Faculty Profile

Hee-Sun Cheon

Hee-Sun​ Cheon

Associate Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy; Director of MFT Practicum

Email: cheon@5675n.com
Phone: 206-281-2251
Office: Marston 117


Education: BA, Hanyang University, 1998; MS, Kansas State University, 2000; PhD, Iowa State University, 2007. At SPU since 2011.

Dr. Hee-Sun Cheon’s teaching and research focus on diversity issues in family therapy with an emphasis on mental health disparity and children of immigrant families. As a registered drama therapist, she integrates drama therapy with family therapy in supervising and training students, highlighting creativity and congruence of the self of the therapist.

She has been actively involved in a professional guild as a board member, and has been closely involved in community work as director of the counseling department at Korean Counseling Services in Edmonds, Washington, for the past several years.


​Selected publications

Grauf-Grounds, C., Schemer Sellers, T., Edwards, S., Cheon, H., MacDonald, D., Whitney, S., and Rivera, P. M. (Eds.). (2020). A Practice in Cultural Humility: How clinicians can work more effectively in a diverse world. New York, NY; Routledge. 

Cheon, H. & Yrani, T. (2018).  Multiplicity Within and Between: Addressing Multiple Roles Through Role Profiles in Couples, Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 13 (1), 31-42.

Cheon, H. & Grauf-Grounds, C. (2017). Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship in Couple and Family Therapy Supervision. In J. Lebow, A. Chambers, & D. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy, Springer.

Kim, P. Y., Cheon, H., Hyun, J. H., Chang, E. S., & Yoo, H. D. (2016). Psychological experiences of Korean missionary “kids”: A qualitative inquiry. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture. 19 (9), 1013-1027.

Cheon, H., Chang, E., Kim, P. Y., & Hyun, J. (2016). Mental health disparities impacting Christian Korean Americans: A Qualitative examination of pastors’ perspectives. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 19 (6), 538-552.

Kim, P. Y., Kendall, D. L., & Cheon, H. (2016). Racial microaggressions, cultural mistrust, and mental health outcomes among Asian American college students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 

Edwards, S. A., Grauf-Grounds, C., & Cheon, H. (2011). An Innovative ritual: Honoring trauma. Family Therapy Magazine, 10(5), 45–46. Alexandria, VA: American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Edwards, S. A., Grauf-Grounds, C., & Cheon, H. (2011). Competencies with an ORCA stance: Developing the self of the therapist. Family Therapy Magazine, 10(5), 46–47. Alexandria, VA: American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Cheon, H., Murphy, M., Blumer, M., Shi, A., & Sato, M. (2009). “The influence of supervisor and supervisee matching, role conflict, and supervisory relationship on supervisee satisfaction,” Contemporary Family Therapy, 31, 52–67.

Cheon, H. & Murphy, M. (2007). Self-of-the-therapist awakened:Postmodern Approaches to the Use of Self in Marriage and Family Therapy, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 19, 1–16.

Please view Dr. Cheon’s CV (PDF) for additional publications.

MFT Professor Hee-Sun Cheon

Why I teach at SPU

Hee-Sun Cheon, Associate Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy

“I teach at SPU because this community holds a transforming environment for students and faculty where connection and challenge co-exist for growth in scholarship and in faith.”

A rope coiled in the shape of a heart

Couple Identity and Faith study 

The CIF study is exploring the ways that couples form their collective identity and how it is influenced and shaped by spiritual and religious faith. 

Learn more

Building Resilience Through Improvised Lived Stories

This study looks to explore the impact of playback theater on college student's well being by having their stories performed in a live group setting.