Licensed Therapist Helping
You Heal from Trauma
Nanci H Kim is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist dedicated to helping individuals and families navigate life's challenges. Explore her compassionate services designed to foster healing and growth.
I am a 1.5 generation Korean-American psychotherapist based in the San Francisco Bay Area and was raised in South Korea, Hawaii and California. I have over 10 years of experience as a psychotherapist and over 16 years in educational settings in both the United States and internationally. I am currently licensed in California, Colorado, Delaware and New Mexico.
Nanci H Kim LMFT
I received my Master’s of Arts in Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy from Saint Mary’s College of California and was trained in the Rogerian Humanistic Approach of psychotherapy.
My approach to psychotherapy is to provide a space for clients to be able to share their concerns and trust that their system will find its way to heal from negative experiences and difficulties with the proper guidance and opportunity. I believe the brain and body are designed to heal, and practice the encouragement of this ability in the therapeutic process. I strive to meet clients where they are and provide a comfortable and neutral environment for clients to be able to move through their healing process.
Additionally, while I am not a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) therapist, I do pull skills from these approaches to help clients manage their symptoms. I also practice from an attachment lens.
Therapeutic Approach
Specialization
I work with individuals who have both simple and complex trauma. These experiences can present in the form of single traumatic events or traumatic events starting from childhood. My approach to trauma therapy is using brain-based trauma therapies including EMDR and Brainspotting as well as inner child work, narrative and prolonged exposure approaches.
TRAUMA THERAPY
TRAINING HIGHLIGHTS
Eye Movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR)
Basic EMDR Training, The Flash Technique, Advanced Flash Technique
SAFE EMDR - Personal Transformation Institute
Attachment Focused - EMDR, AF-EMDR Addiction
RTEP/GTEP EMDR
EGO State EMDR
EMDR for Sexual Abuse Survivors
DeTur EMDR
EMDR for Children
EMDR for OCD
Brainspotting
Phase I, II, III, IV, From Freeze to Thaw, Addiction (Crocodile Set Up), Consultant-in-Training
Skills Based and other specialized Training
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Depression, Anxiety, Severe Mental Illness), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Exposure Response Prevention Therapy for OCD, Solution Focused Brief Therapy
Couples and Family Therapy
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, Externship
Emotionally Focused Family Therapy
Relational Life Therapy, Level I, II, III, Couples Experiential Workshop
DBT for Couples and Families
Strategic Family Therapy
EMDR was developed by Francine Shapiro PhD in 1987 and is now a regularly practiced evidence-based therapy designed to help individuals heal from traumatic experiences. While I have been practicing EMDR since 2010, in 2022, I joined Personal Transformation Institute (PTI) to support their mission in training therapists in PTI’s Somatic and Attachment Focused (SAFE) EMDR approach.
EMDR is based on the premise of Francine Shaprio’s Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model which posits that traumatic memories are not processed in the natural way memories are processed and are stored unprocessed in the memory network in the brain and are often interconnected. As a result, when individuals with trauma experiences are triggered, they experience internal and external symptoms as though responding to the traumatic event even though the experience is in the past.
PTI’s SAFE approach adds to the AIP Model emphasizing that attachment and connection with others impacts how individuals regulate and move through the healing process.
EMDR uses a bilateral movement, often referred to as Bilateral Stimulation (BAS) or Dual Attention Stimulation (DAS) – any movement that crosses the midline of the body is a bilateral, to allow the brain to process the unprocessed memories in the memory network. Theoretically, BLS replicates the REM sleep patterns and allows the brain to process the memories as it is during the REM stage of sleep where memories and emotions are processed.
EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION REPROCESSING (EMDR)
BRAINSPOTTING
Developed from EMDR by David Grand, PhD in 2003, Brainspotting approaches trauma processing from the theory that where we look is where the trauma is stored.
EMDR AND BRAINSPOTTING
I am a consultant and certified clinician for both EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and Brainspotting, which are two brain based therapies that help individuals heal from past negative and traumatic experiences by accessing the brain’s ability to heal itself.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (any movement that crosses the midline of the body is bilateral) to desensitize and process memories; while, Brainspotting uses focused mindfulness to draw out and process memories. Both are power therapies that provide healing and recovery.
Qualifications
EDUCATION
MA Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy
Saint Mary’s College of California
MA TESOL
San Jose State University
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST LICENSURE
California LMFT #95979
Colorado MFT #0002338
New Mexico #CTB-2022-0032
Delaware #MI-0000199
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
I have worked with individuals from ages 5 to older adult in a variety of environments as well as social economic statuses in community based, criminal justice system, foster care, hospital, nonprofit clinic and private practice as well as overseas at universities in South Korea.
Start Your Healing Journey Today
Connect with Nanci H Kim for compassionate support and guidance tailored to your needs.