Asians Do Therapy

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 Asian Women, which is a must read.   Subsequently, I learned about her work in social transformation, structural justice and I wanted to ask her about her observations and wisdom on how change happens.  More on her reflections on Love and Liberation, here.We talk about "the work" needing to be commensurate to our positionality and passions, scale and leverage, awareness vs alignment, being in the fight vs being of service, cosmic justice, how the biggest problems are relational problems. We also talk about her move back to Taiwan and what salsa dancing can inform us about power and leadership. Panthea Lee (she/they) is a writer, cultural worker, and transdisciplinary designer/facilitator committed to life and liberation. She has stewarded and supported coalitions of community leaders, artists, healers, activists, and institutions fighting for dignity in over 30 countries. Her practice is rooted in commitments to deimperialization, collective healing, and global solidarity, and explores ways—through narrative, practice, and infrastructure—to weave the spiritual and political in realizing structural justice. Panthea has held fellowships at Stanford University’s Center for Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity and Digital Civil Society Lab, and at Arizona State University’s Center for Science and the Imagination. She has served as trustee at DemocracyNext, The Laundromat Project, People Powered, and RSA (Royal Society of Arts). From 2010-23, she served as co-founder and Executive Director of the award-winning Reboot. Her work has been covered by Al Jazeera, CNN, Fast Company, and New York Times, and her words have appeared in The Atlantic, Harper’s Bazaar, In These Times, The Nation, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and more. Panthea is based in Taipei, Taiwan, on the traditional lands of the Ketagalan people. https://www.panthealee.com/

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 powerAsian American racialization vs subjectificationIf you are a second generation, child of Asian immigrants, you ought to listen. erin has a message for you.erin Khuê Ninh is Professor and Chair of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She writes about the model minority as racialization and subject formation (not myth). Her books are Passing for Perfect: College Impostors and Other Model Minorities, and Ingratitude: The Debt-Bound Daughter in Asian American Literature.  Along with Shireen Roshanravan, she edited #WeToo: A Reader, a special issue on sexual violence for the Journal of Asian American Studies. She is a Leo, an eldest daughter, and not a dog person. Make of that what you will.

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 transparent about her process and story.  You can purchase her book at But What Will People Say? Book (sahajkaurkohli.com)Let us know what you think of our conversation!Sahaj Kaur Kohli  (she/her) is the founder of Brown Girl Therapy (@browngirltherapy), the first and largest mental health and wellness community organization for adult children of immigrants, a licensed therapist, and a columnist for the Washington Post’s advice column Ask Sahaj. Sahaj’s words and work have been featured in Today, Good Morning America, CNN, The New York Times, HuffPost, and others. Sahaj also serves as a consultant, educator and international speaker. She has sat on panels and delivered workshops and keynotes for The White House, Amazon, Google, Athenahealth, Merck, JPMorgan Chase, LinkedIn,  UNICEF, among others.If you enjoy this conversation, share it and leave us a review.

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 12 and 28.the birth of his second child people's misunderstandings about grief. Joon has a new book, As Long as You Need, coming out April 2024. You can pre-order your copy here.  And, if you are like me who likes to listen to books, I am so glad he is recording the audio for it because his voice,  like his words, are a balm.J.S. Park (he/him) is a hospital chaplain, author, and online educator. For eight years he has been an interfaith chaplain at a 1000-plus bed hospital that is designated a Level 1 Trauma Center. His role includes grief counseling, attending every death, every trauma and Code Blue, staff care, and supporting end-of-life care. He also served for three years as a chaplain at one of the largest nonprofit charities for the homeless on the east coast.J.S. has a MDiv completed in 2010 and a BA in Psychology. He also has a sixth-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. J.S. currently lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife, a nurse practitioner, and his three-year-old daughter and their adopted dog. They are expecting another child, their son. @JSPark3000If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, please share it with a trusted person or call 988 or text 741741. 

