https://crossingbridgestogether.com/

hieupham.lcsw, Orange County , CA (2026)

12/18/2023

Whoever coined the phrase "the truth hurts" must have been in therapy... or I hope that it was coined with someone trusting at that point. Because no one should have to try to deal with the pain of hard truths by themselves.

Those are the risks that one takes by coming to therapy. Because in therapy, you explore and you discover. And that discovery may include some secrets that contain the hard truths. And truths come with all sorts of feelings. Feelings.... who wants to deal with that? I do. With you.

As a Therapist, I ask first for your permission to begin that journey with you as you prepare to work through some truths that may hurt. Then I commit to walking alongside you through the darkness of your pains and the discomfort of your feelings. I would be with you every step of the way to witness your victory as you find your strength and rise from your struggle at the end of your journey.

I mean, I could sugarcoat your struggles and hardships by taking you straight to creating a silver lining, bypassing all the hard stuff, but that would be doing you a huge disservice. It would be no better than putting a bandaid on a wound that can't clot.

Because here's a truth about therapy: you find your strength and build your confidence from tolerating the stress of process, and that's what changes you.

I am accepting new clients in January 2024. Call or email me for a free consultation call or to schedule an initial session. I meet with clients from all over California virtually, and my office in Garden Grove, CA is available for local clients in Orange County to come meet with me!

10/22/2020

I work out because...
I sing, dance, craft, create because...
I bake, cook, host because...
I hike, sunbathe, travel because...
I garden because...
I meditate, journal, pray because...
I blast my favorite tunes and binge my favorite shows because...
I get my nails, hair, makeup done because...
I spend quality time with my BFF or family because...

And then what happens when

Going to the gym isn't enough?
Singing, dancing crafting, creating isn't enough?
Baking, cooking, hosting isn't enough?
Indulging in wanderlust isn't enough?
Gardening and getting into the ground isn't enough?
Meditating to your favorite mantra, reflecting and praying isn't enough?
Listening to your favorite tunes or binging your favorite show isn't enough?
Getting pampered by your favorite nail tech, hairstylist, or aesthetician isn't enough?
Enjoying your favorite snack or sipping your favorite drink with your BFF or family isn't enough?

When life just feels like it's too much, and all your healthy ways of coping just "isn't enough...." what else can you do?

Ask around to see how else others cope with life when it throws them too much. You might be surprised how common it is to see a therapist.

I encourage you then to go find a mental health therapist in your area. One who has availability to book a session with you, and try out therapy for yourself.

Maybe then you can say "I see a therapist because..." as easily as you would say "i go to the gym because...." and be part a greater movement to normalize therapy.

Take care, my community. 💕

08/16/2020

• • • • • •
I have spent so much of my existence questioning my own experiences and their realness.

Questioning my intuition.
Questioning my truths.
Questioning my wholeness.
Questioning my knowing.

I’ve experienced gaslighting in relationships on every level — with partners, friends, family, and even within myself. It’s taken years of work to get to a place where I trust myself in my wholeness, without condition, to radically embrace and honor my lived experiences.

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that I found a career where I work with people in a space that is validating and vulnerable. A space co-created to hold the truest versions of the people I sit with week after week. In that space, I find a piece of healing within each experience I have with my clients. A reconnection to my purpose and passion. A connection to myself.

08/15/2020

• • • • • •
Fullerton, California

A reminder for anyone who needs it. It takes time, practice, and the appropriate resources for being more open (which means being more honest and vulnerable) with ourselves, others, and the world. It takes time, practice, and the right resources because, sometimes, it has literally been unsafe to be open/expansive. As we get older and more resourced (internally and externally), we build the capacity to open up a little more each time. We also build up the capacity to know when it’s time to rest, to preserve our energy, and explore within.

07/30/2020

It has been quiet on here. In this time of absence from posting, I have been quite busy. Busy learning to balance myself and busy learning how to pivot to meet my personal needs (which also means the needs of my little humans) and the needs of my clients. After all, I cannot be fully present and serving my clients if my own head space and personal space is not attended to.

Pivot has been the key word during this pandemic; the theme of 2020 in general for me.

Most of you may know that I fully launched into the world of private practice in January, a world of my own when I started my own practice in Brea, CA. What some of you may not know is I first got my feet wet in 2019 at a budding practice in Laguna Hills, CA with a dear colleague and friend, Dr. Tatyana Ellison, who serves the community as a compassionate and caring psychiatrist. With her faith in me as a helping professional, she handed me the opportunity to serve clients as Therapist at Kintsugi Mind Spa. Here is where I tested my wings as a Therapist in Private Practice. Here is where I learned how to fly solo.

