Kai Morales

Background

About Kai Morales

As a nonbinary, trans* and queer Indonesian Filipinx person, my lived experiences have amplified my work as a multicultural community based counselor. Gender and sexuality has greatly influenced my journey in life and continues to do so. In this pervasively cis-centric and heteronormative world, my journey to be the person I am today has been strenuous and volatile. From struggling to fit into society’s expectations of what I “should” be, to finding myself through what I am not- my current aspiration is to cultivate connections of unapologetic authenticity with others and within myself. One of the most resounding pieces of feedback I’ve received is that folx experience me as a soft place to land. My approach as a therapist is eclectic and inherently queer. Feminist Multicultural theories are fundamental in addressing the interwoven structures and systems that create meaning and shape our lived experiences. Those factors influence how a person is received and/or rejected in the world. I also pull from Emotion Focused and Gestalt theories to be present with pain and support clients with intentionally embodying the experience. To build rapport and to increase the trust folx have in themselves, I employ Narrative theories to assist clients with re-piercing their stories haphazardly fragmented by trauma. By sharing psychoeducation and (re)connection to empower, I hope to join folx in their healing journeys to confront dominating ideologies, address intergenerational/concurrent trauma, and transform insidiously reified messages of internalized guilt/shame to radical roots of compassion and care. To sustain and survive larger social transformations, we all must address the radical work within ourselves.