PRACTICING UNDER SUPERVISION AT THE RELATIONAL CENTER

RUBY MINJI HWANG, ACSW

PRE-LICENSED PSYCHOTHERAPIST
CA BBS #103200

I have always known I wanted to live a life of service, but it took years of deep personal journeying to fully arrive in this work.

As a child, I was incredibly sensitive to the world around me. My family and I migrated from Seoul to Southern California when I was three years old. Alongside my desire for belonging, life experiences and generational wounding led me to retreat inward, with no clear way out.

But deep in my heart, I longed to heal.

So I committed to my own journey—discovering ways to regulate my nervous system, tap into my body’s wisdom, and connect with the sacred that surrounds us. Softness as strength. Inner peace as resilience.

Every time I’ve felt frustrated by something in my life, I’ve found the most powerful catalyst for change in my own inner work. How I experience myself and my body can radically transform the way I move through the world. And I believe this kind of inner alchemy has the power to ripple out and transform our communities, spanning generations forward and back.

I hold a particular tenderness toward diasporic, multicultural, and migrant histories, as the heart of my practice encompasses a return to the ancestral wisdom that lies in our bodies, just waiting to be re-discovered.

I take inspiration from healing justice as a compass that guides my values. As an Asian American therapist, my practice is identity-affirming and culturally responsive.

In my work, my highest intention is to serve as a steward of our collective healing—to hold up a mirror so others can see the magic and worthiness within themselves, and in turn, honor the beauty in everything around them.

With a grateful heart, I remain a student on this spiral path of life. I firmly believe we can only meet others as deeply as we’ve met ourselves, so I mean it when I say that I am in this with you. Let’s see what we can discover together.

My Approach

inner-work as alchemy

Every time I’ve felt frustrated by something in my life, I’ve found the most powerful catalyst for change in my own inner work. How I experience myself and my body can radically shift the ways I move through the world. This kind of inner-alchemy has the power to radically transform our communities.

remembering our way home

Colonization, systemic violence, and white supremacy have inflicted wounds on all of us. Healing for me is not about fixing something that’s been broken. It’s about remembering our generational gifts and the magic that has been passed down to us by our ancestors. Softness is a strength. Inner peace is resilience.

My Experience

I have over a decade of experience in deep self-exploration.

Within the overculture, my credentials come primarily from my master’s in clinical social work, along with my five years of experience in the field.

Over the last half decade, I have served as a crisis intervention specialist and an advocate for survivors of sexual/interpersonal harm.

The majority of my service work has been with youth and young adults, allowing me to tap into my own inner child and lean into the wonder of the healing power inside all of us.

Today, my primary clients are creatives, changemakers, highly sensitive people, self-healers, as well as those seeking to deepen their relationship with their bodies & themselves.

Education —

PhD-in-Progress at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Mythological Studies in Depth Psychology

Master’s of Social Work at Columbia University

Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California

Comparative Literature & Art History at New York University

Trainings —

Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology Level Two (Ongoing)

Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychology Level One

EMDR Part I & II at The Trauma Therapist Institute

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma Themes

Basic Principles of Somatic Experiencing for BIPOC

Complicated Grief Training with Dr. Katherine Shear, founder of the Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia University

Hakomi Essential Skills at The Hakomi Institute of California

Advanced Relational Gestalt Training at the Relational Center

72-hour Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence Counselor Advocate Training at Peace Over Violence