How does therapy support Asian American mental health?

Therapy provides a safe space to heal intergenerational trauma, manage career stress, overcome creative blocks, and navigate cultural identity challenges. Services include Brainspotting and EMDR therapy available in Los Angeles, Pasadena, the Bay Area, and across California.

What mental health issues commonly affect Asian American communities?

Common concerns include anxiety, depression, perfectionism, impostor syndrome, family pressures, relationship challenges, and creative blocks. Asian American therapists at Oak and Stone Therapy provide culturally sensitive support using Brainspotting, EMDR, and other healing modalities.

Is culturally sensitive therapy important for BIPOC and children of immigrants?

Yes, culturally sensitive therapy acknowledges racial identity, cultural values, and intergenerational expectations. Our services include Brainspotting and EMDR therapy adapted to the needs of BIPOC and first-generation clients across California.

Who can benefit from Oak and Stone Therapy's blog?

Our blog supports Korean Americans, Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Singaporean, Filipino, and other East and South Asian communities, as well as BIPOC individuals and first-generation Americans seeking emotional growth, resilience, and culturally sensitive therapy options like Brainspotting and EMDR.

Therapy for Asian American Executives, Founders & Entrepreneurs: Why It Matters

Leadership

Nov 4

Written By Hatty J. Lee

Asian American Executive in a confident and thoughtful pose, representing leadership and self-care

Being an Asian American executive, founder, or entrepreneur often means you're carrying a lot—ambition, vision, pressure, and a deep sense of responsibility. You’ve built something meaningful, taken risks others don’t see, and continue to push forward, even when you’re running on empty.

But that weight adds up. And if you’re like many of our clients at Oak & Stone Therapy, you’ve been managing silently for a long time.

There’s often a mix of cultural pressure, perfectionism, and deep loyalty to your community or family that keeps you going—but also keeps you from asking for help.

For Asian Americans in leadership, it’s rarely just about the business. It’s also about honoring your roots, navigating generational expectations, and figuring out how to lead in spaces that weren’t always built for you.

And I get it. Not just as a therapist—but as an Asian American founder and entrepreneur myself. I’ve wrestled with the same questions around identity, leadership, burnout, and belonging.

You’re Not Just Tired—You’re Carrying A Lot

Clients come to therapy not necessarily because things are falling apart—but because they’re tired of holding it all together alone.

You might feel emotionally worn out, even when things look fine on the outside. You might question your decisions, your impact, or whether it’s okay to want something more than survival and success. You might quietly feel the tension between who you are—and who you’ve had to be to get where you are.

Therapy is a space where you don’t have to explain or perform. You get to take off the mask and be a full person, not just a title or role.

What Therapy Can Offer

A place to exhale.
You lead, organize, and support everyone else. Therapy gives you a space to be held, not just hold.
Help with stress, anxiety, and burnout.
We work together to notice where the pressure has become too much—and how to move through it without losing what matters most.
Cultural identity and leadership style.
If you’ve ever felt caught between cultural values and corporate expectations, therapy can help you make sense of that tension and redefine leadership on your terms.
Support for emotional clarity.
You don’t just need advice—you need space to feel, think, and understand your internal patterns. Therapy helps with emotional regulation, communication, and moving through relational challenges with more ease.
Naming and working through imposter syndrome.
So many high-achieving clients say, “It feels like I don’t belong in the room, even though I’ve earned my place.” We explore where that feeling comes from—and how to start believing your own story.

Getting Started

You don’t need a crisis to start therapy. Many of our clients come in because something just feels off. They want more clarity. More freedom. Less noise.

Here’s what helps:

Find someone who understands your world.
A culturally attuned therapist—especially one familiar with Asian American identity and entrepreneurial life—can make it easier to feel safe, seen, and understood.
Be honest about where you are.
You don’t have to come in with a solution. You just have to be real about what’s heavy right now.
Let yourself be supported.
This might be the only place in your life where you’re not expected to know the answer. Let it be that.

You’re Allowed to Slow Down and Be Human

You’ve done so much already. But you don’t have to carry all of it alone. Therapy is not a sign of weakness—it’s an investment in your sustainability, your clarity, and your peace.

At Oak & Stone Therapy, we work with Asian American founders, entrepreneurs, and executives across Los Angeles, Pasadena, the Bay Area, Seattle, and virtually throughout California, Washington, Asia, and Europe. We provide culturally responsive, trauma-informed care to help high-achieving clients reconnect with themselves—beyond the roles they’ve mastered.

You’re allowed to be more than what you produce.

You’re allowed to be supported, too.

photo of Asian American therapist founder Hatty J. Lee, LMFT 83772

About the Author

Hatty J. Lee, LMFT #53772 (she/her) is an Asian American marriage and family therapist, Brainspotting practitioner, and founder of Oak and Stone Therapy. With over 15 years of experience in community mental health, schools, and private practice, she specializes in Asian American mental health and understands the nuances of how our relationship with money, first-generation wealth, and intergenerational wealth impact our mental health. Hatty provides therapy at the Los Angeles office, Pasadena office, and virtually throughout California and Seoul, South Korea. You can learn more about her insights on her Instagram and her book The Indwell Guide, a visual storytelling and mental health guide that offers practical tools to support healing and self-discovery.

Executive TherapyAsian TherapistAnxiety Therapy

Hatty J. Lee

Oak & Stone Therapy is a team of Asian American therapists who offers individual, couples, child and teens, and family therapy virtually across California and in-person in Los Angeles and Pasadena, California.

http://www.oakandstonetherapy.com