Our approach

At our office, Dr. Nguyễn provides the following services:

• Therapy for children with anger control issues, trauma, depression, anxiety and excessive worry, low self esteem. Therapy for children with problems with inattention, hyperactivity, and poor school performance (ADD, ADHD), and children with Autism (ASD). Help is provided for families to deal with family conflicts, such as with parents, siblings, and other family members, along with children that feel disconnected from their families. In situations that are needed, Dr. Nguyễn will collaborate with school staff to aid with issues at school. Each of the therapy sessions will help your child grow, increase his/her mental health, improve self esteem, aid with life fulfillment, increase problem solving over mental health issues, overcome self doubt, and alleviate pain and suffering. Our goal is to help your child decrease stress in his/her life so that your child can have a bright, comfortable, happy life and from there provide a foundation for a more wonderful future.

• Therapy for adults: Couples therapy, Family therapy, and Individual therapy

• Therapy for individuals to help clients find life balance, contentment, and peace. Therapy can also help with issues with relationships, self-esteem, conflict management, depression and/or anxiety. We want to help you find a clearer perspective so that you are not struggling anymore.

• Dr. Nguyễn also provides crisis counseling for trauma, difficulties with adjustment and personal setbacks, grief and bereavement due to loss of loved ones, and also life changes such as divorce, separation, and children leaving the family.

• Marriage, couples and relationship counseling is also provided where you will get help with issues such as commitment, infertility, infidelity, sexual dysfunction and addiction. Your relationship with your partner is important, and we want to help you foster the strongest relationship possible.

All of the counseling sessions Dr. Nguyễn provides are available in both Vietnamese and English, as Dr. Nguyễn is fluent in both languages. Sessions can be provided in either language or both, according to your preference.

So if you have mental health concerns that you want help with, please call or email our office. Dr. Nguyễn will collaborate with you on a treatment plan to help you start effectively coping and overcoming obstacles and emotional hurdles you may be facing, so that ultimately your life can become easier.

Meet Dr. Nancy

I am a native of Southern California, specifically Orange County California. I am the daughter of two Vietnamese immigrants, my father arriving here after the fall of Saigon in 1975, while my mother is a Vietnamese boatperson. I consider myself bicultural, being fluent in both English and Vietnamese and balancing my Vietnamese heritage with growing up in the United States. Example, I grew up eating my spaghetti with chopsticks. I was fortunate enough to grow up in one of the largest population concentrations of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. This also powered my desire to give back to the community from which I came from and I pursued the field of mental health, with specialization in working with intergenerational and acculturational concerns for Vietnamese Americans.

I have been working, researching, and teaching in the mental health field with youth, adults, couples, and families for over a decade. I especially love working with youth and their families, and have a passion for strengths based interventions that help youth self actualize and help families reinforce those strengths and develop new ones. I have met families that were so hopeless on how to help their children, but as I guided them on their journey through the therapeutic process, especially with guidance on the magic and effectiveness of play based intervention, the families have expressed to me how valuable the experience was for them. I have sat with numerous families who were both grateful and emotional as we graduated them from treatment.

I also specialize in working with couples and families, using a systemic and holistic approach to aid with improving and enhancing relationships. I utilize an integrative approach to complement different treatment modalities to fit the needs of the individual, couple and/or family that I work with. I look forward to embarking on our therapeutic journey together.

Clinical Training

Dr. Nancy Nguyễn graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a PhD in Counselor Education & Supervision. She is also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT 87599) with the CA Board of Behavioral Sciences. She is trained in the evidence based treatment practices of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Functional Family Therapy (FFT) and Integrative Treatment of Complex Trauma (ITCT). Aside from her work in private practice, she is also core faculty in the Masters of Arts in Counseling Prorgram at Concordia University Irvine. She was also a professor in the Masters in Counseling Program at Cal State Fullerton, of which she is also an alumni. Dr. Nguyễn also provides peer mentoring and conducts research in the field of counseling.

Her clinical experiences have ranged from working with children and their families in school and community mental health clinics to a variety of individual needs of college students and adults including depression, anxiety, trauma, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), eating disorders, and substance abuse/dependence. Dr. Nguyễn has specialized training on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, ADD), various behavioral disorders, along with treating anxiety and depression in children. Settings where she completed clinical work include the Orange County (OC) HeadStart preschool program, Western Youth Services community mental health clinic, CEDAR clinic at Penn State University, OC HealthCare Agency Adult Mental Health services, and ChildNet Youth and family services. All included individual, couples, family and group counseling. As a practitioner, she specializes in working with the Vietnamese American population and providing ethnic specific services.

OC Playful Therapy

Mailing Address: PO Box 60452

Irvine, CA 92602

Email: dr.nancy@ocplayfultherapy.com

Phone: (657)444-PLAY hay 

1-657-444-7529

Website: www.ocplayfultherapy.com