Mihoko Kusachi

Mihoko Kusachi brings a calm, encouraging presence to therapy and aims to help people find hope and the courage to pursue meaningful change. She creates an open, nonjudgmental space where thoughts and feelings can be shared and explored, and she honors the bravery of anyone who has taken the first step toward change.

Raised in Japan and educated in Tokyo and the San Francisco Bay Area, Mihoko combines international life and work experience across Japan, Australia, and America with a master’s degree in counseling focused on rehabilitation for people with disabilities. She is a licensed mental health counselor in Hawaii (license MHC-329) and has provided mental health counseling for the past ten years. In addition, she has more than twenty years of experience as a social worker and case manager in clinical settings in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Big Island of Hawai’i.

Mihoko has supported children and adults, with and without disabilities, through challenges including stress, anxiety, grief, anger management, low self-esteem, depression, addictions, relationship and family conflicts, trauma and abuse, eating and sleeping disorders, career difficulties, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit challenges, coping with life changes, and compassion fatigue. Her clinical approach is shaped by Humanistic, Existential, Somatic, and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive-Behavioral therapies, and she prefers an integrated body-mind, or psychosomatic, framework that honors each person’s strengths and preferences.

In sessions, Mihoko guides personal reflection and the examination of unhelpful thoughts while using sensory-based exercises, relaxation practices, and other self-regulation techniques to ease emotional distress. Clients may also explore past experiences to gain insight that supports more authentic living in the present. She has witnessed improvements across physical, emotional, behavioral, and spiritual domains, and she works collaboratively to find practical, individualized strategies that promote balanced well-being.

Grounded in a social justice orientation, Mihoko’s work is culturally responsive and oriented toward promoting individuality across backgrounds. Having grown up with firsthand experience of being traditionally underserved, she is especially committed to supporting people in marginalized positions and is sensitive to the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, and socioeconomic status. Her role is to partner with clients to uncover and nurture the inner resources that help them move forward.