If you are reading this, looking for a therapist, there is likely something painful or difficult in your life. I believe that effective therapy begins with empathy and authenticity. Empathy means I strive to really hear you and witness your pain. I create a welcoming and safe place where clients can share and unload their heavy emotional burdens – where you can be honest about your struggles and hopes, and explore meaningful solutions with me. I’m passionate about helping my clients utilize their strengths to make lasting improvements. I work from a relational-experiential perspective with adolescents and adults, and in my work with children, I incorporate child-centered play therapy, expressive arts therapy, and filial therapy techniques (where parents are in the room together with a child during therapy).
Having lived, studied, and worked in the United States for 8 years (2012-2020), I bring a multicultural perspective that has enabled me to work effectively with a wide range of clients. Cross-cultural living has given me a deeper appreciation for clients with diverse backgrounds as well as a strong belief in the power of vulnerability combined with the perseverance of the human spirit across cultures and diversities.
I received my bachelor’s degree in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and then completed my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Missouri State University. My Master’s degree is accredited by the American Counseling Association (ACA) and The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Through my studies, I acquired over 700 internship hours attached to a community health clinic, a mental health in-patient residential home, and a private practice office, seeing a range of clients that included preschoolers, school-aged children and adolescents from the foster system, homeless clients with varying mental health issues, and single mothers. Through these experiences, I came to understand how crucial it is to have clients’ pain witnessed and validated.
Being exposed to a myriad of settings and experiences both throughout my bachelor’s and my Master’s degree created a deep interest in the field of counselling, especially my passion for working with at-risk children and youth. Some of my most valuable experiences came from working at FamilyWise in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a Supervised Visitation Monitor. Concurrently, I also worked at FRASER Mental Health as a Therapist Assistant, where I implemented the school social worker’s treatment plan through creative play interventions in a day-treatment classroom for preschool children with emotional and behavioural needs.
I worked with children and adolescents who presented with issues such as anxiety, depression, attachment difficulties (reactive attachment disorder), and at-risk behaviours (substance abuse, self mutilation, and suicidality). I also worked with children and adolescents from backgrounds of community violence, parental divorce, abuse, and those who suffered developmental trauma, low self-esteem, relationship issues, and family-relationship challenges. Typically, their erratic behaviour and volatile emotions signal an underlying cry for help in regulating their emotions and in making sense of their environment. I have also journeyed with young adults through different life transitions such as geographical relocation and cultural adjustments, leaving university and settling into a job, changes in intimate relationships, as well as navigating physical and mental health challenges when diagnosed with a chronic illness.
Although already licensed as a professional counsellor, I recently completed further mentored-training through an eight month internship programme with Rekindle Academy, under the supervision of Dr. Johnben Loy as well as the supervision team at the centre. Through the internship programme, I received training in systemic psychotherapy (Marriage and Family Therapy) and I accrued an additional 222 therapy hours seeing child, adolescent, and adult clients – a total of over 900 hours of clinical work, including my hours completed in the US.
Last but not least, drawing on the power of vulnerability and perseverance of the human spirit, I live with and manage chronic pain – trigeminal neuralgia, a type of nerve condition. Having to live with this disorder since early 2020 has given me the ability to relate to and journey with clients who also live with and manage chronic pain in order to enable a different quality of life. Given this special consideration, my work at Rekindle is slightly different from other therapists. I have a more flexible client-appointment policy (in case of emergencies) and I hold a lighter caseload. This ensures that I am able to commit to providing on-going, ethical, and collaborative care. If you are interested in engaging me as a therapist for yourself or your child, I would be glad to have a 15-minute video call with you to determine if I might be a good fit for you. Please contact us with your email address, and let our support team know that you would like to have a brief, free introductory consult with Denise Wong, and I will email you back to set up a time to talk!
If you are reading this, looking for a therapist, there is likely something painful or difficult in your life. I believe that effective therapy begins with empathy and authenticity. Empathy means I strive to really hear you and witness your pain. I create a welcoming and safe place where clients can share and unload their heavy emotional burdens – where you can be honest about your struggles and hopes, and explore meaningful solutions with me. I’m passionate about helping my clients utilize their strengths to make lasting improvements. I work from a relational-experiential perspective with adolescents and adults, and in my work with children, I incorporate child-centered play therapy, expressive arts therapy, and filial therapy techniques (where parents are in the room together with a child during therapy).
Having lived, studied, and worked in the United States for 8 years (2012-2020), I bring a multicultural perspective that has enabled me to work effectively with a wide range of clients. Cross-cultural living has given me a deeper appreciation for clients with diverse backgrounds as well as a strong belief in the power of vulnerability combined with the perseverance of the human spirit across cultures and diversities.
I received my bachelor’s degree in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and then completed my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Missouri State University. My Master’s degree is accredited by the American Counseling Association (ACA) and The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Through my studies, I acquired over 700 internship hours attached to a community health clinic, a mental health in-patient residential home, and a private practice office, seeing a range of clients that included preschoolers, school-aged children and adolescents from the foster system, homeless clients with varying mental health issues, and single mothers. Through these experiences, I came to understand how crucial it is to have clients’ pain witnessed and validated.
Being exposed to a myriad of settings and experiences both throughout my bachelor’s and my Master’s degree created a deep interest in the field of counselling, especially my passion for working with at-risk children and youth. Some of my most valuable experiences came from working at FamilyWise in Minneapolis, Minnesota as a Supervised Visitation Monitor. Concurrently, I also worked at FRASER Mental Health as a Therapist Assistant, where I implemented the school social worker’s treatment plan through creative play interventions in a day-treatment classroom for preschool children with emotional and behavioural needs.
I worked with children and adolescents who presented with issues such as anxiety, depression, attachment difficulties (reactive attachment disorder), and at-risk behaviours (substance abuse, self mutilation, and suicidality). I also worked with children and adolescents from backgrounds of community violence, parental divorce, abuse, and those who suffered developmental trauma, low self-esteem, relationship issues, and family-relationship challenges. Typically, their erratic behaviour and volatile emotions signal an underlying cry for help in regulating their emotions and in making sense of their environment. I have also journeyed with young adults through different life transitions such as geographical relocation and cultural adjustments, leaving university and settling into a job, changes in intimate relationships, as well as navigating physical and mental health challenges when diagnosed with a chronic illness.
Although already licensed as a professional counsellor, I recently completed further mentored-training through an eight month internship programme with Rekindle Academy, under the supervision of Dr. Johnben Loy as well as the supervision team at the centre. Through the internship programme, I received training in systemic psychotherapy (Marriage and Family Therapy) and I accrued an additional 222 therapy hours seeing child, adolescent, and adult clients – a total of over 900 hours of clinical work, including my hours completed in the US.
Last but not least, drawing on the power of vulnerability and perseverance of the human spirit, I live with and manage chronic pain – trigeminal neuralgia, a type of nerve condition. Having to live with this disorder since early 2020 has given me the ability to relate to and journey with clients who also live with and manage chronic pain in order to enable a different quality of life. Given this special consideration, my work at Rekindle is slightly different from other therapists. I have a more flexible client-appointment policy (in case of emergencies) and I hold a lighter caseload. This ensures that I am able to commit to providing on-going, ethical, and collaborative care. If you are interested in engaging me as a therapist for yourself or your child, I would be glad to have a 15-minute video call with you to determine if I might be a good fit for you. Please contact us with your email address, and let our support team know that you would like to have a brief, free introductory consult with Denise Wong, and I will email you back to set up a time to talk!
