Christopher Lum, LCSW

Christopher Lum brings a lifelong understanding of cultural navigation to his clinical work, having grown up balancing the desire to fit in with peers and the Chinese traditions his family honored. That personal history shaped his interest in identity, belonging, and the pressures that arise when people move between cultural worlds, and it ultimately led him to study AAPI issues and psychology.

During his training he sought direct experience with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and other marginalized groups, volunteering with AADAP on community health initiatives, supporting research into AAPI depression and perfectionism, and teaching CBT-based social skills to veterans with dual diagnoses. A talk by a Hmong social worker about multilevel social interventions helped confirm his decision to pursue social work.

After earning his MSW, he worked with veterans experiencing homelessness and with people in psychiatric inpatient settings. He now serves as a medical social worker in emergency and outpatient settings at the VA and Kaiser, often supporting geriatric clients facing dialysis, end-of-life decisions, caregiving challenges, and placement planning. In recent years he has focused on creating healing spaces for BIPOC and AAPI individuals.

His own healing journey informs his clinical style. Through mindfulness and loving-kindness practices he learned ways to soften a harsh inner critic common in communities with high expectations and perfectionism. He also brings lived experience with mental health challenges, addiction, depression, social anxiety, speech therapy in childhood, and conflicts around AAPI sexuality and gender expectations. Christopher is an LCSW - a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with advanced clinical training - and his approach is grounded in mindfulness, self-compassion, cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and cultural humility.

Evidence-Based Approaches and Online Access

Christopher often integrates cognitive behavioral therapy - a structured approach that helps people identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors - which is useful for depression, anxiety, and coping with life changes. He also uses acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which encourages values-based action and learning to live alongside difficult feelings rather than being driven by them; ACT can help with mood disorders, addiction, and chronic stress. Mindfulness and self-compassion practices are woven into his work to help soften inner criticism and build emotional resilience, particularly for people facing perfectionism or cultural pressures.

Finding the right therapeutic approach is part of the process. Christopher collaborates with each person to explore which techniques match their goals, needs, and preferences, and he adjusts the plan over time so therapy feels relevant and workable.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can take place by video call or phone, and options such as live chat or text-based messaging allow for more frequent check-ins or easier scheduling. These formats make it easier to access consistent, evidence-based care from licensed professionals without needing to travel, helping people fit therapy into busy or complex lives.