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 they have shaped her relationship to silence and speaking, her holding and oscillating between compassion and criticality for herself and others. We also talk about DEI work, her thoughts on how it relates to social justice, and the cognitive dissonance of the private and the corporate.  Michelle also shares about her first session in therapy, which I think many of us can relate to.I hope our conversation help spark reflections on your relationship to speaking and silence.  And, that perhaps it moves you to speak (more) and to (continue) take action when you feel called for, even if new, uncomfortable or even risky at times. Let Michelle and I know how our conversation resonates with you. It helps us keep going.  And, share this conversation with others. @michellekimkim@asiansdotherapyThe specific Michelle's IG post mentioned:https://tinyurl.com/e3wem6skhttps://tinyurl.com/yeyu7hbchttps://tinyurl.com/5n7rurywThe Occupation of the American Mind is the documentary mentioned.https://tinyurl.com/3m33cj7m Michelle MiJung Kim (she/her) is a queer Korean American immigrant woman writer, speaker, and activist. She is the award winning author of The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change and co-founder of Awaken. Michelle has been a lifelong social justice activist and currently serves on the board of Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality. Her work has appeared on world-renowned platforms such as Harvard Business Review and The New York Times, and she was named LinkedIn’s Top Voice in Racial Equity and Medium’s Top Writer in Diversity. She lives in Oakland, CA. https://www.michellemijungkim.com/If you enjoy the podcast, give it a 5 star review on Spotify and Apple Podcast.

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, and how he became a psychoanalyst.  I think he captured the beauty of the psychoanalytic encounter and its emancipatory potential.Let me know what you think of our conversation.  Dhwani Shah, MD (he/him) is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst currently practicing in Princeton, NJ. He is a clinical associate faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a faculty member at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia.  He has authored articles on topics ranging from neuroscience, mood disorders, and psychoanalysis. Dr Shah’s book entitled The Analyst’s Torment: Unbearable Mental States in Countertransference was recently published by Phoenix Publishing House and was featured in Brett Kahr’s “Top Ten Books of 2022.  dhwanishahmd.com A plug for a project that I am working on, bringing Asian Americans and Psychoanalysis together, The Asian American Center for Psychoanalysis, visit taacp.org for more information and follow on Instagram.

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 also increases. There are specific research showing that higher temperatures lead to higher levels of suicide, aggression and violence. Not to mention the acute trauma and post traumatic stress of climate disasters that destroy lives and livelihoods. Vickie mentions a few ways that we can “treat” climate anxiety. The courage it takes to face and feel what we have done and how we can stay present while taking action. And, our conversation takes me to an unexpected place. Vickie, in her being and wisdom, reminded me of the earth of my body and that maybe, like many others, my greatest attachment wound is the disconnection and alienation from mother earth. I hope you enjoy our conversation and it speaks to something in you. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Vickie Ya-Rong Chang (she/her) was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. In her work as a psychologist and group facilitator, she is dedicated to personal = collective liberation. A core team member of East Point Peace Academy, her work focuses on the Fierce Vulnerability Network, a national constellation of direct action teams positioned at the intersection of climate justice and racial healing. In her individual and group support work, she works primarily with BIPOC and Asian immigrants, offering awareness and somatic practices. She is strengthened by her connection to the Chinese ancestral lineage including Wudang Mountains; and to the people, culture, and land of the Sangre de Cristo mountains in New Mexico and Arunachula in Tiruvannamalai, India. To connect to her, visit www.vickiechangphd.com and learn about her work at East Post Peace Academy https://www.eastpointpeace.org/retreat_reflections.Resources:APA report. Mental Health and Our Changing Climatehttps://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/mental-health-climate.pdfSpeaking of Psychology Podcast. How to cope with Climate Anxietyhttps://open.spotify.com/episode/40hfsum6RhkOk932h1aZ2eHow to Save a Planet Podcasthttps://open.spotify.com/show/1KzrasExlM5dgMYwgFHns6If you like this podcast, leave a review or share with a friend!

In this engaging conversation, Rosa Lim, a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders, sheds light on the often misunderstood spectrum between disordered eating and eating disorders. She discusses how cultural influences, particularly in the Asian American community, can exacerbate these issues and the connection between trauma and eating behaviors. Rosa highlights various treatment options like CBT and DBT, emphasizes the importance of emotional coping skills, and shares insights on the role of community and self-care in the healing process.

In this conversation, Dr. Jenny Tzu-Mei Wang, a Taiwanese American psychologist and founder of @asiansformentalhealth, explores her new book, 'Permission to Come Home.' She discusses the importance of fostering open dialogues around mental health in the Asian American community. The talk delves into personal narratives and the struggle between familial expectations and self-discovery. Jenny emphasizes the need for boundaries, cultural acceptance, and the healing journey, making a case for storytelling as a tool for connection and emotional well-being.

Dr. Valerie Yeo, a psychologist in Portland, specializes in religious and racial trauma, focusing on the Asian American community. She discusses the psychological impacts of faith deconstruction within the evangelical context and the intricacies of religious trauma. The conversation addresses how white supremacy intersects with Christianity, shaping identities and experiences. Dr. Yeo emphasizes community support and resources for those navigating their faith transitions, especially individuals grappling with restrictive beliefs and the emotional fallout of religious trauma.