Mihoko Kusachi

Mihoko Kusachi views it as an honor to help people reclaim hope and summon the courage needed to make meaningful change. She creates an open, safe space where thoughts and feelings can be shared without fear of judgment, and she acknowledges the bravery it takes to begin that work.

She is a licensed mental health counselor in Hawaii (LMHC, license number MHC-329) and has provided mental health counseling for ten years as a licensed therapist. Prior to and alongside that work, she has more than two decades of experience as a social worker and case manager across a range of clinical settings in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

Raised in Japan and educated in Tokyo and the San Francisco Bay Area, she earned a master’s degree in counseling with a concentration in rehabilitation for people with disabilities. Her background includes professional and life experience in Japan, Australia, and the United States, and she has supported children and adults of all ages, with and without disabilities.

Kusachi works with a wide range of concerns, including stress, anxiety, grief, anger management, self-esteem, depression, addictions, relationship and family conflicts, trauma and abuse, eating and sleeping disorders, career difficulties, bipolar disorder, coping with life changes, compassion fatigue, and ADHD. Her clinical approach draws from Humanistic, Existential, Somatic, and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral therapies, and she uses a body-mind (psychosomatic) integrative method that honors each person’s strengths and preferences.

In therapy she encourages personal reflection and helps clients challenge negative thoughts while using sensory-based exercises, relaxation, and other self-regulation techniques to ease emotional difficulties. Clients may also explore past experiences to gain insight that supports more authentic living in the present. She has observed improvements in clients’ overall well-being across physical, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual domains.

Rooted in a social justice-driven, culturally responsive philosophy, she is particularly committed to supporting those traditionally underserved in the helping professions and remains sensitive to the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, and socioeconomic status. Above all, she believes in the inner resources people already possess and sees her role as a partner in discovering, nurturing, and applying those resources to move forward in life.