Professional Experience

Kaishan is a culturally sensitive psychologist and clinical psychology registrar who works with adolescents (16+) and adults. She provides interventions for a range of issues including complex trauma, borderline personality disorder, attachment difficulties and relational patterns, depression, anxiety, body image concerns, work stress, emotional and behavioural dysregulation, shame, guilt, and chronic self-criticism. She supports individuals who feel overly rational, cold, or numb, as well as those who feel overly emotional or sensitive. Her clients also include those with high self-awareness who still feel stuck or continue to suffer.

Kaishan is especially skilled at working with people experiencing cultural transition, adjusting to a new country or university, and feeling loneliness or emptiness. She personally began her journey in Australia alone as an international student over ten years ago, and has lived in China, Hong Kong, and several Australian cities. These experiences allow her to bring cultural knowledge and sensitivity into therapy, while also recognising that every individual’s journey is unique. She is trilingual and supports clients who prefer communicating in Mandarin or Cantonese during therapy and who are seeking a psychologist with lived experience of cultural transition and bicultural identity.

Kaishan’s life and treatment philosophy are closely aligned: Pain is unavoidable, the past cannot be changed, and the future cannot be predicted. However, suffering is not inevitable. She believes in accepting and embracing life’s complexities, cultivating resilience, and making effective decisions aligned with one’s goals and values.

For her, therapy is more than treatment. It is a space where clients can feel heard and understood, where emotions are allowed and safely contained, and where evidence-based strategies are introduced as appropriate. She believes no emotion is inherently good or bad, and no one needs to be “fixed.” Emotional needs deserve understanding rather than shame. Therapy is about understanding oneself and building a life worth living.

Kaishan is quiet and warm by nature, and her approach is collaborative rather than directive. She pays attention to what is happening beneath her clients’ words and does not rush change. She is assertive when needed, while remaining respectful, non-judgemental, curious, and genuine. She collaboratively formulates clients’ experiences in a way that validates both their current struggles and their past stories. She aims to help clients identify recurring patterns and cycles and explore possible ways forward.

In therapy, she tailors her approach according to each client’s needs and goals. She may take a person-centred stance, emphasising clients’ inherent capacity for growth and change, or adopt a solution-focused approach, targeting specific difficulties and building practical skills.

She has strong foundations in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). The concept of Wise Mind (the integration of rational and emotional mind) has significantly influenced her therapeutic philosophy. DBT’s balance of validation, acceptance, and practical skill-building informs much of her work. She also integrates Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) where appropriate.

Outside of work, Kaishan is a cat person and a gamer. She enjoys spending time at home, crafting, bouldering, baking, and working on personal side projects.