🎁 Free Resource: Download our guide How to Talk About Mental Health with Your Asian Parents HERE.

What do you do if you can't find the right words to talk about your mental health with your parents? Vietnamese Australian psychologist Helen Tang shares her journey with anxiety, medication, and learning how to care for herself while staying connected to her family - offering hope for other Asian Australians facing similar challenges.

In this episode of the Asian Mental Health Podcast, Asami sits down with Melbourne psychologist Helen Tang, founder of True You Psychology, to explore what it means to navigate mental health when language, culture, and family expectations collide in Asian Australian households.

Helen shares her lived experience of growing up speaking "Vietglish," managing panic attacks, and receiving a diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder while working retail as a psychology student. She opens up about what therapy taught her, why medication was a turning point, and how working with a Vietnamese Australian psychologist made all the difference in her healing journey.

🎧 You'll hear about: 

✅ How to talk about mental health with Asian parents when language is a barrier 

✅ Managing generalised anxiety disorder as an Asian Australian 

✅ Why working with culturally competent psychologists matters 

✅ Breaking down medication stigma in Asian communities 

✅ Setting respectful boundaries while maintaining family harmony

💡 Episode Highlights:

• What happens when you don't have the words to talk about mental health with Asian parents
• Panic attacks, dread cycles, and receiving a diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder
• The power of psychoeducation: learning about the cortisol awakening response
• Therapy vs anxiety: when self-care isn't enough, and why switching therapists is okay
• Medication stigma in Asian communities, and Helen's "flotation device" metaphor
• Explaining therapy and medication to parents when you only speak "Vietglish"
• Respectful boundaries: humour, playfulness, and love languages with Asian parents and aunties
• Filial piety, obligation, and reframing the idea of being your parents' "retirement plan"
• Finding authenticity and becoming the "true you" as an Asian Australian

👤 About the Guest 

Helen Tang is a Vietnamese Australian psychologist and founder of True You Psychology. She specialises in working with Asian Australians navigating anxiety, cultural identity, and family dynamics. Helen provides culturally responsive therapy that understands the unique challenges facing Asian Australian communities.

📱 Helen's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helentang.psychologist  

🔗 Find Helen and other Asian Australian psychologists on the Asian Mental Health Practitioner List https://www.justshapesandsounds.com/asianaustralianmhpractitionerlist   

🙌 Connect with us: 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/justshapesandsounds   

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/justshapesandsounds 

Website: https://justshapesandsounds.com 

Subscribe to the Asian Mental Health Podcast on your favourite app, and please leave a review so other Asian Australians can find these important conversations about mental health and cultural identity. 💛

Keywords: Vietnamese Australian psychologist, Asian parents mental health, generalised anxiety disorder, Melbourne psychologist, Asian Australian therapy, culturally competent psychology, anxiety treatment, Asian family dynamics, mental health stigma