Sara Tsutsumi Psychotherapy, LMHC

I have been intensely interested in people’s life stories and all forms of art from an early age. Since I wanted to study psychology, I got support from my father to come to the US in 1983. I entered the Boston University Psychology Department, as I was encouraged by their clinical approach of unconditional positive regard. I then got a chance to study at The Art Institute of Lesley College with Dr. Paolo J. Knill, who is the founder of intermodal expressive therapies. I have also had the support of my grandmother, a traditional, Shinto healer. Her belief and trust in my ability to be creative and a good listener helped me greatly. In my middle school for the blind in Tokyo, my English teacher was a blind person, which helped as well. Learning gestalt therapy has led me to understand how to carry on as a private practitioner of psychotherapy. I am an immigrant myself and I enjoy working with everybody, especially Pan Asian people as I understand cultural ways of thinking and attitudes in the family.

My intake is very informal and designed to get to know the person where they are. I encourage everyone to be imaginative through things like drawing, movement, words, and voice. I believe in finding oneself bit by bit through the development of body awareness and artwork.

I have a sense of wonder about the world and the people in it! I believe in the Shinto idea of the world and believe that everything has a soul and everything is living in its own way. I start therapy by respecting a person as they are. As I am a blind woman of color, I am often treated two distinct ways. One of these ways involves unusual kindness from strangers! But the other involves me not being believed or heard to the point that I’m gaslighted. I have been lucky to have a lot of good fortune. Now, I am proud of myself as I start to solidify my psychotherapy private practice in Manhattan among many white male and female counterparts!