About Snow Chen
Understanding the Patterns Beneath the Surface
Specialist, culturally responsive psychotherapy for people seeking to understand recurring emotional, behavioural, and relationship patterns.
Therapist. Supervisor. Researcher.
Thoughtful therapy for meaningful and lasting change.
Many people seek therapy after years of recurring emotional pain, difficult relationships, self-criticism, or patterns that persist despite insight and effort. These experiences are often connected to deeper emotional, developmental, and relational patterns that have formed over time.
Welcome to Sunflower Mental Health and Wellbeing—a space for thoughtful, compassionate therapy that looks beyond symptoms to understand the person as a whole.
I am Snow Chen, an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, psychotherapist, and ISST Advanced Certified Schema Therapist & Supervisor. My practice integrates a broad range of evidence-based modalities, including Schema Therapy, psychodynamic and Transference-Focused approaches, EMDR, ACT, DBT, CBT, EFT, mindfulness, and hypnotherapy.
Rather than focusing solely on symptom reduction, I work collaboratively with clients to understand the emotional and relational patterns contributing to ongoing distress and to develop new ways of relating to themselves and others.
I provide therapy in English and Mandarin and work with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Alongside clinical practice, I am undertaking PhD research exploring cultural adaptation in psychotherapy and the ways culture, migration, identity, attachment, and family experience shape emotional wellbeing.
My passion lies in helping individuals break free from entrenched patterns and move toward a more coherent, stable and satisfying sense of self. Specialising in treating trauma and personality difficulties, I often work with clients whose depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties or emotional distress are connected with adverse developmental and relational experiences.
I am continually inspired by the inner strengths and capacities that clients bring into therapy. My role is to support you in understanding what has shaped your current patterns, strengthening healthier ways of relating to yourself and others, and moving toward a life that feels more authentic, connected and satisfying.
The journey behind the practice
My Story
Personal Journey
My journey in psychology began in 2010, driven by a desire to better understand the deeper emotional and relational patterns that shape our lives. Having experienced the impact of people-pleasing and perfectionistic patterns first-hand, my own journey of self-understanding and change has also shaped how I understand the therapeutic process.
Professional Evolution
With a background in psychological practice in China and mental health social work in Australia, I have developed particular expertise in treating complex trauma, personality difficulties, anxiety, and chronic depression.
I began practising in China and later expanded my clinical experience through mental health services and NGOs in Adelaide, working with adults and young people experiencing a broad range of complex mental health and psychosocial difficulties.
Witnessing people through their therapeutic journeys has strengthened my belief in our capacity for growth. When core emotional needs are not adequately met during development, we may develop schemas and coping strategies to adapt, protect ourselves, or maintain important relationships. While these responses may once have served an important purpose, over time they can contribute to emotional distress, difficulties in relationships, and recurring patterns that restrict how we want to live.
Drawing on Schema Therapy, attachment theory, psychodynamic thinking and other evidence-based approaches, I work with clients to understand these deeper patterns, address the experiences and emotional needs beneath them, and develop healthier and more satisfying ways of relating to themselves and others.
Holistic Approach
Drawing from both Eastern and Western perspectives, my practice is trauma-informed, culturally responsive and person-centred. I believe therapy needs to understand the whole person—not only symptoms, but also relationships, developmental experiences, culture, identity and the broader context in which a person's difficulties have developed.
I value the inherent strengths and capacities within each person and aim to support greater self-understanding, emotional integration and a more coherent and satisfying sense of self.
Mission Statement
Quoting Allen Ginsberg, “We are all golden sunflowers inside.”
This idea has remained central to the philosophy behind Sunflower Mental Health and Wellbeing. My aim is to help people understand and loosen the patterns that have constrained them, reconnect with parts of themselves that may have been hidden or neglected, and develop a life that feels more authentic, connected and satisfying.
If you are looking for someone to walk alongside you with curiosity, compassion and clinical depth, I would be privileged to support you on your journey towards healing and thriving.
Find the right starting point
Start with the experience closest to yours.
Each page describes common experiences and signs, how therapy may help, and relevant treatment options.
