Tyler Mafi, LMHC, MSEd

Pronouns: He/Him

I’m Tyler, the founder of Mafi Psychotherapy.

I named my therapy practice Mafi Psychotherapy to honor my last name, a symbol of my paternal lineage from Tonga in Polynesia. My experience being raised in a multicultural, mixed family shapes my understanding of the world and my approach to therapy. To me, the Mafi name reflects all that is passed down through generations - the pain, resilience, joy, trauma, and healing.

The cultures and communities we grow up within play a pivotal role in our development. They shape our beliefs, our experiences, and our understanding of the world and ourselves. However, the things we learn growing up don’t always align with our intuitive values.

As a gay trans man, I know what it’s like to judge yourself based on beliefs you learned as a kid about what and who you “should” be. To question if just being yourself is "enough”. Holding yourself to impossibly high standards that you’re not sure will feel good even if you met them. I’ve learned that true contentment comes when we shed outdated beliefs we were told to believe, and live by our values and intuition.

I support my clients in getting to know themselves, resolving ancestral patterns of trauma, finding emotional freedom, and getting into the driver’s seat of life. I cultivate a therapy space where we explore mental health in the context of a client’s unique cultural background, positionality, and community.

When I’m not in the therapist chair, I’m probably rewatching my favorite horror films, learning choreography from a pop music video, reading a novel, or enjoying quality time with my partner and our senior pup, Molly.