Member Highlight — Gina Balit, LMFT, ATR

Sachiko Cmiral, AMFT

Although we weren’t able to meet her in person, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sachiko Cmiral, AMFT, by asking her a series of questions and receiving insightful information from her via email. I met her a year ago during one of our hiking groups and most recently spoke to her at our social networking event in May, where I found out about her sporty, perhaps adventurous, side — how she used to ride motorcycles back home in Japan — how cool!

Sachiko became a member of SFV-CAMFT in 2019 — during the pandemic! She attended our online support group and very soon had welcoming and warm experiences which helped her get through challenges during her time pursuing her degree and graduating from CSUN’s MFT program in December 2020. In May 2021, she joined our hiking groups and has enjoyed it ever since. She’s found this group to be a unique way to meet other therapists while getting exercise and enjoying the beautiful natural surroundings at the same time.

She considers herself fascinated by human behavior in general. She was born and raised in a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. Through an international, high school, exchange program, she was able to experience life in New Zealand for a year. Before moving to Los Angeles, she also lived and traveled throughout other parts of Japan as well as Europe. The different cultural experiences she’s experiences as well as the opportunity to meet people from different cultural backgrounds have shaped her into the person (and clinician) she is today.

She has raised two sons, now 16 and 25, as a stay-at-home mom in Los Angeles. As the mother of a neurodiverse child, she learned about mental health and what it takes to be a professional in the field. The ability to become a therapist has been an incredible and rewarding blessing for her.

During her practicum training, she provided therapies to clients who had experienced traumas from various populations and age groups. She has learned that unresolved trauma allows people to become stuck in unhealthy life patterns. Her passion lies in facilitating and witnessing changes in clients’ lives when they transform what was once suffering into growth. As an Asian therapist, she is aware that mental health still carries a stigma in some cultures. Her goal is to decrease the stigma by providing psychoeducation, validating emotional experiences, and making therapy a positive experience for the client.

Currently, she works at Wilshire Valley Therapy Centers under the supervision of Dr. Katrina Wood, Hamid Dadashi, LMFT, and Giovanna Hanson, LCSW.

We’re so grateful to have her as a member of our chapter!

Gina Balit, LMFT, ATR, is a Licensed Marriage and Family therapist and Registered Art Therapist working in private practice in Woodland Hills, CA. She is passionate about working with young children of divorce and abuse. She feels honored to be the current President-Elect on the Board of Directors for the chapter, after a 6-year run as VP of Marketing.