Trauma
Therapy for adults and youth living with the ongoing effects of developmental trauma, neglect, abuse or unsafe relationships.
Learn moreEmotional Distress & Difficulties
Therapy for overwhelming, disconnected or recurring emotional reactions that can be difficult to understand or change.
Learn moreRelationship & Interpersonal Difficulties
A place to understand closeness, mistrust, conflict, avoidance, dependency and fear of abandonment.
Learn morePersonality Difficulties
Support for intense emotions, identity confusion, relationship ruptures and recurring coping patterns.
Learn moreAnxiety & Depression
Therapy that looks beyond symptoms to the patterns, losses and unmet needs keeping distress in place.
Learn moreCross-Cultural Adjustment & Migrant Experiences
Bilingual, culturally responsive therapy for migration, identity, family roles and belonging.
Learn moreClient Experiences
What Clients Say
Anonymised and shared with consent. Some accounts are composite representations drawn from clinical experience.
“C.K was grappling with the overwhelming symptoms of BPD, ADHD, C-PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Despite years of psychotherapy with various therapists, he felt profoundly misunderstood and stagnant in his progress. Constantly sacrificing his own needs to please others only deepened his chronic unhappiness and depression.”
When I introduced the case conceptualisation formulated by Schema Therapy, C.K expressed a profound sense of relief, feeling truly understood for the first time.
Throughout our sessions, he experienced a transformative journey of self-discovery, reclaiming his identity and autonomy. With newfound assertiveness, he could finally prioritise his wellbeing, leading to improvements in his work performance, familial relationships, and the blossoming of a fulfilling intimate connection.
“You are the only clinician I feel I have ever made progress with.”
“S.A approached me burdened by chronic depression, social avoidance, BPD, C-PTSD and ADHD. Delving into her narrative, it became evident that complex trauma underpinned her struggles.”
Employing Schema Therapy alongside EMDR, we addressed her C-PTSD and nurtured her healthy adult self.
Despite never having held a job due to social anxiety and low self-esteem, our collaborative efforts over two years empowered her to cultivate confidence and secure employment. Resolving her C-PTSD was pivotal, paving the way for enhanced interpersonal connections and newfound comfort in social settings. Her decision to name her beloved rabbit Snow in homage to our therapeutic journey symbolizes the enduring impact of our work together.
“The first therapist she could confide in and the only one who catalyzed genuine change.”
“C.P sought assistance for debilitating anxiety stemming from the relentless pressures of daily life. Accustomed to striving for perfection and shouldering excessive burdens, she found herself in a perpetual state of tension, exacerbating her panic attacks and physical symptoms. Unpacking her story revealed deep-rooted patterns of maladaptive behavior, stemming from developmental trauma.”
Integrating Schema Therapy and DBT, we fostered self-awareness regarding the origins of her emotional triggers and ingrained coping mechanisms.
Armed with this insight, C.P embarked on a journey of growth, embracing constructive strategies rooted in self-compassion and assertiveness. As a result, she experienced a newfound sense of serenity, allowing her to savor both her personal and professional endeavors. Our couples counseling sessions further fortified her intimate relationship.
“Our work helped her develop the constructive strategies coping with life stress and anxiety. And also helped her gain the self awareness of her mal-adaptive schemas and dysfunctional coping behavior which guided her for a self healing journey and also motivate her develop a much more healthier intimate relationship.”
“Our 16-year-old client came to us after experiencing severe school bullying and childhood trauma, leading to the presenting issues of anxiety, depression, and C-PTSD. They struggled with social difficulties, emotional distress regulation, self-harm, and concentration issues.”
Through a combination of DBT and Schema Therapy, we worked together to strengthen emotion regulation, social confidence, family relationships, and concentration.
The client now concentrates on their studies, has improved social interactions, no longer engages in self-harm, regulates emotional distress effectively, and enjoys smoother relationships with their family.
“Confident in their learning, socializing and coping with emotional distress, and wanted to work hard for her future dream.”
Is this the right fit?
Send a brief enquiry and I will let you know whether I may be able to help.