Darren Lau, ASW, MA
Associate Social Worker
Associate therapists have completed their academic training for a masters degree and have worked with children and families for several years. In order to sit for their licensing exam, they have to be supervised for approximately 3000 hours after getting their degree. They are currently being supervised by one of our licensed clinicians to obtain these hours and complete this training. Supervision is a collaborative process and your child will have the support of two very capable clinicians.
5 years of clinical experience
GENERAL AVAILABILITY:
Monday - Sunday 4:30PM - 7:30PM
These hours are a general scope of availability, and do not constitute a guarantee of availability. Additionally, these hours are subject to change.
Darren’s favorite part of working with clients is walking alongside them on their journey toward their goals, using therapeutic techniques to provide support and guidance. His aim is to empower each client with practical tools to navigate life’s challenges and overcome barriers. He loves connecting with all populations, drawing from his extensive experience with families, which naturally includes a wide range of age groups. His background includes working with veterans, children, families, and the geriatric population. He thrives in both group counseling and individual sessions, bringing expertise in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy to help clients grow and succeed.
Inspired By
Outside of being a therapist with Healthy Minds, Darren is a Team Lead Clinician in the Community for Kaiser Patients in the South Bay. He loves his role as a lead clinician and enjoys empowering and guiding his team on navigating complex cases. More importantly, Darren works with his clients to see the change in their lives as they navigate the community with their serious mental illnesses. He uses solution-based therapy to help prevent crises from occurring.
Specialties
Youth
Young Adults
Adults
Geriatric
Depression
Solution-Focused Problem Solving
Social Skills
SMI (Serious Mental Illness)
Family
Anxiety
PTSD
Specialized Training
Emotional Regulation
Executive Functioning
Social Skill Groups
Crisis Intervention
Tell Me More!
Darren's life outside of work is just other work not related to therapy. He sees so much joy in working and believes that being passionate about your work is the only way one will find true happiness and appreciation in a job anyone does. Outside of work, I love track racing, spirited driving, and working on cars. He is not someone that likes to do things halfway, and more so enjoys finding what he is interested in and going all in on something he wants to become an expert in. Darren grew up in Hong Kong, and has deep roots in the southeast Asian culture, but has also been in the US for a fair amount of time as well. He finds it so interesting on how one's culture can change who you are and likes to explore every culture's identity and how to use cultural knowledge to build stronger connections and friendship bonds. He is a true believer that making a hobby into your job is the best way to ensure you enjoy your job and become an expert at what you want to do with your everyday life.
In Darren's free time, he loves to be active in sports: weightlifting, badminton, swimming, cycling. He also loves entrepreneurship and loves reading to learn new tools to help him and those around him succeed . Darren really cherishes his long lasting personal relationships and always prioritizes time with his loved ones. His closest friends live all over the country and some are outside the country in Hong Kong! So If he is not doing sports, you can probably find him catching up with people all around the world!
What gets Darren out of bed in the morning is not knowing what new experiences or skills he will learn during this new day. He looks forward to all the new experiences, memories, and people he will come across and the chance of possibly bettering their lives. In Darren's day to day life, he strives to cultivate joy, gratitude, mindfulness, and harmony. He loves lending his hand out to the community and seeing his hard work turn into change in one's life. If he sees a group of individuals live's change for the better, it motivates Darren to carry on that energy and spread that same energy to other folks that maybe need that extra push in life to get to where they want to be in their lives.
Background
Darren grew up in Hong Kong and has lived there half of his life. He completed his undergraduate career at University of Oregon where he grew his passion for psychology and mental health, and knew that was a case even as early as middle school. During his time at UO, he worked in four research labs as an assistant and was a lead research assistant at the Memory and Attention Lab within the department of psychology at UO. He was also the Coordinator of the Undergraduate Statistics Tutoring Program for the Undergraduate Psychology department. Darren also worked with children dealing with SMI in the community during his undergraduate career as a part-timer to get an early start in his career.
After graduating, Darren spent the pandemic as a Associate Director of Community Services for the community in the San Francisco Tenderloin (Supportive Housing, Rep-Payee, Digital Literacy, Housing) before admitting into the San Francisco State University, where he elected to pursue his Masters of Social Work. During his time as a graduate student, he interned at Burlingame Skilled Nursing as the Director of Social Services. Darren now works as both a Lead Clinician For Kaiser patients and an Associate Clinical Social Worker!
Education
Bachelor of Arts In Psychology, From University of Oregon (Psy Chi Honors + Dean’s List)
Master of Arts In Social Work, From San Francisco State University