Hi, I’m Luca. I’m an Oakland-based therapist who works with LGBTQ+ adults, trans & non-binary adults, and second generation adults of immigrant parents.
I know what it’s like to feel restricted by the anxiety and relationship distress that comes from trying to do it all: achieve success, manage other people’s feelings, be perfect, be good.
I grew up learning to excel, to outperform, to show up at the cost of being able to truly know myself and what I wanted in my life. It took me a long time to accept just how limited I felt.
Queer, Culturally Inclusive Therapy in Oakland and Online That Grounds You & Wakes You Up
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My style is relational, collaborative, playful, and expressive. I am emotionally engaged and present, offering generative insights that deepen self-understanding without tiptoeing around patterns that could be keeping you stuck.
In my Oakland Lake Merritt office and online across the San Francisco Bay Area and California, you will find that I do not just sit, nod, and agree with everything you say. I am increasingly direct and challenge you to step outside of perspectives that could be limiting your options for change. Some people might feel uncomfortable with such direct feedback, while others find it enlivening, in that they feel like they get to be more awake to their patterns and make different choices.
At the same time, I center trust and safety so that you know I am here with you at a pace that works for your nervous system.
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I live with several intersecting identities of both privilege and marginalization that deepen my capacity for complexity. I am the child of mixed immigrant / citizen parents, and am mixed race Chinese and White. I identify as Asian American. I move in a mid-size body, and identify as queer and non-binary trans. As a disabled person, I use COVID-conscious harm reduction practices in my daily life.
Informed by my identity experiences, I view your history—personally, socially, and ancestrally—as central to the healing work. I hold your story with respect and care. I do not assume to know your life and your patterns just because we might have similar identities; you and I are both more complex than that. I’m attuning to how our sameness and differences both show up in shared space between us.
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As an integrative therapist in Oakland, I use a combination of therapy approaches that moves healing from beyond insight into lasting change.
I am relational through and through, in that I use the therapy relationship to guide the work we do together.
As a queer IFS therapist and somatic therapist in Oakland, I step outside of traditional talk therapy and use bottom-up therapy approaches to deepen the connection with your authentic self. When appropriate, I offer EMDR therapy to support with trauma healing.
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My strengths as a queer, trans, mixed race Asian American therapist come from my ability to view your suffering in context. I honor the wisdom and brilliance of learning how to survive in emotionally neglectful and oppressive environments. I am not afraid to sit with the parts of you that are on their less-than-ideal behavior, and witness your earnest and honest attempts to protect wounds that never got to heal.
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A lifelong learner, I move through the world with wonder and an open heart. Some of my favorite teachers include my loved ones, bodies of water, big theatrical ballads (bless Cynthia Erivo), memoirs about intergenerational healing, and old redwood forests. I look forward to all that I will come to learn and know.
Outside of being a therapist in Oakland, I enjoy playing tennis, powerlifting, being in or near water, walking in the woods, and reading. Like a cat, I love to find a sun spot to bask in (if I have enough sunscreen!).
Sweet on animals, I am the proud papa to a small dog and cat. They are, much to my delight, the best of friends. Their love fills my already-brimming heart.
My little loves: Sesame (dog) & Minnow (cat)
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The quality of the therapy relationship itself is one of the most essential components to healing. Within relationships is where we can learn to connect in an intimate, honest, and authentic way. I value co-creating a space with my clients where they learn to feel safe expressing their vulnerability.
As a relational therapist, this means that I am checking in with you about how our relationship feels between us. I’m attuning to the following:
Are you present and here with me?
Do things flow?
Are there blocks?
Is some part of me bumping up against some part of you, or vice versa?
Staying close to our relationship in this way allows us to heal any potential ruptures and address blocks to our connection, thereby supporting your healing.
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At my Lake Merritt office and online throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and California, I am committed to maintaining a practice that is inclusive of diverse identities and experiences. For almost 10 years, I’ve been lucky enough to work with adults and young people from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
That being said, I diligently work to deconstruct my own Whiteness and have a daily practice of staying curious about potential biases and assumptions I’ve inherited by growing up in this racist, fat-phobic, classist, sexist, ableist, transphobic, capitalist system. I am not immune to making mistakes. I promptly admit to them and repair when I do.
While my intersecting identities offer me perspective in joining with you, my story is not your story. I trust and respect that you know your world best—you are the expert. I am here as a compassionate guide to help you develop self-trust and leadership to pave your own unique path.
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As unique, dynamic humans, we all respond differently to therapy approaches. That’s why I use an integrative approach to therapy. I’m a relational therapist who is also trained in:
Together, we decide which modalities work best for you and your goals. Each of these approaches can be used to support you leaning into your inner guidance, self-leadership, and intuition.
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I believe that empathy allows us to keep the doors open to self-love, compassion, and kindness. When we are witnessed in our suffering and received with empathy, when we say our hardest truths and the person we are speaking to does not turn away from us, we have more opportunities to experience liberation from our deepest burdens and heal from shame.
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Your life and vibrancy are not defined by historically racist diagnoses or systemic biases. As a LGBTQ+ affirming, gender affirming, and culturally responsive therapist in Oakland, I invite us to explore the ways that existing oppressive systems impact our wellness and illness. Together we can explore historical ancestral wounds and inherited wisdom for healing. Your full power and resilience are celebrated.
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None of us are meant to be in our healing work alone. In addition to using the therapy space as a source of ongoing support, I invite community care as an anchor and guide in your healing. We need each other now more than ever.
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While we are able to provide perspective that can feel different from getting emotional support from family and friends, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that therapists are not objective. We are not blank slates, nor are we neutral. We’re messy, needy, imperfect humans.
Importantly, what this means is:
I will not judge you.
I will not appease you to keep you comfortable, especially when you’re feeling stuck.
And I will not push you past where you’re ready.
I have abundant space in me to be with where you are in your healing process, but if I pretend that I’m just a wall to bounce ideas off of, then I’m not doing a very good job at being your therapist.
Background & Clinical Experience (if it matters)
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The Wright Institute, Berkeley, MA in Counseling Psychology
University of California, Santa Cruz, BA in Sociology
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Bay Area Community Resources (BACR), Richmond CA — Practicum at John Swett High School
Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS), San Francisco CA — Full-time Wellness therapist at George Washington High School, facilitator of a support group for queer and trans youth
Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC), San Francisco CA — Group clinical consultant for case workers
Private Practice Associateship with Talia Korenbrot, San Francisco CA
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Board of Behavioral Sciences, California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT #132935
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Kintsugi Therapist Collective, Embodied Private Practice Cohort #4
Kintsugi Therapist Collective, Mixed Identity Clinical Alliance
Student of Sand Chang and Nic Wildes’ Queer & Trans Internal Family Systems Foundations Course for Trans, Nonbinary, and Queer Clinicians
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California Association of Marriage & Family Therapist (CAMFT)
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IFS (Internal Family Systems) Institute
Level 1 Certified, facilitated by lead trainer Kim Paulus and assistant trainer Sand Chang, first ever QTBIPOC affinity group
The Embody Lab
Somatic EMDR
Being with others while they heal is a gift I hold dear to me.
I genuinely love what I do, and feel excited at the possibility of being able to work with you.