Announcement from Dr. Riichiro Miwa Psychological Services

Dear Valued and Beloved Clients:

How are you all doing? I am afraid many of you are experiencing big challenges and difficulties at this difficult time.

As you all know, the current coronavirus situation is really tough and anxiety-provoking for all of us.

You may have heard that Orange County issued an order yesterday, March 17th, that appeared to require businesses in OC to close their doors unless on a list of exceptions, and we were concerned how we could continue our support to all of you, particularly in such a time of such emotional stress and anxiety.

As of March 18, based on an update from Orange County, the order has been clarified as requiring businesses to conduct business while using "social distancing." I also directly confirmed it with OC Emergency Operation Staff. So, for now at least, we are able to continue providing our services in the office and we are more than happy to do so! 

We take your health and safety as seriously as we do our own. Please allow me to share some information on the steps we are taking to help protect you and ourselves from the COVID-19 virus.

- There is hand sanitizer available in the office for you to use should you cough or sneeze during a session.

- There are tissues available for you to use. Please cough or sneeze into a tissue if you have the urge or need to do so during a session.

- We use alcohol spray and wipe down contact surfaces between each client session, including the door handles and arms of the chairs.

- All therapists are washing their hands per the CDC guidelines before each client session. We also encourage all clients to use the bathrooms in the building to wash their hands as well according to the CDC guidelines before coming into the room for their session.


- The office was thoroughly vacuumed, wiped, and sanitized today. The positioning of the chairs in the office was also rearranged to provide more physical distance between the therapist and clients per the social distancing guidelines. Our emotional distance won't change, however; hopefully it will get even closer.

The Admin Building is also taking the current situation seriously, monitoring all the tenants and their clients' health condition.

We promise that we will do our best to maximize your safety and ours, while maintaining our daily routines, which I believe is key to surviving the best in this overwhelming situation. We also ask that you play your part by following the simple steps of maintaining social distance (6 feet / 2 meters), covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue, and washing your hands. Thank you for your cooperation.

Please know that if you prefer telehealth services via phone or any other devices, we are more than happy to do so going forward or at any time in the future. Please do not hesitate to ask.

Of course, if you are not feeling well or have a fever, please do not come to the office but rather let us know so we can conduct a teletherapy session. Please rest assured that we will also not come to the office should we develop a fever and will let you know and make appropriate alternative arrangements with you for a teletherapy session.

Please also know that if there is ever an order for a lockdown in the future, we will have no choice but to use telehealth services for all clients.

Lastly, as you know, your identity and client file are protected by HIPPA privacy Laws. However, in the event that information is requested by appropriate health authorities for the purposes of identifying people who may have been in contact with someone infected with COVID-19, we may possibly be required to provide the minimum necessary to trace contacts. Your file notes and case history would NOT be part of the disclosure. Please see the following link if you wish to see the details of the limited waver granted to health providers.

As always, thank you very much for placing your trust in us to provide you with quality care. We are really proud of what we do, and are determined to continue providing you with our services no matter how the situation evolves.

We hope you, your families, loved ones, and friends all remain safe and healthy through this difficult period.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me or your therapist.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Riichiro Miwa
Dr.Leeanne Marquez
Sharon Hou, AMFT

Dr. Riichiro Miwa Licensed Clinical Psychologist (PSY 21622) / Life Coach

Look! Even the sandtray miniatures' shelf was cleaned! :)

Additional Miniatures!

Last time, I posted about my new and great therapeutic tool, Sand Tray and its Miniatures. I somehow wanted to have a few more essential ones, and I got them! I will introduce the new members today.

This is the first group. Fairy tail characters. We have read a lot of stories and they are really great to represent people in our life! I hope my clients love them.

By the way, it is so interesting that they look like they are posing together, as if they are a performance group or something like that, although I did not intend to display them that way! :)

The second group is venomous creatures. Creepy? Yes, they could be. But we do have toxic people and experiences in our life, and I thought they are needed to be available options. I'm pretty happy that they joined us.

These two groups above were the ones I wanted to add to the whole miniature set, but I also happened to find this very small perfume container at home, which appeared quite interesting. Anything that stimulates our imaginations, creativity, and associations is great. Therefore, I added this one as well.

Some of my clients have already expressed themselves amazingly well through the sand tray. I love it.

Sand Tray Therapy!

I’m excited to announce that my office now has a Sand Tray Therapy set!

Sand Tray is a powerful tool with which people of any age can express themselves outwardly and physically. It may appear to be cheesy and childish for you at first, but once you experience it, you will see how powerful it can be! I use it to help my clients express their thoughts, feelings and experiences to an extent they could never imagine. The visual image as a symbol is quite vivid and it does affect our neurons. You will be surprised what we can do with this small box with the collection of miniatures. I hope you also find it very inspirational!

This small shelf has a lot of miniatures which can be used as symbols of many of our experiences.

These figurines can represent any human beings, animals, or objects in our lives, and I will buy more!

There are more mythical figurines as well.

And there are sea creatures!

Of course, we cannot forget about animals, including dinosaurs.
 

We love plants and animals, don’t we?

But yeah, fights are part of our experience too, unfortunately...

Apart from these, we have insects and vehicles.

We can also take a trip to all over the world.

And romance, spirituality, and death are not avoidable…

The sand tray can help you express your world inside you. I hope you will find it interesting and valuable!