In this conversation, I speak with Panthea Lee. She has written for The Nation, The Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar, worked at the United Nations, and co-founded a social justice organization, Reboot, which she led for over 13 years working on initiatives and launching programs in over 30 countries for the likes of UNICEF and the World Bank. Her full bio below. I first learned about Panthea by reading he story on the cover of The Nation, Sex, Death, and Empire: The Roots of Violence Against A...

In this conversation, I speak with erin Khuê Ninh. erin has some really important ideas about the Asian immigrant family that are a bit confronting and perhaps truth telling. She argues that the Asian immigrant family is a form of a capitalist production unit, producing “model children” who strikingly resemble the model minority. Some of the topics we talk about: the themes of debt and repaymenthow the model minority might not be myth after allhow love is interlaced with powerAsia...

New podcast episode! In this conversation, I speak with Sahaj Kaur Kohli. We chat about: the re-authoring of her story through writing her bookher hopes and fears surrounding its releasebeing a cultural broker in her family and the shifts in her family dynamics with her parents and siblingsmental health and what it means, differences in mental health education and therapyher therapy journey and challenges of finding a therapist for herself I found Sahaj to be warm, endearing, and transp...

In this conversation, I speak with J.S. Park. His posts and words have, at times, moved me to tears. It was such a pleasure to speak with him about work, life, death, birth, grief and bulgogi! More specifically, we talk about: his journey to becoming a chaplainclimbing mount assimilation and what gets lostwhat he means about being therapriestwhat got him into consistent therapy and medicationsuicide and his attempt 20 years ago. CONTENT WARNING. it's between minutes 1...

In this conversation, I speak to Michelle MiJung Kim. She is a queer Korean American immigrant woman writer, speaker, activist, and entrepreneur. She the author of the award winning, The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change. Michelle is the first non-therapist I have on the podcast for some time. I have been inspired by her advocacy and activism, specially so in the last several weeks as it relates to Palestine. We talk about her lived experiences and how...

In this conversation, I speak with Dhwani Shah, MD (he/him) who is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Some highlights of our conversation: what psychoanalysis is and is not; some realities and misconceptions of ithow love and hate exists in all of our relationshipshow therapy is a listening practice above allthe intersection of therapy and culturethe collective racialized fantasies of "Asian American" I really appreciated Dhwani's openness in sharing his thinking, his background, an...

In this episode, I speak with Vickie Ya-Rong Chang (she/her). I got connected to Vickie because I wanted to speak to a clinician who had been working with clients and had expertise on climate anxiety and despair. The psychological and emotional impact of climate change is irrefutable. We don’t need research to know that we can’t be doing well when our home, our planet is on fire and flooding. But research does show that with increased temperatures, our baseline level of distress...

In this episode, I speak with Rosa Lim (she/her) who is a clinical psychologist based in NYC. We cover a lot in 45 minutes. Rosa and I talk about: · the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating, · how eating disorders is a disorder of disconnection, · the correlation of trauma and eating disorders, · how eating disorders develop, · the ...

In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Jenny Tzu-Mei Wang (she/hers) about her new book, Permission to Come Home. Reclaiming Mental Health as Asian Americans. Some of what we talk about in this conversation: How the book came to beHow she weaved in the personal, the educational and the practicalHer journey off the well marked pathHer experiences in therapyHer love for Asian and Asian AmericansI hope this conversation inspires you to start, to continue on your path to health, to home. ...

In this conversation, I speak with Dr. Valerie Yeo (she/her), a psychologist who specializes in religious and racial trauma based in Portland, Oregon. Our discussion is within the context of the Evangelical church. Some of what we discussed: Adverse religious experience and religious trauma. How are they different?When folks are deconstructing their faith, what might they be experiencing?The intersections of Christianity, white supremacy and the Asian American experienceWhat resources are av...

In this conversation, I speak with Linda Thai (she/hers). Linda is a Vietnamese Australian trauma and somatic therapist currently living in Alaska. I was very intrigued by Linda's work. She is writing and researching about the intersections of trauma, healing and adult children of refugees, specifically Vietnamese refugees. Some of what we touched upon in this conversation: Naming the losses of adult children of those who sought refugeThe need for clinicians to have "a bigger fr...

In this conversation, Navin shares with me his experiences in therapy and answers some of my questions: Why talking to a therapist has been different for him from talking to family and friendsWhy feeling his emotions has been so valuableWhat happened when he started working with an Asian American therapistWhy was it important for him to tell his parents about being in therapy. Navin provides a very helpful, 2 part decision matrix so you can decide if you want to tell your parentsWhy fee...

In this conversation, I speak with Hatty about what brings our Asian and Asian Americans clients into therapy specifically as it relates to family. We talk about how early childhood experiences and family dynamics impact our clients in their present lives. We talk about parentified children, childhood trauma and neglect, the pressure and threats that adult children experience, intergenerational grief and what happens in therapy can be helpful to clients. We also address two questi...

In this conversation, I speak with Michelle. Michelle is a writer, a mental health advocate, a partner, mother, an immigrant, a takeout kid. And, she was diagnosed with bipolar I disorder in her early 20s. We talked about her family dynamics, the legacy of trauma and abuse she experienced, how the mental health system failed her and what can go wrong in the therapist / client relationship. We also discussed the difference between treated and untreated mental illness and why it’s s...

In this conversation, I speak to with Jenjee Sengkhammee PhD about the diversity in the Asian American identity and experiencesthe range of responses from Asian people to the Black Lives Matter movement how white supremacy affects Asian Americans the position we have been placed within the white supremacy system. Dr. Jenjee Sengkhammee (she/her) identifies as a Hmong American woman raised in the United States. As a woman of color from a poor refugee family, her experience...

In this conversation, I speak with Anneliese Singh PhD, LPC (she/they) about racial healing strategies from her book, The Racial Healing Handbook. Dr. Singh says that racism is the greatest trauma that we live with and that navigating racism is not sufficient. We need to wake up, we to learn about racism, we need to grieve and we need to hope. We discuss racial identity development, racial socialization, the grieving process, race in the therapy room, and what fuels Dr. Singh’s ho...

Jenny and I talk about what anxiety is, how it manifests and offer some concrete suggestions on how to lessen it during this pandemic. Dr. Jenny Wang is a first generation, Taiwanese American licensed psychologist in Texas and North Carolina. She earned her undergraduate degree with honors in finance and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Her passion for psychology and the realization that few Asian Americans pursued psychology as a lifelong career led her to pursue her PhD in...

Aimée and I talk about her journey in therapy with five different therapists and the various seasons of therapy.<br> <p>We talked about blue M&Ms, her Chinese father’s view on therapy, what didn’t work for her in therapy, how she chose her current therapist of six years and what has been helpful to her in therapy. <br> <p>Aimée Suen (she/her) is a mixed raced (Chinese, French, Canadian, Norwegian, Irish) multifaceted creator and practitioner. As a Nutritional Thera...

Welcome to Asians Do Therapy, conversations with Asians and Asian Americans on both sides of the couch! What to expect from the podcast. Send your questions to asiansdotherapy@gmail.com.