Everything begins with a story.
Left to right: my father, grandmother and grandfather Phan.
When I was a child, I experienced recurring night terrors. I imagine they were connected to the struggles my family was navigating.
My parents were Vietnamese immigrants, uprooted from a war-torn country and adjusting to life in America. There was quite a bit racism, isolation and financial struggle.
During those night terrors, I could hear hundreds—if not thousands—of people of all ages crying for help.
From that point on, I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to understanding and alleviating human suffering.
Due to the instability, I moved frequently. I attended three elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools. I became the quiet observer.
This led me into deep self-inquiry, and eventually, the study of psychology and philosophy in college. I later studied abroad in Paris, where I explored contemporary French thought and Western philosophy.
During my graduate studies, I was drawn to Eastern traditions—Buddhism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, massage therapy, yoga, and the sutras.
These perspectives expanded my understanding of healing beyond the mind, and into the body.
I then returned to the field of psychology and completed my Master’s in Depth Psychotherapy at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Today, my work is a synthesis of these experiences—integrated into a holistic approach shaped by both formal training and lived experience.
My work brings together clinical training, lived experience, and an integrative understanding of trauma, culture, the body, and the unconscious.
Trang Phan, M.A., LMFT #96373
Licensed Psychotherapist | Founder, Depth Psychotherapy San Diego
Trang Phan is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 16 years of experience specializing in trauma-informed and culturally-competent care. Her work spans schools, medical clinics, hospitals, community and virtual spaces, with a deep focus on supporting trauma healing through integrative methods.
As a former Clinical Program Manager in San Diego, Trang led Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) trauma screening initiatives in primary care clinics, helping clients and healthcare teams understand the link between trauma, mental health and physical health.
Today, she brings that same depth into her private practice. She is also part of the Trauma Recovery Network, offering probono services to disaster survivors and first responders.
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M.A. in Jungian Depth Psychology – Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, CA.
EMDR Levels 1 & 2, R-TEP & G-TEP – EMDR HAP
Certification in Traumatic Stress Studies – Trauma Research Foundation, Bessel van der Kolk
Certified Massage Therapist (Chinese Medicine) – Pacific College of Health And Science, San Diego, CA.
200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher – Deep Yoga with Laura Plumb, San Diego, CA.
Yoga Therapy for Neuroscience – Soul of Yoga, Encinitas, CA.
Hakomi Somatics – Hakomi Institute & Pacifica Graduate Institute
Molchanovs Wave 1 & 2 Freediving – No Pasa Nada Freediving
“Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
An Integrative Approach.
My work is grounded in the understanding that healing is most effective when both bottom-up and top-down processes are integrated—supporting the whole person, not just symptoms.
I integrate evidence-based trauma therapy with somatic, depth-oriented, and culturally aware perspectives to support the whole person.
A Letter from the Founder
It is often within the parts of ourselves we’ve learned to hide or protect—the grief, the rage, the hurt—that our deepest work begins. I am grateful that my personal experiences have carved my heart open in ways that have deepened my capacity to walk through the shadows with others.
We each carry a lantern of awareness within us.
My role is not to lead the way, but to remind you to trust yourself enough to keep holding it. This work is sacred, and I am endlessly grateful for all those whose paths have crossed mine. It is a privilege to witness others reclaim lost parts of themselves and remember who they have always been.
Healing is not about forgetting the past—it is about integrating it, honoring the strength it took to survive, and becoming whole again.
My deepest gratitude,
Trang