Meet Your Counselor
Amelia Choi Freeman, MA, APCC
Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor · APCC #23278 (CA)
MA, Clinical Mental Health Counseling · Supervised by Harry Dixon, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, LPCC #4340 · Employed by Rainbow Connection Counseling Collective
Hi, I’m Amelia — an Asian American, attachment-focused counselor for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC young adults, women, and couples. I help you understand the patterns you can feel but can’t quite name: where they came from, what they’ve been protecting, and what you want to do with them now.
You don’t have to explain your identity, your family, or your culture before we get to what actually hurts.
My Story
Most of us know what we keep doing. Therapy is where you discover why.
I’ve always been curious about the nature of things: why we become who we are, how our earliest relationships stay with us, and what changes when someone finally feels understood. I studied anthropology before I studied counseling, and I still think of every client as carrying a culture, a family story, and a set of unspoken rules that made sense once, even if they don’t fit anymore.
For LGBTQ+ and BIPOC clients, those rules are often layered. Maybe you learned early to be the easy one, the achiever, the one who held the family together. Maybe love showed up as sacrifice and high expectations more than words, as it does in many Asian American families, or some parts of you felt safer kept quiet. Maybe you’ve spent years code-switching between who your family needs, who the world expects, and who you actually are.
“You don’t need the words for it yet. Bring what you notice, and we’ll find the thread together.”
None of that means something is wrong with you. It means you adapted, and adaptations can be understood. Your identity is never the problem. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, gender expectations, and family pressure shape mental health, and they belong in the room.
You’ll leave sessions seeing things you couldn’t see before. We’ll trace your patterns back to where they began, name what they’ve been protecting, and turn confusion into clarity you can use.
At Rainbow Connection, I work with LGBTQ+ and BIPOC clients who want more than coping skills. They want to understand themselves, make peace with where they come from, and choose how they want to love, connect, and live.
Areas of Expertise
Where your story and your healing meet.
Affirming, insight-driven care for the full complexity of LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and intersectional lives.
LGBTQ+ Mental Health & Relationships
- Identity exploration, coming out, and self-acceptance
- Queer family dynamics, chosen family, and belonging
- LGBTQ+ couples and relationship patterns
- Minority stress, shame, and the pressure to be “enough”
- Trans and nonbinary affirming care
Asian American & BIPOC Mental Health
- Asian American family dynamics, filial expectations, and guilt
- Intergenerational and cultural narratives that shape identity
- The intersection of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC identities
- Racism, discrimination, and racial identity development
- Code-switching, belonging, and living authentically across worlds
Attachment & Relational Healing
- Attachment wounds and anxious or avoidant patterns
- Relational trauma and repeating relationship cycles
- People-pleasing, over-functioning, and being the family’s “glue”
- Shame, self-worth, and self-compassion
- Loneliness and building secure connection
Additional Areas of Focus
- Anxiety and depression
- Young adult transitions and identity development
- Women’s mental health and gender expectations
- Body image and self-image
- Grief, spirituality, and life transitions
How I Work
What working with me feels like.
Calm and steady enough that you can be honest, open enough that you can see yourself in a new way.
Connect the Dots
Discover how your past shapes your present, and finally understand the why behind what you feel and do.
No Explaining the Basics
You won’t spend sessions justifying your identity, relationships, or family. I practice cultural humility: I ask rather than assume, and I take your world seriously.
Your Identity Is Never the Problem
Racism, homophobia, transphobia, gender expectations, and family pressure shape mental health. We name those systems instead of locating everything inside you.
Insight and Skills Together
Psychodynamic and IFS-informed work helps you understand why. CBT, DBT, and mindfulness tools help you change what happens next.
Honest, With Care
I offer direct but compassionate reflection, so you get real feedback, not just nodding along.
You Lead
My insights are offerings, never verdicts. Your understanding of your own life, culture, chosen family, and values guides our work.
Therapeutic Modalities
Education & Training
Grounded in culture and clinical training.
Master of Arts in Counseling
Northwestern University, 2026. Graduate training in clinical mental health, with attachment-based, multicultural, and feminist frameworks.
Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
2022. A foundation in how culture, family, and community shape identity, which still informs how I understand every client.
Registration & Supervision
Amelia sees clients located in California, online only, under the clinical supervision of a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor.
Work With Amelia
Ready to understand the why behind your patterns?
Reach out using this secure, HIPAA-compliant form and mention you’d like to work with Amelia. Our office will be in touch within one to two business days to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.
- Free 15-min consultation — just a conversation, no commitment
- Private pay keeps therapy private — no insurance company in the room; HSA/FSA accepted
- Now accepting new clients — online across California
- Prefer to call? 619.363.4674
Amelia Choi Freeman, MA is a Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC #23278) with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. She is employed by Rainbow Connection Professional Clinical Counselor Service PC, doing business as Rainbow Connection Counseling Collective, and is supervised by Harry Dixon, MA, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (CA LPCC #4340). All services are provided via telehealth to clients located in California and are subject to California laws and regulations. This website constitutes advertising under the California Business and Professions Code.