Therapy for Perfectionism & Burnout in Colorado & Florida

When Striving for Excellence on the Outside is Actually the Fear of Mistakes on the Inside.


Healing the Trauma Beneath Perfectionism for Asian American & BIPOC Teens & Young Adults

Striving vs. Fear

Perfectionism often looks like striving for excellence on the outside, but on the inside, it’s fear.

Fear of failure.
Fear of making mistakes.
Fear of disappointing people.
Fear of rejection, abandonment, or judgment.

It’s Not About Being Perfect

Perfectionism is often a trauma response.

Perfectionism is often a trauma response that wants to protect us from the pain of rejection, shame, abuse, feeling unworthy, or emotional abandonment. It usually develops in response to environments where love felt conditional, mistakes were punished, or being “too emotional” wasn’t safe.

Maybe you’re the oldest child who had to hold it together.
Maybe your family praised achievement and punished emotional expression.
Maybe you come from a culture that prioritizes achievement and success over all else.
Maybe your parents only showed love and approval when you were performing.

Perfectionism probably helped you survive in the beginning.
But over time, it takes a toll:

  • You feel exhausted but you feel like you can’t rest

  • You panic at any feedback

  • You spiraling over small mistakes

  • You overthink every choice

  • You planning excessively because you can’t stand uncertainty

  • You avoid anything where you might not excel

  • Feeling like you’re never doing enough

A person resting head on crossed arms on a desk surrounded by books and papers feeling burned out from perfectionistic striving.

My Approach

Perfectionism is not a personality trait — it’s a nervous system stuck in “stuck on” mode.

A pink lotus flower in full bloom with a blurred green background and a flying bee near the flower.

Therapy for perfectionism can look like:

Healing perfectionism lets you move from pressure to presence, from overthinking to clarity, from survival to actual selfhood.

If you’re tired of feeling scared all the time, let’s work through it together.

Areas of Specialty

Stuff they say you’re not supposed to talk about
— but we will