Kintsugi Mind Spa. A beautiful refuge where clients come to have their mental health needs attended to and met in a variety of ways: coaching, mental health therapy, medication management. The team that makes up Kintsugi Mind Spa comprises of passionate professionals who desire to teach clients basic and life-changing skills combined with a compassionate and nonjudgmental space to process and to heal from within to thrive. The philosophy of this practice is derived from the Japanese art of Kintsugi: where one takes broken pottery, infuses the cracks & breaks with gold, & turns it into something more beautiful than it originally was. In this practice, clients learn to see their pasts as rich & beautiful to then coexist.

I am so thankful to have served countless clients here at Kintsugi, & I am so thankful to all who referred to me & helped me build.

News: As I leave Kintsugi today, I pivot to roll w the changing tides. In this daunting time of change & uncertainty, I hope to continue to discover ways to attend to myself, to my little humans, & to my clients in Brea.

Take care, my community.💕

07/17/2020

Yes! 👇

• • • • • •
This post was just too important to only add to my story. Too often, I hear accounts of people feeling like they didn’t have a voice in their own therapy session or that they couldn’t disagree with a professional. I completely understand how complex our relationships can be with those we identify as authority figures and also how challenging it is for many to just disagree with someone in general.
It is absolutely imperative, however, that you can provide this type of feedback to your therapist when needed. This will help them understand you and your experience better and also increase the opportunity for therapy sessions to actually benefit you! It’s also such a good opportunity to face your fears of providing negative feedback or disagreeing with someone and to practice advocating for yourself in a supportive environment. If you’re not sure you could initiate this on your own, perhaps begin with letting your therapist know that you’re afraid of hurting others’ feelings or of conflict, and you’re not sure you could disagree with the therapist or bring something up that bothered you in session if that ever occurred. That way, they can provide extra support in this area.
I can only speak for myself, but I nerdily get SO excited when clients disagree with me or let me know if something I said rubbed them the wrong way. It shows me that there is likely enough trust and safety in our relationship to have this conversation. It affirms that we can talk about hard things in therapy. It provides opportunities to for us to evaluate our relationship and how it is similar or different to the client’s other relationships. It allows us to deepen our relationship and to provide even more space for the client to honestly share in-the-moment feelings and experiences.
If you provide this type of feedback to a therapist and they respond in a defensive manner or disregard what you are saying, this might be a sign that you may want to consider seeing someone else, especially if this happens multiple times. You as a client feeling safe to speak openly and to be respected and heard is crucial to your healing process ❤️

07/16/2020

Thank you, , for articulating so well that it means to be trauma-informed!

• • • • • •
Toronto, Ontario

A note about the language of “trauma-informed.”⁣
⁣
Trauma-informed is not an identity. Trauma-informed is not the hat you wear when you go to work and take off when you go home to rest. Trauma-informed is not the treatment modality you use and reserve for “certain people” or ~certain groups~.⁣
⁣
Trauma-informed is not simply a reframing of behaviour but a reconciliation of the fact that behaviour looks different for everyone. Trauma-informed care is not the checklist you follow to become good. Trauma-informed care resists a style of care that suggests we have to prove something or vanish ourselves in order to receive it. Trauma-informed care does not claim to have *the* answers but instead supports people to find *their* answers. ⁣
⁣
Trauma-informed care looks at what’s happening/what happened to us instead of focusing just on what’s wrong with us. Trauma-informed care also looks at all the ways we’ve survived and recognizes the innate strengths within us. Trauma-informed does not just mean “adapted or tailored to people who have experienced trauma,” because a trauma-informed ethic of care is actually just a trauma-informed life/lifestyle. ⁣
⁣
Trauma-informed care recognizes that no one is an expert (other than of themselves) and instead recognizes the ways in which we all have expertise. Trauma-informed also recognizes that it has an expiry date and sees that survivor-centred and liberation-focused approaches have their place at the table too. Trauma-informed care also sees the ways in which it is synonymous with abolition-informed care. Who knew that love and care could develop from an intentional practice of destruction and devastation.⁣
⁣
We need more trauma-informed therapists, trauma-informed doctors, nurses, teachers and coaches, trauma-informed leadership, systems and institutions, trauma-informed schools, hospitals and community care settings. We need more trauma-informed friendships, relationships and families. ⁣
⁣
And we will need these things until we build a life where we no longer do.

hieupham.lcsw

12/18/2023

10/22/2020

08/16/2020

08/15/2020

07/30/2020

07/17/2020

07/16/2020

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Practice

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request