Treatment Approach & Therapist Profile

Wataru often reminds his clients and fellow therapists that the primary objectives of psychotherapy are unlearning habitual ways of creating pitfalls and learning how to be truly kind to one’s self. These two aspirations may seem perfectly reasonable and simple enough; however, upon closer examination, one may realize that consistently adhering to these guiding principles in daily life can be quite challenging. In fact, more often than not, we are unaware of mental and behavioral habits that are causing unnecessary stress, compromising our quality of life, undermining resilience, and making us susceptible to both mental and physical ailments. The key to learning how to be genuinely and consistently kind to ourselves by extinguishing harmful mental and behavioral habits is metacognition, also known as mindful awareness. Simply put, it is the capacity to observe one’s internal experience at arm’s length without overidentification or reactive judgment.  Mindfulness affords us the headspace to exercise psychological flexibility fluidly and to prevent us from reacting unskillfully.

Modern psychotherapy continues to reinvent a variety of treatment modalities that purport to improve our mental health; health; however, to this day, it is still not paying adequate attention to the cultivation of metacognition as the transdiagnostic foundation of mental-health treatment. It is no exaggeration to say that a deficiency in mindful awareness is the underlying cause of a wide range of ailments.  For this reason, Wataru primarily employs mindfulness-based treatment modalities grounded in the science of contemplative neuroscience and third-wave cognitive behavioral therapies, including MBSR, MBCT, ACT, Naikan, and Morita Therapy.  Mindfulness-based psychotherapy is a journey of unlearning what is keeping us from connecting with our true nature and fully utilizing the inner resources that have been overlooked or left untapped.

Wataru often discusses the importance of alignment and encourages each client to examine their lifestyle in relation to their long-term goals and personal vision of well-being.  Because our well-being depends on how we conduct our lives each day, the pursuit of happiness is worthwhile only if it is grounded in the daily practice of deepening our mindful insight or inwardly directed compassionate vigilance.  By harnessing the power of awareness, we make many small changes to align our intentions and actions with the kind of persons we aspire to be—for ourselves and others—and gradually transform our very being. Once again, for this approach to work, we must be consistently and genuinely kind to ourselves, transcending likes and dislikes while observing the principles of Ahimsa and Upaya.

An intention without meaningful action is just a wishful thought—or a subtle form of lying to ourselves.  The only way to feel grounded in life is to step onto the path of becoming the best possible version of ourselves and to make tangible progress toward self-actualization (eudaimonia).  As Jon Kabat-Zinn pointed out, healing always involves an emotional as well as attitudinal transformation.  Are you ready for truly meaningful change?

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Wataru Okada (he/him/his) is a native of Japan and has been living and working in Western New York for over 35 years. Before arriving at psychotherapy as a vocation, Wataru studied chemistry, fine arts, museology, and social science including human behavior. His engaging style of psychotherapy often draws upon his multicultural, cross-disciplinary education and background in martial arts, yoga, and Zen practice. Wataru served diverse clients in a community-based psychiatric clinics for many years and continues to educate himself and others about the benefit of contemplative neuro-psychotherapy and mindful lifestyles. Wataru is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with the privilege to practice psychotherapy in the State of New York. In addition to the extensive training in clinical psychosocial treatment, Wataru also holds a master’s degree in fine arts (MFA) and an undergraduate degree in analytical chemistry (BS).