Mikayla T. Phan, MA, LMFT, ADHD-CCSP
I was a Life Coach and ADHD Coach for over 20 years researching and working with clients on one single disorder exclusively: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I received a double certification as a Life Coach from Center for Coaching Certification under Cathy Liska and as an ADHD Coach from JST Coaching under the esteemed Jodi Sleeper-Triplett. My passion and specialization in helping individuals, couples, and families with ADHD has now transitioned into a new role in psychotherapy as a Marriage and Family Therapist. I hold a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and have completed 500 hours of clinical practicum and 3000 hours of clinical residency. I have particular training working with individuals and families in crisis, clinical mental health disorders, couples and relationship challenges, individuals wanting to address core issues in specific domains of their life, and customizing executive function strategies conducive to the ADHD brain.
I am a member of Delta Kappa, the International Marriage and Family Therapy Honor Society. Delta Kappa is the official honor society for the field of Marriage and Family Therapy and serves to further and complement the work being done by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Family Therapy Academy, and the International Family Therapy Association. Delta Kappa recognizes my achievements for maintaining a 4.0 GPA through the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Northcentral University.
BACKGROUND: I was adopted from Vietnam and grew up in Elgin, Illinois. I have traveled to many countries in Europe and Asia since the age of eleven, including riding the famed Trans-Siberian Railroad System from Beijing to Budapest. In 1992, I was the youngest to ever be accepted as a student in the Chinese Language Department of the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing, China and the only student to finish their 3-year program in ten months. I hold an Associate’s Degree from Elgin Community College, a bachelor’s degree from Kalamazoo College in Asian Studies with a concentration in Chinese History, a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Northcentral University and am fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
In 1997, I moved to Beijing where I lived the Chinese culture for nine years. I taught English in a local Chinese preschool, during which time I created an English language program for children ages 18 months to 6 years. Additionally, I was the director of a children’s program in Beijing, for which I trained the teachers and wrote a tri-level EFL curriculum, equipped with accompaniment workbooks. I was also the founder and Parenting Coach of Beijing’s only expatriate homeschooling community group to date. From 1998 to 2011, I created and tailored my own project-based, interdisciplinary home-schooling curriculum for my son who has ADHD. In 2003, I wrote an essay entitled, “Path to Parenthood” about overcoming cultural boundaries as a foreigner and parent in China, which was published in a post-graduate textbook, Beyond Cultural Anxieties: Ingredients of Fear, Tests of Character (Trade Paperback, Sept 2004). I have been a guest blogger for Cathy Liska through the Center of Coaching Certification, and a total of fifteen of my writings on ADHD coaching have been featured. I have also written a contribution chapter specifically about ADHD, which was published in the 2014 edition of Coaching Perspectives (ISBN-13: 978-0692330135). My son and I returned to live in the US in 2006, and I currently have licenses for both Wisconsin and Illinois.
associations
aamft/WAMFT
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy/Wisconsin Association of Marriage and Family Therapy
psychology today
Directory to connect people to mental health providers
CHADD
Children and Adults with ADHD
Delta Kappa
The International Marriage and Family Therapy Honors Society
