AGNES WANG LCSW

• B.A.  Social Welfare, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA 1967
• M.S.W.  University of California, Berkeley, CA 1969
• 1969 - 1972  Catholic Social Services, San Francisco   
• 1972 - 74   Suicide Prevention, San Francisco

• 1974 - 79  Forest Farm Camp and Conference Center

        Owner and co-director.  Operated a summer camp for children 6-16, conducted family therapy workshops for families and social service agencies, sponsored seminars on stress management, somatic and humanistic psychology

• 1972- present   Private practice as licensed clinical social worker (CA license #L3753) 

         I have trained in Virginia Satir's approach to family system and communication theory.  In my work, I apply an integration of mindfulness training, psychodynamic, cognitive and behavioral, and stress management approaches. I've trained and supervised graduate students in psychology, and consulted with schools and youth service organizations in San Francisco and Marin. I speak two Chinese dialects, Cantonese and Mandarin, and helped to introduce family counseling to the Chinese community in San Francisco in the '70's.

         In my own personal and professional growth, I've explored Taoist and Buddhist approaches to healing the mind and body. From 20 years of meditation practice I have seen how emotions are products of the mind. No one pushes our buttons except ourselves. Through understanding this, we are on the way to reducing the power of emotions over us.

         Amid waves of hope and fear, where we obssess over "if only" or "when.....then", we yearn for stability.  To be alive is to have positive and negative experiences.   Through mindfulness training we can find ways to stay level and calm in the throes of struggle, knowing that everything eventually passes.  Since impermanence is a powerful teacher, we will strive to learn how to use it as an ally for our well-being.