272: What Do We Mean by Therapy, and Culturally Responsive Care? with The Yellow Chair Collective

Raise your hand if you’ve been to therapy before.  My first time, if I’m remembering correctly, is a few months after my Dad died when I was in my mid-twenties, and my college roommate set me up with her aunt, who was a renowned psychoanalyst.  She also happened to be Asian. Now that it’s been decades and I’ve had so many more experiences with so many more therapists, all of whom have been white, I realize how rare and fortunate it was for me to have had that experience of a therapist who culturally understood me, which then played a formative role in my own understanding of my relationship with myself, my parents, self care and success and my place in the world. 

 

If you’ve never had the experience of having therapists who are the same race as you, you might really get this visceral sense of relief that we are talking about.  This unspoken understanding that can-not always, but often, exist in those spaces of similarity.  I think it’s played a huge part in the relationship we have had, as multi-ethnic daughters of one Japanese immigrant parent and one white American parent each - there were just some things we didn’t have to explain to each other.

 

Which is why when we learned about a whole mental health support system - one we’ve come to learn doesn’t have to just include therapists, but a whole system of community support - that is centered on Asian Americans, we wanted to seize the opportunity to talk about culturally responsive care, about what it means to work on ourselves to be better people, and more.

What to listen for:

• What it means to be a better person 

• Therapy 101 - what challenges people go to therapy for, what types of therapists are out there

• What culturally responsive care means, and how this applies to the Asian American community 

• How we can support our own mental health, and that of others

About our guests: 

Soo Jin Lee, a licensed therapist, executive director of Yellow Chair Collective, and co-founder of Entwine Community, has made a profound impact in mental health advocacy, shaped by her own experiences as an Asian immigrant. Her work focuses on culturally responsive mental health care, addressing the unique challenges faced by immigrant and Asian American communities. She co-authored the influential book Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity, which explores identity and healing through a culturally informed lens. Recognized by NPR, PBS, CBS, and CUNY, Soo Jin is dedicated to fostering community support and advancing culturally sensitive mental health services.

 

Linda Yoon is the founder of Yellow Chair Collective and co-founder of Entwine Community, organizations dedicated to addressing mental health education and service gaps in services for BIPOC communities, with a special focus on Asian Americans. She is recognized as a co-author of the book "Where I Belong: Healing Trauma and Embracing Asian American Identity," which delves deeply into themes of Asian American identity and resilience, alongside the racial, cultural, and intergenerational dynamics present within Asian American communities. Linda's work has been recognized and featured in media outlets including NPR, PBS, CBS, LA Times, and Buzzfeed. With a heartfelt commitment to well-being and community empowerment, Linda drives changes through mental health programs and advocacy initiatives.

 

Brief synopsis of the book:

Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon have personally observed the frequent neglect of mental health issues in their own immigrant families and within Asian and Asian American communities. Their book "Where I Belong" illuminates how trauma perpetuates through generations and impacts relationships, emphasizing the Asian American experience for better understanding and healing of racial and intergenerational trauma.

 

“Where I Belong” offers crucial therapeutic techniques, reflective questions, journaling prompts, and grounding exercises, empowering readers to recognize their intergenerational strengths and resilience and to fully embrace their identity and cultural heritage.

 

About Yellow Chair Collective:

Yellow Chair Collective is a psychotherapist group with a special focus on Asian and Asian American identity based in California, Oregon, Washington, and New York. Asian Americans and the multicultural population struggle with unique pain points. Much of what Asian American and multicultural therapy identifies as intergenerational trauma or racial discrimination has been neglected and dismissed throughout American history. As a Collective, we are dedicated to bridging cultural identity as a huge part of everyone’s mental struggles.

 

The Yellow Chair Collective