Psychotherapy for professionals with demanding lives and complex identities

Clarity in Perception. Insight in Action.

Even when life looks successful, you may feel disconnected from what you want or divided by competing expectations. I offer depth-oriented, culturally and sociopolitically attuned psychotherapy to help you understand the patterns and forces shaping your experience—and make choices that feel more fully your own.

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Based in New York City Telehealth in NY, CA, HI

When achievement is not the whole story

You may know how to exceed standards, solve difficult problems, and turn quickly to the next challenge. Yet the qualities that support achievement do not always bring fulfillment or a grounded sense of self.

You might find yourself caught in perfectionism and overwork, struggling in relationships, or quietly disconnected from yourself and others—even when life appears successful from the outside. For people living across multiple cultures and communities, these concerns can also involve belonging, recognition, and competing values or expectations.

Psychotherapy offers a nonjudgmental space to understand the forces that have shaped you and what remains within your power to change. Through compassionate self-inquiry, you can reconsider inherited ideas about who you are and what should matter most—and move forward more authentically, with a clearer sense of purpose.

deeper understanding can create different choices

My approach is active, collaborative, and tailored to the individual. In a steady therapeutic relationship, we focus on what is happening now while also looking beneath the surface—at recurring patterns, emotional conflicts, formative experiences, and implicit meanings. Working primarily from a psychodynamic perspective while integrating other clinical approaches, we examine how the past continues to circulate through your thoughts, feelings, and actions. I also attend closely to how your inner life and personal history take shape within culture, social context, and larger systems of belief and power.

This work can be emotionally challenging, but it can also be transformative. As insight deepens, new possibilities emerge: making more deliberate choices, building more satisfying relationships, and living with greater openness and vitality.

Who I work with

I work with adults who are motivated to learn more about themselves. Many are professionals balancing demanding careers and complex identities in fields such as medicine, law, academia, public service, the creative arts, and technology.

I have specialized experience working with people of the Global Majority, including those navigating issues of community, cultural identity, and racialization and racism-related stress. My practice is also LGBTQ+ affirming and welcomes clients from all sexual orientations and gender identities

You may be seeking support during a career or life transition, trying to understand a new or changing relationship, or exploring concerns involving gender, sexuality, and intimacy. You may also be contending with anxiety or depression, persistent self-criticism, people-pleasing, imposter feelings, or uncertainty about what you want next.

Why work with me?

Dr. Andrew Young Choi, Founder and Licensed Psychologist, providing culturally responsive, evidence-based, integrative, and effective psychodynamic psychotherapy to young professionals of diverse backgrounds for a wide range of mental health needs.

To personalize psychotherapy for each client, I creatively integrate various schools of psychotherapeutic, intellectual, and sociopolitical thought. I do not have a formula or a one-size-fits-all strategy. Instead, I approach each therapeutic relationship openly and compassionately and listen deeply to the client’s unique lived experience and ways of being in the world.

As a person with a varied, unconventional background, I appreciate working with clients from diverse walks of life. I am interested in the intersection of identities, including culture, gender, race, sexual orientation, and social class. My inspiration is witnessing people master their strengths and talents and cultivate their brand of beauty and freedom in their lives. Clients denote my insight, intellect, and sense of humor in helping them meet their goals.

I am a board-certified psychologist specializing in high-quality, culturally responsive individual psychotherapy for high-performing professionals, especially those from Global Majority and LGBTQ+ backgrounds. My expertise draws from extensive mental health scholarship, client care, and community-based experiences. My research, teaching, and clinical work has won numerous national awards and recognition from multiple governing bodies in professional psychology.

Learn More About My Background

Education & Training

  • Honors College of the University of Utah

    Honors College of the University of Utah

    B.S., Psychology and Sociology

  • University of California, Santa Barbara

    University of California, Santa Barbara

    Ph.D., Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology

  • University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

    University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

    Doctoral Internship in Health Service Psychology

  • Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School

    Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School

    Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Psychology

Endorsements

  • Dr. Oscar Widale-Benitez, Licensed Psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist delivering trauma-informed, culturally-competent psychological services to diverse and client populations in underserved and sociopolitically stressed areas.

    Dr. Choi has been a dear friend and colleague for almost 10 years. I've had the opportunity to engage with him in academic, clinical, and social settings. Dr. Choi is kind, compassionate, understanding, and an advocate for social justice. He holds a wealth of knowledge in evidence based services particularly for LGBTQ+ individuals and in culturally responsive care. His intellect combined with these qualities make him an outstanding clinician, colleague, and friend.

    Oscar Widales-Benitez, PhD, NCSP - Licensed Psychologist, Lucine Center for Trauma and Grief

  • Dr. Sabrina Liu, Professor, Licensed Psychologist, and expert in human development, diversity, and trauma.

    I have known Dr. Choi for almost a decade as a colleague in several settings. I believe his clients will benefit from the same qualities he brings to his collegial relationships: a deep commitment to his work, intellect, professionalism, and humor. Dr. Choi brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his therapeutic approach, in particular his expertise in culturally responsive and LGBTQ-affirming care.

    Sabrina Liu, PhD - Assistant Professor of Psychology and Licensed Psychologist, California State University, San Marcos

  • Dr. David Nguyen, licensed counseling psychologist, culturally responsive, extensively trained in CBT, DBT, and evidence-based strategies to treat a wide range of patients and clients

    I've had a wonderful professional relationship with Andy since graduate school. He is curious about why things are the way they are and how things came to be while remaining warm and compassionate in the discovery process. Andy is exceptional in helping people make sense of what is happening within and outside of themselves so they can find a direction forward in their lives.

    David Nguyen, PhD - Licensed Psychologist and Instructor in Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School

  • Dr. Alexander Malik Khaddouma, Assistant Faculty and Board Certified Licensed Psychologist with expertise in couples and family counseling, psychotherapy, and intervention.

    Dr. Choi has been a fantastic colleague for many years. He is a respected scholar and practitioner in his areas of expertise, providing compassionate, evidence-based services that are integrative of clients' personal and cultural background and tailored to their specific needs. As a colleague, he is always a helpful and well-informed resource.

    Alexander Malik Khaddouma, PhD, ABPP - Board Certified Psychologist, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

  • I am privileged to recommend my dear colleague and friend, a person whose depth of wisdom in professional psychology is exceptional. Over the past decade, I have witnessed continuous growth in his sharp intellect, uniquely combined with candid warmth and deep compassion for his clients and members of culturally diverse communities. His remarkable ability to discern the complexities of the human mind, coupled with genuine empathy, makes him a beacon in our profession.

    Shinye Kim, PhD - Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Licensed Psychologist, University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • Having trained with Dr. Choi at the University of California, Santa Barbara, I had the privilege of viewing his therapeutic prowess and profound empathy for many years. His intelligence, sense of humor, and capacity for understanding are just a few characteristics that have made him a wonderful colleague and mentor. Dr. Choi is a gifted psychotherapist with undeniable skills in developing personalized, multiculturally resonate, queer and gender-affirming dynamic treatments across the life-span.

    Ginette Sims, PhD - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Ready to meet your best self?

Investing in your psychological health can be among the most rewarding and life-changing decisions. I am committed to assisting you in navigating new pathways to clarity, personal freedom, and self-actualization.