That is very common among my clients. Many of the women I work with already understand themselves well. What they often need is support changing the patterns that insight alone has not shifted.
You don’t have to carry all of this alone.
If you’re ready to unlearn perfectionism, speak up with confidence, and feel more at home in your own skin, I’d love to help you get there.