Xiao (Smile) Shi, LMHC

I’m a NY State Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) with a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. I have had the privilege of directing a graduate training program for future therapists at a clinic serving Asian American and immigrant communities. This role has deepened my appreciation for collaboration and lifelong learning, values that I bring into each session. My background in community-based work has taught me that mental health is deeply connected to our bodies, our cultural roots, our closest relationships, and the systems we move through every day.

I have a passion for working with people who live in the in-between including:

• Biracial and bicultural individuals navigating multiple worlds.

• Immigrants and children of immigrants carrying both inherited histories and emerging identities.

• Introverts who long for solitude and deeper connection.

• Queer individuals whose experiences have never fit neatly into a category.

• Those who have spent their life translating themselves in the hope that others might finally understand.

You may find yourself pulled between competing realities: wanting independence while yearning for closeness, seeking authenticity while hiding parts of you in order to belong. Perhaps you have become so skilled at adapting to the needs and expectations of others that your own voice has grown faint in the background. Perhaps beneath all of this, there's persistent hope: someone might recognize you before you have the words to explain yourself.

We can learn to inhabit the in between with greater comfort and compassion. Not by forcing yourself into a single identity or a fixed destination, but by discovering that wholeness can exist in the very places that once felt divided. Sometimes healing is not about choosing one side or the other. It is about finding a home in the in-between.

To learn more or set up an appointment with Smile call (646) 770-0535 or email us at info@realtalktherapynyc.com.