About Eleanor Lew, LMFT
While my passion is helping people like you grow into your full potential, a lot of clients want to know a little bit more about me and why I decided to become a licensed marriage and family therapist …
First of all, I’ve become something of a “master of transitions” having transitioned many times in my life from one career to the next, from one country to the next.
I was born and raised in San Francisco, and my innate curiosity about human nature initially led me to study genetics and biology at UC Berkeley.
However, a medical career wasn’t in the cards. A friend recommended me for a job at the Institute of European Studies in Austria, where I was introduced to European art and history.
From Austria, I followed my idealism and passion for helping people by attending the University of London, where I studied international relations with an emphasis on Chinese cultural history. And, in order to support myself through school, I worked during school breaks for an English travel agency in Tunisia.
After receiving my degree from the University of London, I moved on to studying international relations at Johns Hopkins University, and afterwards worked for U.S. government and international agencies. Eventually, I became a lobbyist in Washington DC.
Being a lobbyist – the ONLY Asian-American female lobbyist on Capitol Hill at the time – was an eye-opening and invaluable experience. It was also extremely stressful and unfulfilling. By the end, I was beyond disillusioned and in tears.
I knew I had to do something more meaningful to truly help people.
As I continued searching for meaning, I helped start a children’s charity foundation to help at-risk children, and fund-raised for it by organizing an annual two-day, men’s college basketball tournament that filled a stadium of 15,000 people.
Then one fateful day, I realized that the one thing that unites people is their ability to understand one another. It’s not about the language they speak, but the kind of language they speak and how.
As a woman of color, I have experienced and developed an understanding of racial/ethnic discrimination, gender and class biases.
I am attuned to the physical and emotional worlds of people who have experienced bullying and discrimination of all kinds and I’ve learned from my own personal experiences, as well as from those of others, how hurtful, how painful, how wounding it can be to be criticized or judged, especially by those closest to us. It causes us to close down and no longer feel safe to be ourselves.
But when we feel listened to, truly understood and appreciated, the whole world opens up before us.
It was then that I knew I wanted to help people not only learn better communication skills, but also better understand themselves and each other, so that we all can feel seen and supported.
It took several decades, continents, and careers, but I finally found “my calling” and absolutely love the work I do every day to help us all make the world a better place, one individual, one couple, one family at a time.
How I Work
Whether you’re looking to alleviate anxiety or overcome depression, navigate difficult life transitions, build self-esteem, improve your relationships, or understand yourself on a deeper level in order to move toward your full potential, I firmly believe we are more than the sum of our parts. We are more than our thoughts, emotions and feelings.
I know from personal experience, as well as my work with clients over the past two decades, that there is something inside all of us that wants to guide us to be who we really are, and that the way to create truly healing and growth is to connect with this “true Self.”
Accordingly, I strive to listen deeply, with compassion and without judgment, to hear your deepest thoughts and feelings, and to create a space with you, where you feel safe to express them. This, in turn, allows you to feel the genuineness of your own strength and resilience as you find ways to cope better with life’s challenging problems.
I’m also a holistic and somatic mental health therapist, which means I work with both mind, body, and spirit, blending Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and IFS Therapy techniques with more body-oriented therapy techniques (such as Sensorimotor Therapy, Hakomi Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, and EMDR). I’m also interactive. I won’t just “sit there” but will carefully listen to your problems, as well as provide feedback, exercises, and more.
From there, we may use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and IFS Therapy techniques to look at the thoughts, feelings, and parts of you that are leading to anxiety and stress, as well as use more body-oriented therapy techniques (such as Sensorimotor Therapy, Hakomi Therapy, Mindfulness, and EMDR) to look at how different experiences make you feel – not just emotionally, but physically – so you can manage those feelings more effectively.
I balance an insight-oriented approach with a “here-and-now,” mind-body, and experiential model of therapy that can help you quickly discover, work through, and resolve any self-limiting beliefs and behaviors that lie at the heart of the problems you’re experiencing.
And I make a point of teaching communication skills to all of my clients, so that they can create deeper, more meaningful connections with others and with themselves.
I feel privileged to be able to help people work through whatever issues they’re facing, and heal and transform relationships and lives. I love the ease I feel in my relationships and in my life, and my goal is to help you feel the same way!
No matter what challenges you’re facing, I encourage you to contact me today at 510-866-4781 or email me at eleanor@eleanorlew.com with any questions you have or to schedule a free, 15-minute, initial telehealth consultation and learn more about how I can help you create a more self-compassionate and joyous life. I look forward to speaking with you and helping however I can.