Today we’d like to introduce you to Hope Qi.
Hi Hope, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
The long version of the story of my being a psychotherapist and having my own practice stems from my childhood. Haha, surprise, surprise. As a kid, I remembered clearly that I had the tendency to wonder about the world, about other people and myself. I always found philosophy, storytelling and human languages to be very intriguing and believed they were more impactful than what met the eyes. In my college years, I struggled with figuring out how to turn my interest into a career. Luckily, I explored a bit. I did journalism classes, interned at a PR firm and volunteered at an organization teaching kids English. Eventually, I landed on the profession of social work and chose to further my knowledge on the clinical track. I graduated with my Master of Science in Social work from Columbia University in 2016 and have been working as a therapist ever since. Last year, I started to build my own practice focusing on helping people who feel stuck in their ways, their emotions, and thoughts and want to break free from the ineffective patterns to really live their lives. I am passionate to work with people had been through distressing and traumatic events, and want a life not controlled by their emotions or the past.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Will there ever be a smooth road to pursue what one truly loves? I wish. And the reality was not that simple. I am sure there were and still are many challenges along the way, from something as natural as self-doubt and needing to learn new things quickly to something as big as the social/cultural/political/economical environment as a human living in this world. One of the very memorable struggles for me was to purse the certification to become a Linehan Board of Certification Certified DBT Clinician. Oh, did I mention my primary approach as a psychotherapist was dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)? I had thought about going through the process for years and always felt not ready. It was a long process requesting major commitment and extensive clinical experience, including completing approved intensive clinical training, participating in a DBT consultation team, providing all components of the comprehensive treatment, writing up three case formulations on high acuity clients, passing a written test and videotaping the sessions with clients that would pass the adherence coding. I was very intimidated by the process. So, at the start of 2022, I applied exposure therapy on myself. I approached this very scary situation, embracing the anxiety and my worrying thoughts yet moving forward with it fairly quickly to not let my fear stall me. I still remembered my hand shaking when I submitted my final products at the end of the application process— submitting the videos of my sessions. I was lucky enough that within a month or so, my videos passed the adherence coding and I was certified. I consider the work I did to go through the process as a way to honor all my clients who had done the incredible hard work in treatment. Their effort and resilience is one of the most empowering thing. Going through exposure gives them and me a chance at freeing ourselves to pursue our dreams.
We’ve been impressed with Four Elements Behavioral Wellness Center, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What a great question! I see my practice as a living and breathing thing that is growing along side of me. I am constantly working on enriching what I can offer through my practice guided by research and compassion. Currently I am licensed to practice in MD, VA, DC, NY, MA and PA. I offer virtual appointments and specialize in treating trauma, OCD, anxiety and emotion regulation challenges utilizing evidence-based treatment modalities. I would describe my approach as being warm and firm, thoughtful and direct. I am committed to offering treatment that actually works and continuing my professional growth. My background as an immigrant and making connections with people from diverse backgrounds also allows me to bring my nuanced and unique understanding of people’s social, cultural and religious experience into my work.
What set me apart is that I not only guide my clients to gain insights and perspectives but also offer practical tools to help them made the desired differences in life. I like to quote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe here. “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” I love all the great ideas and beautiful creativity human brains are capable of. I’m driven to help clients translate insight into action—so the life they imagine becomes the life they’re actually living.
I work with teenagers, young adults, adults, couples and families. Despite the different life phases people are in, we all can benefit from support to live life with eyes open, from having a space to reflect and feel charged to make real changes.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
It is my personal belief that we take risks every day knowingly or not. The risk of not taking a risk is to risk not having new experiences, is to risk repeating what may not be working without the awareness of it. Of course, new experiences can be both rewarding and super intimidating. So we want to be very thoughtful about it. The biggest risk I have taken is to decide to go to school in America and become a therapist in my second language— English. My mother tongue is Mandarin and I grew up in China. When I had the idea of being a therapist, I had no idea whether I would be able to be accepted by a school in a major I had not previously studied in college. Would I finish my degree, find a job and have clients who would like to work with me? Would this be the biggest mistake I make? Would I end up investing all this for nothing? Yes, I had a lot of self-doubt. And I want to normalize it. We all experience self-doubt and it is not often a sign of our wrong doing. It is what our brain does when we want to take a risk. It is more of a sign to pause and be wise instead of retracting.
So, I took the leap of faith and jumped in by applying for grad schools, interviewing for the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) track at my grad school (and got in), sending resumes and cover letters for jobs when I was about to graduate and the rest was history. I have learned to tolerate the thoughts that tell me I can’t do it. I need to go for my goals. I do it scared and I do it anyway. Now, I am taking another leap of faith to build my own practice. You can say that’s another risk I am taking and a future I am exploring.
Pricing:
- Intake appointment: $250
- Follow-up 50-minute session: $225
- Couple/family session: $250
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.febwc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4elementsbwc/
