Liz Tong, MPH, LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
Therapist & Clinical Director
License #49742
How I Can Help
I help people who are stuck, depressed, or overwhelmed. Rather than trying to take the pain away, I work with the parts of you that may actually be adding to your suffering, the ways you've learned to cope that may no longer be serving you. Together, we slow down, make room for what's actually there, and build your capacity to feel and move through life with less inner conflict.
I aim to create a safe and caring space where you can be yourself and talk about your struggles without shame or judgment. I honor the uniqueness of each person and work in a way that meets your current needs — whether you're moving through a crisis, navigating relationship difficulties, managing anxiety or depression, wanting to understand yourself more deeply, or carrying something you've never quite been able to put into words.
Licensed & Experienced
With 20 years of clinical experience and advanced training across multiple evidence-based modalities, I bring depth, skill, and genuine care to every session. I hold a Master's in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a Master of Public Health from Yale University — a background that shapes how I think about the whole person, not just the symptom.
As both a therapist and Clinical Director at DOT Center, I'm committed to staying at the forefront of the field through ongoing training, the latest trauma and attachment research, and weekly consultation with senior clinicians.
What drives my work is a deep belief that when one person finds peace within themselves, it ripples outward into their relationships, their families, and their communities. In those moments, the world becomes more at peace as well.
EDUCATION & WORK BACKGROUND
California Institute of Integral Studies - MA in Integral Counseling Psychology
Yale University - MPH in Health Policy & Administration
University of Rochester - BA in Health & Society
Integral Counseling Center (San Francisco)
College of San Mateo, Health & Psychological Services
Asian Community Mental Health Services
Aids Healthcare Foundation
The Well Clinic San Francisco
My Specialties
Life has a way of bringing us to crossroads, moments where the old ways of coping stop working, and something new needs to emerge. I specialize in helping people navigate exactly these moments.
I have a particular passion for helping people heal old trauma that may be quietly running their lives, build genuine self-esteem from the inside out, and find clarity about who they are and where they're headed. I also have advanced specialized training as a couples therapist, with a focus on interracial and intercultural couples, who often navigate layers of identity, culture, and family that a therapist needs to genuinely understand and respect.
I help individuals and couples with:
Self-Esteem
Anxiety
Depression
Exploring Life Purpose
New Partnerships and Marriages
Premarital Counseling
Interracial Couples Therapy
Transitioning Careers
Loss of a Loved-one
Breakups and Divorce
Becoming New Parents
Pregnancy and Postpartum
Cultural and Identity Issues
My Style
My style of therapy is warm, attentive, and engaged. I believe we all need to be heard, understood, and truly seen for who we are. This is where self-trust can deepen and self-esteem can strengthen. One of the most healing things a person can experience is feeling truly seen and heard without judgment, and that is what I aim to offer in every session.
You won't have to perform or have it all figured out before you arrive. You just have to show up.
One of my goals is to help you feel less burdened and less alone in your struggles. Together we'll explore what's been weighing on you, untangle the patterns that keep you stuck, and build your capacity to feel, think, and respond in ways that feel more authentic and more like you.
What We’ll Do
I'll encourage you to talk about whatever is on your mind or troubling you, and I'll listen closely to what may be happening for you internally, reflecting back what I see and hear. I'll also help you make sense of your experience when emotions become overwhelming and thinking becomes harder.
Sometimes I may ask you about the origins of certain beliefs or ways of coping, and together we'll consider how they may or may not be serving you anymore. At other times we may reflect on our relationship in the room itself, and what it might reveal about how things are for you in other relationships. This is where some of the deepest work happens.
The Invitation
When life feels most challenging, it can become an opportunity to find deeper resources within yourself. This is where therapy can help you learn to think, feel, and express what is actually more authentic and true for you.
As your therapist, I will meet you with genuine presence, respect, and psychological insight. I welcome people of all ages and life circumstances, and I look forward to speaking with you.
SPECIALIZED TRAINING
Integral Psychology: integrating your whole being - mind, body, heart, spirit, & cultural context.
Psychodynamic Therapy: explores how past experiences and unconscious patterns shape current feelings, behaviors, and relationships, using the client-therapist relationship as a space for insight & growth.
EMDR: (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing): an effective modality for working with trauma (and other stuck emotions) which can sometimes be a helpful supplement with talk-therapy.
Psychoanalytic Couples Therapy: helps partners identify unconscious dynamics & emotional patterns, fostering deeper insight, emotional growth, and more authentic, compassionate connection.
PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy): utilizes attachment theory, focusing in on moment-to-moment shifts in one's face, body, and voice. Helping partners learn to better understand and attune to each other to create a safer/secure attachment as well as address the effects of attachment threats.
EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy): teaches couples how to deescalate from conflicts and explore the underlying feelings that keep them stuck in negative patterns of interaction.