Therapy for those who seek liberation

I’m glad you are here.

Hi, I’m Dr. Wonbin Jung, LMFT (She/her).

I know a thing or two about living up to the expectations of others. After all, I grew up in South Korea where 1 in 4 women undergo plastic surgery because the expectations of our society for women are truly soul-crushing. I learned to live up to other people’s expectations as a queer, immigrant woman living in a conservative part of America. That is why I’m here to help you navigate the journey of liberation not only from the expectations of our society but our own expectations for ourselves, influenced by the dominant narrative of our society rather than by your preference for the life you want.

You are a queer Asian or Asian American.

You have suppressed your sexual and gender identity your whole life because of the heterosexist norms of your family and the culture you grew up in. You have been in a closet your whole life or you are currently navigating your coming out journey with your family and friends who expect nothing less than everyone’s cis-heteronormative dreams. Perhaps, your family is religious, and you have a hard time seeing how you can live your life as your authentic self. Wherever you are in your journey, I’m here to help you actualize the life you want to live, not dictated by the expectations of others.

You are in a mixed orientation marriage where one of you are queer+.

You feel so lone because you are ashamed or feel confused as to what is happening in your relationship. You have just come out as queer after you got married. I have seen many queer individuals being vilified because they have come out later in life while in a heterosexual marriage, though it is quite common for people to realize or actualize their sexuality later in life. Perhaps, it is because LGBTQ+ people are now more afforded with safety and positive representations of themselves that they can finally take courage to come out. It does not mean that you did not love your partner. It simply means that you finally broke free; you finally felt safe enough; you finally wanted to choose you, not the expectations of our heteronormative society.

You are considering non-monogamous relationships, but you and your partner can’t figure out how to move forward.

You and your partner have started the journey of opening your relationship, but you two can’t figure out how to move forward from here. You may be wondering what this means for your relationship or how opening the relationship may impact the relationship between you and your partner. Maybe it is the uncertainty that scares you, or it is the communication aspect that you are trying to figure out so that your relationship can continue to thrive post opening the relationship.

You struggle with the same cycles of conflict in your relationship that you can’t seem to escape.

Over the past 8 years of working with queer and interracial relationships, I have observed that most couples experience communication problems that lead to other relational issues due to several factors:

1. You and your partner have different cultural, and familial upbringings and have expectations that your partner does not understand.

2. You and your partner make assumptions about each other’s needs and wants, instead of checking in and sharing what your needs and wants are.

3. You want your partner to hear and understand you first before you want to hear your partner or vice versa.

I have helped many couples understand each person in the relationship contributes to the cycles that couples fight against. It is the cycle that is the enemy, not your partner. I help couples understand the patterns that they feel stuck in and find new ways of interacting and connecting. I’m a pattern detector and a bridge builder.