Cris Ihara, LMSW

Real life happens in the liminal spaces – the messy thresholds where the old world is gone, but the new one hasn’t arrived yet. I work best with people navigating this ‘in-between’ – those bridging complex identities, balancing public success with private doubt, or carrying a grief that doesn’t make sense to the outside world.

Transitions often leave us without words. But bring your full, unpolished self – especially the parts of you that feel “too much” – and we will find language for what feels unspeakable. Rather than silencing the overwhelm, we will give it a voice. We will listen to it until it feels heard, manageable, and safe to hold. Together, we will carve out a sense of solid ground right in the middle of the chaos.

I refuse to pathologize your survival. My capacity to sit with the taboo is rooted less in clinical training and more in my reality as a queer, genderfluid, child of immigrants and multi-dimensional survivor. I know the vulnerability of the client’s chair. That experience keeps me grounded; I hold your vulnerability with reverence, yet I laugh at myself often, meeting you with transparency rather than looking down from a clinical distance.

Blending this lived experience with a background in queer theory, I draw from Narrative Therapy, IFS, and ACT, utilizing tools like PTMF, Mad Maps and Freirean dialogue to ensure our work is class-conscious, anti-carceral, and liberating.

I offer virtual and in-person therapy for individuals, partners, and groups.