Karen Chan | Asian Therapist for BIPOC, Queer, & Poly folx — Counselor in City and County of San Francisco, CA

Karen is an attuned and insightful therapist who genuinely cares about the people she works with. She looks at situations from many different angles to help you untangle feelings of stuckness so you can feel more open and able to breathe again. Her strong cultural awareness helps people feel seen, respected, and understood, especially BIPOC and queer individuals, as well as polyamorous couples.

Karen is a brilliant therapist and it shows in the best way. Her cross-cultural lived experience, academic background, and grounding in liberation psychology make her one of the most thoughtful and well-resourced therapists I know. If you are BIPOC, queer, or navigating the complexity of an intercultural life, she genuinely gets it from the inside out.

Karen is a highly skilled, attuned, open, and intelligent therapist. She is especially adept at working with clients from immigrant, Asian, multi-cultural or marginalized backgrounds. Karen constantly holds cultural and intergenerational contexts at the forefront of her work, which allows for a therapeutic experience that transcends the here and now.

Karen offers a gentle yet steadfast therapeutic presence that allows clients to feel deeply supported. She holds her clients’ experiences with care while helping them recognize how personal struggles are shaped by larger systems and environments. Her critical, liberation-informed lens empowers clients to feel seen, contextualized, and not alone.

Karen's perspective has helped me learn and grow immensely as a clinician. She uses a genuinely inclusive, decolonial framework, examining how factors like race, class, and culture shape our experiences within larger systems. Her approach allows her to work well with teens and adults from all walks of life -- in particular, she is a great fit for queer and/or multicultural couples and polyamorous relationships. On top of all that, she is warm, grounded, and a pleasure to be around! Highly recommended!

Karen is an exceptional therapist whose decolonial lens it really shows up in her client work. I’ve been in consult group with her and her critiques of dominant knowledge systems have also helped me to decolonize my own client work. She is my go-to referral for Asian and Asian American clients, especially those who are also queer, and for anyone who is seeking a culturally sensitive therapist who really centers the impact of history, politics, and intergenerational trauma.

Karen has a calming presence and a deep understanding of how systemic and cultural issues shape the psychological development of those within the Asian diaspora and beyond. Her third culture international perspective is an invaluable gift to her clients.

Karen is a kind, insightful, and attuned therapist. She holds a unique liberation perspective that created space for me to explore the nuances of race, history, and culture in ways I could not with other therapists. Our sessions have a transcendent quality that helps me connect with long-past and intergenerational parts of myself. I really recommend her to Asians, BIPOC, or anyone seeking deep, transformative therapy.

Fantastic poly-friendly therapist. It’s rare to find a therapist who truly understands and speaks the language of polyamory. Highly recommend!