Wonyoung L. Cho, PhD, LMFT, is an assistant professor of Marriage, Couples, and Family Therapy (MCFT) program in the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling in Portland, Oregon. She is a board member and the Co-chair of the Research Interest Group in American Family Therapy Academy (AFTA), and recently has been appointed to be a part of the Leadership of AFTA (2023-2025). She is also active in the Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA).
Dr. Cho is a bilingual and bicultural 1.5-generation Korean-American, and is passionate about access and equity of mental health services and higher education for the historically marginalized communities. As an interdisciplinary practitioner-researcher, her interest includes using languages as marker of culture to understand culturally responsive and responsible pedagogy, practice, and research. Her clinical experience includes working with a multidisciplinary treatment team in an outpatient medical setting, specializing in trauma work with children and youth.
Personal Statement
I am bilingual (conversational Korean and English, written and oral) and interested in using languages as markers of culture to learn and understand the culture(s) of mental health, clinical education, and practice.
Current Research
- Context Filtering and l/Languages in therapy practices and education
- Socioculturally relevant and responsive pedagogy and practice
Publications
Cho, W. L. (2023, in review). Chapter 8: Relational Ethics at the Heart of Asian American Family Systems. In J. ChenFeng & L. Kim (Eds.), Asian American Identities, Relationships, and Cultural Legacies: Reflections from Marriage and Family Therapists. Routledge.
Kim, L. & Cho, W. L. (2023). Beyond the Black, Brown, and White: Locating self in Third Spaces in Social Justice Education. In L. A. Nice (Ed.), Stepping Into Socially-Just Teaching: Lived Experiences of Early Marriage & Family Therapy Educators (AFTA Springerbriefs in family therapy). Springer.
Cho, W. L., Pham, T. T., & Chung, D. K. (2021). Intersections of Asian languages, culture, and professional education: Where the personal and professional intimately collide. In m. polanco, N. Zamani, & C. D. Kim (Eds.), Justice in language: Exploring bilinguality in family therapy (AFTA Springerbriefs in family therapy). Springer.
Fraenkel, P. & Cho, W. L. (2020). Up, down, in, and around: Couple and family coping during the Corona Virus Pandemic. Family Process 59(3), 847-864. doi: 10.1111/famp.12570
Cho, W. L. (2019). A response to multicultural competence re-examined. In G. Monk, J. Winslade, & S. Sinclair (Eds.), Intercultural Counseling: Bridging the Us and Them Divide. San Diego, CA: Cognella Publishing.
Cho, W. L. (2019). Context Filtering: Clinical and Linguistic Practices of Asian American Multilingual Mental Health Professionals (Doctoral dissertation).
Cho, W. L. (2019, May). 엘림 심리 상담 칼럼: 이야기로 만드는 자녀들의 건강한 정체성*. San Diego Korean-American Community Magazine.
*translation) Elim Counseling Column: Healthy identity for our children through stories
Presentations
Cho, W. L. (2023, June). Decolonizing Therapyspeak Through Translanguaging: Using Language as Marker of Culture for Socioculturally Attuned Practice [Brief presentation]. American Family Therapy Academy 44th Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Sifuentez, B. & Cho, W. L. (2023, May). Color Bombing a PWI: Solidarity Across Racial Lines without Co-opting Narratives in Higher Education [Presentation & Workshop]. National Conference on Race and Ethnicity 2023, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Cho, W. L. (2022, June 29). 조율상담치료 (Attuning Therapy). 서울신학대학교 (Seoul Theological University), Bucheon/Seoul, South Korea.
Cho, W. L., Villalobos Andino, C., David, S., & Dailey, M. (2022, June). Therapyspeak: Articulating the subculture of therapy [Brief presentation]. American Family Therapy Academy 43rd Annual Conference, Virtual Conference, USA.
Truong, T., Lyu, K., Cho, W. L., Han, S., Ho, S., Huang, J., Kadaba, M., Lee, C., Maung, J., Skiles, K., & Zhang, S. (2020, October 3). Are you burning yourself out?: Burnout for AAPI Practitioners in the Era of COVID-19 and Telehealth [Continuing education session]. Asian American Psychological Association 2020 Annual Conference, online, USA.
Lyu, K., Kadaba, M. L., Thakore-Dunlap, U., Truong, T., Han, S., Huang, J., Maung, J., & Cho, W. L. (2019, October). Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Ways Practitioners Work Collaboratively and Redefine Clinical Practice. Interactive session at the Asian American Psychological Association 2019 Annual Conference, San Diego, CA.
Barton, R., Blevins, D., & Cho, W. L. (2019, June). Diasporic Childhood: Sites of Rupture and Repair. Brief oral presentation at the American Family Therapy Academy 41st Annual Meeting and Open Conference, Oakland, CA.
Cho, W. L. & Stock, A. (2019, June). Systems for Culturally Relevant Mental Healthcare . Brief oral presentation at the American Family Therapy Academy 41st Annual Meeting and Open Conference, Oakland, CA.
Mock, M. & Cho, W. L. (2019, June). The power of cultural narratives in family therapy education, training, and clinical practice for relational bridging. Brief oral presentation at the Amerian Family Therapy Academy 41st Annual Meeting and Open Conference, Oakland, CA.
Cho, W. L. (2018, October). History of Multicultural Counseling Competence (MCC) and future directions for culturally-relevant practices. Oral presentation at the Asian Academy of Family Therapy 5th Annual Conference, Taipei, Taiwan.
Cho, W. L. (2018, October). Stories and Us: Narrative Identity Development (이야기와 우리: 이야기 정체성 발달 또는 구성). Guest lecture for graduate students in the Early Childhood Development program on Narrative Identity Construction theory and its application; delivered in Korean, Pusan National University in Busan, South Korea.
Academic Credentials
PhD in Education, Claremont Graduate University & San Diego State University
AAMFT-approved Clinical Supervisor, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), California and Oregon
MS in Counseling (Marriage and Family Therapy), San Diego State University
BA in Psychology (with minor in Asian American Studies), University of California – Los Angeles