Tiffany Fang, LPC, NCC
Therapist
Licensed Professional Counselor and National Certified Counselor
Hi, I'm Tiffany. I help people reclaim their voice.
I believe that we are born our authentic selves. But somewhere along the way, we were wounded and learned that we are not good enough. Not white enough, not American enough, not assertive enough, not extroverted enough, not ________ enough. This impossible ideal forces us to overwork and pursue perfection. We think “when I’m ________, then I will be loved.” But “success” is like a hard-to-please parent: your work is never done and you need to prove yourself again and again.
Growing up as a girl of color, I felt like I had to “act white” for others to think I was cool. As a child of Chinese immigrants, I felt like I needed to constantly perform at 100% to make my family’s sacrifices worth it. As a person with illness in the family, I learned to gauge other people’s comfort levels and needs before considering my own. As I grew older, these strategies, which helped me survive growing up, no longer served me well. In fact, they affected my confidence, sense of worth, and ability to know my needs and speak up for myself. Eventually, I knew this was unsustainable. Change happened slowly and intentionally (as it usually does) and through learning about how race works in America, my family’s immigration history, and doing my own deep work, I began to live again and move through the world more freely. Today, I help people honor and unlearn what is no longer serving them and reclaim their authentic voice.
And what about you? You may be struggling to find your voice and agency at work, school, your faith community, or within relationships, your social circles, or family. You might feel like it’s hard to trust your feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Sometimes these wounds show up as depression, anxiety, or “feeling triggered.” Other times, they show up as tiredness, stress, frustration, loneliness, or numbness.
Whether you are struggling with an inner critical voice or difficult external dynamics, counseling can help you find a life-giving path forward. I believe that you can reclaim your voice. Together, we can help you look deeper–to make sense of experiences and emotions that may feel abstract or confusing. By drawing on your inner strengths and wisdom, we can help you create a life where you not only survive, but thrive.
I’d love to work with you and I hope therapy can be a safe place for you to land. Book your intake consultation with me by clicking on this link, or email [email protected].
On Being a Counselor
My goal in therapy is to provide a responsive relationship where you feel safe to approach your wounds and explore new ways of being in the world. I strive to witness the pain with you, as well as draw out the strengths that come from your unique history. I create space for you to explore long-standing beliefs, societal narratives you have absorbed, and to share the things that others simply don’t ask you about.
I primarily engage in “parts work” (Internal Family Systems), meaning that we work to heal inner wounds from past experiences and redevelop a trusting relationship with your own self. I’m curious about your thoughts and feelings, especially ones that seem to be in tension with each other. I also work interpersonally, meaning that I will sometimes turn the attention to the counseling relationship–our relationship–as a tool for understanding how you show up in the world.
I am sensitive to the power dynamic in the counseling relationship and how it can reenact harmful societal or family dynamics. Because of this, I am committed to honoring this sacred partnership by actively asking for your feedback throughout the process of therapy and adjusting our work based on it. I am also committed to my own self-reflection throughout our work together.
Practitioner Background
Growing up, I went through a series of difficult circumstances, which developed in me a large capacity to hold pain–my own and others. This ability turned out to be a unique strength of mine that I’ve found use for in my role as a therapist: I don’t turn away easily from pain and am energized by the opportunity to walk alongside others in the twists and turns of their life.
Prior to becoming a counselor, I worked at a church to facilitate community and help newer people become involved. When I discovered that I enjoyed the relational parts of my job more than the administrative parts, I decided to become a counselor. Since then, I earned my master’s in counseling and am currently working on a Ph.D. focused on the mental health of BIPOC communities. I’ve been trained in a variety of settings, including college counseling, outpatient hospital, IOP/PHP (hospital day programs), and cancer center, as well as my work here in private practice.
My work in faith-based communities have helped me understand how a person’s spirituality and experience in religious communities impact their approach to life and well-being. Our spiritual communities can be a place of both healing and hurt and sometimes it can be difficult to parse this out within the community, which is when therapy is helpful. If you are coming from a Christian background, I am skilled in integrating faith in our work together, if you would like.
My work in hospitals and personal family history with illness have helped me understand how physical health and mental health are intertwined and can also impact those who surround you. Journeying with medical conditions often bring up feelings of grief, uncertainty, lack of control, and guilt. In therapy, we can work through these experiences, as well as concerns that are not related to your medical condition at all. I believe that you are a whole person, not just a diagnosis. For those with illness in the family, I provide a safe space to unravel how this experience has affected you.
I’d love to work with you and I hope therapy can be a safe place for you to land. To schedule an appointment, please click on this link or email [email protected]. I'm here for you.
More About Tiffany
Key Philosophical Beliefs
- People heal and grow best in the context of relationships
- Pain should be listened to - it gives us helpful information about ourselves and the world around us
- The way we tend to behave carries with it a history of how we’ve had to behave in the past to survive
- Everyone needs to tell their own story, apart from the ones that others tell us about ourselves
Counseling Training
- Master's of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MA), Wheaton College Graduate School
- Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (BA), Magna Cum Laude, Northwestern University
- Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)
- Internal Family Systems (IFS)
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Interpersonal, process-oriented therapy
- Teletherapy and telehealth trained
Specializations and Experience
- Intergenerational Trauma
- Childhood Trauma
- Spiritual Abuse & Church Hurt
- Grief/Loss
- Stress related to Work
- Stress related to Graduate School
- Interracial Relationships (working with one partner - not currently offering couples counseling)
- Chronic Medical Conditions
- Depression & Anxiety
- Women of Color
- Adult Children of Immigrants
Tiffany as a Person
I am very rooted in the Chicagoland area and have a deep love for this city and the people who live in it. I was born in Bronzeville, raised in the suburbs, and hung around Chinatown on the weekends with my grandparents. I stayed in the area for both my undergraduate and master's degree and now enjoy living on the South Side with my partner, Andy.
Growing up, I played piano and sang and still love a good karaoke. My parents didn’t put me in any competitive sports and I was always awkwardly among the last to be chosen in gym class. So, in past years, I’ve enjoyed subverting the narrative that Asian American women are passive and weak by climbing and boxing (hey, you gotta get the rage out somehow). In addition to being a therapist, I am in the last stages of my doctoral training to become a psychologist.
