Professional and Educational Background

Dorcas Nung is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Washington and California. She holds a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University. She also completed specialized, post-graduate training in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health through the Los Angeles County/USC Violence Intervention Program.

Dorcas brings expertise and experience treating a diverse range of clinical issues to her practice in Bellingham.

She has worked in a variety of settings, including a teen residential program for pregnant and parenting foster and probation youth, school-based programs, in-home visiting for children birth to five years of age, multi-disciplinary assessment of young children in foster care, a community-based trauma clinic, and private practice. She has also provided mental health consultation to multi-disciplinary treatment teams and early childhood education programs throughout Los Angeles County.

In her work with children and adolescents, Dorcas believes in taking a developmental, holistic, and family-centered approach starting with the positives to build on areas of strength and resiliency.

Dorcas’ work with individual adults embraces the belief that our earliest relationships shape who we are and how we relate to others. When we are stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious, we may revert to old patterns of relating -- patterns so old that they reach back to our very beginnings.

Dorcas believes that by looking at our own childhood issues and working through them to a place of strength and understanding, we not only become better people; we have the chance to become better parents to our children and better partners to those we love.

Areas of Specialization

Dorcas is passionate about helping children and families to grow, thrive, and reach their fullest potential. She maintains a general practice where she works with children, young people, adults, and families who are dealing with the following types of issues:

• Anxiety, anger and depression
• Childhood developmental issues, including Autism, and Autism spectrum disorders such as Asperger’s, attachment disorders, encopresis/enuresis, neurological issues, and sensory regulation/integration dysfunction
• Behavioral problems , including disruptive and oppositional behaviors, tantrums, biting, and defiance
• Adjustment and interpersonal problems
• Parent-child/ family conflicts, including problems with parent-child “fit”
• Attention difficulties (ADD/ADHD)
• Traumatic experience (PTSD/sexual abuse)
• Grief and loss
• Post-partum depression
• Parenting support/coaching