Diana Hu, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist
WA PY61086931, PsyPact APIT 15388
My Approach to Understanding You
I believe we are the product of our context and histories: we have learned directly and indirectly from all of our experiences, and these take-aways shape what we expect to happen and how we engage with ourselves and each other.
While some of you may have just read that and thought, “well shoot, I guess if that’s true, then I’m done for,” don’t despair. The good news is that we can continue to learn throughout our lives, integrating (or ignoring!) new experiences and information.
My role is to help create those new experiences, and integrate that information into your understanding of the world.
I want to understand the context that has shaped you; what you learned from it; how that helps or hurts you now; what you believe can be different or changed; and what you can do in the situation.
How Sessions Look with Me
What we talk about often changes from session to session; I always open up each session to what you’d like to focus on. This is because anything we talk about will eventually connect to the bigger picture of you. It’s all a jumble of yarn, and there’s no way to disentangle one aspect of you to talk about separately from the rest.
You can expect that I’ll reflect what you say, making sure we’re on the same page. I like to find the wins and point them out. On the other hand, I’m not afraid to gently point out when a client is self-sabotaging.
You want to know even more about me? I’m so flattered!
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My therapeutic style is integrative and places the needs of the client at the center; I don't work from one treatment modality, because clients are not interchangeable. I draw from evidence-based methods such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). I also work relationally and using Interpersonal Process Therapy.
More importantly, I want to understand what is going on in someone's internal experience and what they find challenging. Then, we can talk about why those challenges are difficult, and what we can try to address them.
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Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology, The Wright Institute
I trained in university counseling centers and community mental health, serving primarily young adults struggling with anxiety, depression, anxiety development, and relationship or family concerns.
Doctoral Internship: Wichita State University, part of the Wichita Collaborative Psychology Internship Program
Dissertation: The Effects of Social Support and Acculturation on Disordered Eating and Body Dissatisfaction in Chinese-American women
B.S. in Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle
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I supervise doctoral students providing individual therapy at The Affirmative Collective (TAC), ensuring that the work they do is evidence-based, culturally-responsive, and ethically-sound.
I serve as an editor and clinical consultant for Therapy Notebooks, a collection of self-guided journals utilizing research and evidence-based approaches to address a variety of mental health concerns. I have worked on all current publications, which include the following:
The Anti-Anxiety Notebook
The Field Guide for Depression
The Therapy Journal
The After-Trauma Notebook
The Anti-Insomnia Notebook
The Build-A-Habit Guide
I provided clinical consultation to The Calendula Project reviewing informative posts and infographics for clinical accuracy before public dissemination. This initiative destigmatizes and shares information about mental health with teens and young adults
I am a member of the following professional organizations:
American Psychological Association
Asian-American Psychological Association
Association for Contextual Behavioral Sciences
Washington Psychological Association
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I enjoy practicing yoga, and making ceramics. However, I spend more of my time watching TV shows— dramas and reality shows mostly. I spend the most of my time, though, hanging with my pets and trying to fulfill all their cuddle demands.