Joyce Ho (She/her)
I am a licensed social worker with a unique experience with queer folks, people of color, and the many intersections in between. I am drawn to working with younger adults and adolescents, but welcome clients across the lifespan.
My approach centers client goals and needs through the construction of a trusting therapeutic relationship that recognizes innate strengths and current supports. I have a clinical background in working with anxiety, depression, life transitions, and questions about self identity. We inevitably weave our systemic oppressions and unresolved questions about self in our clinical presentations. Unraveling how we experience our gender, sexuality, race, and abilities will come naturally in holistic client care. My practice is neurodiversity-affirming, antiracist, feminist, and queer-inclusive to accommodate for the discomfort that this confrontation may bring.
As a queer Chinese-American individual (clinician, daughter, sister, friend, partner, etc) having navigated these treacherous conditions of intersectionality myself, it is my goal to work alongside clients in their current experiences for self determination and empowerment in their identities.
Questions? joyce@forrealtherapy.com
INTERVIEW BIO WITH Joyce ho
How do you see queerness in your space and life?
Queerness has always been a part of my life, it was just a matter of how much I was paying attention to it… or trying not to pay attention to it. Then you tell someone, and they are like, that sounds more than platonic… and then you realize you've been fighting yourself in your head, along with other voices telling you what is not acceptable.
Honestly, I felt more at peace with people who are not my biological family….This is an important piece for people in the queer community. Knowing there are people out there who want to be curious with you, about you, and who you are in your full truth, is invaluable. Finding really good people in my later teens and young adulthood has allowed me to feel more peace and joy in how I experience the world, rather than feeling suppressed. Having those experiences can feel so empowering. If there are things I want to return and talk to my parents about, I would feel more secure because I found acceptance and community with myself and my chosen community.
What is it like to grow up in Ann Arbor, Michigan?
It is a conflicting experience because a lot of people call it a bubble for safety and diversity. Growing up, I believed it fully too. Until that bubble popped for me, and I realized I had justified a lot of micro, and even macroaggressions. The idea of a “bubble” sugarcoats the reality, and prevents real work in addressing systemic discrimination and isolates us from communal harm and healing. It was confusing! There’s also not a lot of people who are from Hong Kong and speak Cantonese, so it adds another nuanced layer of isolation within a relatively diverse community. That being said, we like the places we have lived or are from because of the people. Once I found myself, and my people, I felt released from my own deceiving bubble.
If you could go back in time as a therapist, how would you work with Joyce?
I would focus on what I can truly control and who I am doing it for. What are my goals, and what values drive these goals? We have social constructs for what our life should look like in every role, identity, and age. As an adolescent, the social construction that mattered the most were the peers around me. As a clinician, I would be curious if I even feel seen, and who I care about vs. who cares about me. I would center my adolescent self and desires, to contrast with the social construction of conformity through any means or detriment to self.
I used to always ask myself, “Am I doing this right?” like, when I was thirteen and wondering “Am I wearing the right shoes?” I would go back in time and clarify if there even is a right or wrong. That would probably help me out later, who still sometimes questions if I’m “doing it right.” Now, I try not to harbor resentment at my past self for doing the best I could at that time.
What would be your ideal client?
I resonate most with those who share identities like immigrant families, exploring sexual identities, and wanting to unpack past relationships. Identities that have been on the outskirts deserve our full attention in therapy. After all, the hour is all dedicated to you. How can we center identities that society has not wanted to center? How has that impacted the way you might even want to interact with it?
Outside of identities, I also feel passionately about tackling ideas of perfectionism, or just figuring out what drives us each day. It is really easy to compare oneself in the digital age for people for those of us connected to others online– it can feel overwhelming. And, for those who are finally starting to feel better in their own skin, we still might question if we’re doing it “right” . I welcome explorations of self identity, insecurities, and personal peace within an extremely comparative and digital age.
I feel like something unique about a younger therapist is being in touch with what is happening culturally. Let’s talk about how this random Netflix show describes the grief process! Let's talk about the implications of monogamy from this new movie! Let’s talk about our song of the week and how it could describe how we’re feeling.
I find a lot of fun and utility in applying media to client’s lives for potential parallels to better understand the client’s emotional and behavioral response. It brings a personable spin on our hour together.
How would you work with someone going through a big life transition, and moving from another place?
It’s important to verbalize where and how feelings show up in the body, and in certain spaces. Therapy can operate as an anchor when you are going through a transitional period as well. When things don’t feel certain, having a safe base to explore what is scary and what is bringing new joy can be important. While clients may be going through a current transitional period, how they interpret it is influenced by our past. I would be curious about those looking to explore their cultural background whilst going through life transition. With so many things in a fluid state, why don’t we go backwards and discover how our past selves were supported. How do we hold space for all of our identities?
Everything we are made up of now is made up of our past selves. I think there is always something to walk back to and discover.
What is your universal piece of advice?
A music artist I enjoy tweeted this a long time ago, and it sticks with me still: “I used to rebel by destroying myself, but I realized that’s awfully convenient to the world. For some of us, our best revolt is self-preservation.” I think that in a world that is not built for certain people to succeed, the biggest “screw you” you can do is lean into a life well lived.