Kana Miller
Clinical Mental Health Counseling Intern
she/her
Kana Miller is thrilled to join the Banyan Tree Counseling and Wellness team as a Clinical Mental Health Counseling Intern. By leveraging strong relational skills, addressing systemic barriers, and experience working with diverse communities, she strives to promote healing and increased well-being in individuals, couples, and families. Kana is driven by the desire to approach counseling with empathy and compassion, and to create a safe space for her clients.
As a biracial Japanese and White woman, Kana is familiar with feeling out of place or never “good enough.” Her experience growing up in a multicultural household and continual reflection of her biracial identity has deepened her perspective on resilience and the impact of systemic inequalities on an individual, couple, or family’s experience. She acknowledges the inherent differences in our individual identities and believes in the importance of celebrating what makes us unique to build trust, connectedness, and community. Kana believes that every client is the expert in their own lives, and welcomes the opportunity to hear your story.
Qualifications
Kana is currently pursuing her Master of Science in Counseling from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a concentration in couples and family counseling. She graduated from Skidmore College in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, with a focus on Intergroup Relations (IGR). Kana became a student member of the American Counseling Association in 2026. She is supervised by Jamie Cullen.
Background
Before beginning her counseling journey, Kana worked in the non-profit sector for 10 years, focusing on food justice, racial equity, relationship building, and strengthening local food systems. Her previous experiences inform how she shows up as a counseling intern, nurtures meaningful connection with clients, and respects their lived experiences. During her master’s program, she has completed courses on counseling diverse populations, helping skills, counseling foundations and theories, ethics and laws, developmental counseling, diagnosis and treatment planning, research, and family counseling. She completed her advanced practicum clinical experience at the Nicholas A. Vacc Counseling and Consulting Clinic at UNC Greensboro by working with college students.
Specialization
Kana works with individuals, couples, and families navigating a spectrum of concerns, from life transitions, anxiety, and strained relationships to self-esteem or multicultural/multiracial identity development. As a counseling intern, she hopes to be accommodating and resourceful while fostering a warm and welcoming space for clients. Her approach to counseling honors each person’s values, beliefs, and mind-body awareness by using principles of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), emotionally focused couples therapy (EFCT), and somatic therapy.
Personal Life
Kana lives in Lewisville with her husband and two dogs. She cares deeply about racial equity in our food system and loves growing, cooking, and sharing food with family and friends. Between gardening, hiking, biking, and finding the perfect swimming hole, Kana loves spending time outside and in the mountains. When not outside, she loves sewing and crafting, which have become important outlets for fostering community and creativity in her life.