Beyond the Couch

This week, Christie, Sam, and Diana get together to continue their discussion of the drama triangle and how to extricate yourself from it. They go into examples of the different roles (victim, rescuer, and persecutor) as they might appear in a hypothetical immigrant/2nd gen family. They share some tactical solutions that can be reached through non-violent communication, self-reflection and -awareness, and shifting of one’s role within relationships.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Drama Triangle example

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie and Shelby Remillard, LMHC, discuss how individuals can mend and build healthy relationships through a closer understanding of their interconnectedness to their communities, their pasts, and themselves. They talk about how folks can process their wounds and learn what feels grounding to them within the safety of the therapeutic space, and how therapists can serve as the first model for healthy relationships so clients can recognize them outside of session. They also discuss dating burnout, emotional regulation, and how to healthily approach the process of grief and loss and the cultivation of relationships with those who have passed.

Shelby (she/her) is an Indigenous and Filipina therapist living and working in private practice in New York City. Within her practice, Shelby supports clients in trauma recovery through EMDR, building and maintaining healthy relationships, and clients experiencing the death loss of a loved one.

• steadynyc.com
• [email protected]
• @shelbyrlmhc

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie and Diana (@therapywithdiana) share their respective paths to their therapy careers and answer questions they’ve received about how to enter into a mental health career. They go into factors to consider when applying to and choosing programs, what accreditation means for schools, and the many career options there are once you have entered into the world of psychology. They also talk about what they wish they knew before entering grad school.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Asian Wander Women

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Diana chats with Nira Shah about what compassion-focused therapy entails and how practicing mindfulness can cultivate self-compassion and better emotional regulation. They discuss the importance of examining one’s emotions, especially those that are uncomfortable, in order to tend to them. They also talk about the struggles with a harsh inner critic that many people undergo and how to begin to quiet that voice and/or rewrite its narrative.

Nira (she/her), LMHC/LPCC, is an individual and couples psychotherapist and yoga instructor, who uses cognitive and holistic approaches. Nira supports folks who are experiencing emotional distress and want to connect with life in a deeper way, to build resilience and fulfillment.

Connect with Nira:

• [email protected]
• Instagram @sia.wellness

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Kristin Neff: Self-Compassion

APISA Spotlight from Nira:

• ABCD Yogi (@abcdyogi) by Tejal Patel

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie, Sam, and Diana get together to continue their conversation on codependency and people-pleasing. They discuss a common dynamic that can happen in families and other relationships, called the “drama triangle,” in which each individual takes on and/or moves through playing a “rescuer,” “victim,” or “persecutor” role. They walk through an example scenario of how this scene can play out and explain what can happen when this triangulation is perpetuated and not quelled at some point.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Karpman’s Drama Triangle example

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie is back with Natalie Hung to talk about ancestral healing, how to cultivate a relationship with our ancestors, and how these relationships can help heal us and help us feel a stronger sense of belonging. They dive into the distinction between “well” and “unwell” ancestors, and how ancestral healing fills in some parts of psychology and therapy that are missing. Natalie shares her personal journey to finding ancestral healing, her initial resistance to leaning on her ancestors for help, and how she ultimately was able to mend old wounds with their counsel.

Natalie Hung (she/her) is a second-generation Taiwanese American clinical psychologist who specializes in Asian American racialization, intergenerational trauma, complex PTSD and dissociation, intersections between personal and social identities (i.e. race, gender, sexuality, class, ability status), and grief. She uses Internal Family Systems and decolonizing approaches to help her clients to deeply know and love themselves, resist systems of oppression, and cultivate belonging.

• www.nataliehung.com
• Natalie’s group: Reclaim Asian American Womanhood

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dr. Daniel Foor of Ancestral Medicine

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie, Diana, and Sam get together to talk about the tension between codependence and independence, and how to get closer to a middle ground, interdependence. They go into the challenges of balancing cultural values, personal values, and family values, and offer ways to maintain your own peace, as well as the peace of the family. They also discuss ways that they themselves have gotten closer to carving out their own sense of self amongst external obligations.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Blank Check Podcast
• Facing Codependence by Pia Mellody

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie sits down with Chi Young Kim and discusses the importance of becoming reconnected with our ancestors. They talk about ways that we can return to direct engagement with our ancestors and how this connection can strengthen our sense of intuition, and heal in a much deeper way than we might realize.

Chi Young Kim (she/her) is a ritual facilitator dedicated to helping people reclaim relationship with their ancestors, one’s self, and to the larger community of the living Earth toward a deeper sense of purpose and belonging. All her recent ancestors are from Korea and as a Korean American woman, she has learned to bridge multiple cultural realities and identities. Her offerings of ancestral healing, and grief support are grounded, embodied and culturally mindful. She also mentors healing practitioners and therapists by teaching ritual skills that help them deepen their connection to themselves and the other-than-human relations  in order to show up more fully for their clients. Connect with Chi Young on her website: www.rememberingvoice.com

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
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This week, Christie, Sam, and Diana get together to discuss the recent wave of layoffs that their clients have been experiencing recently and how they’ve been coping with the various levels of anxiety, confusion, and guilt that come with it. They address the scarcity mindset and fear of losing security that, as children of immigrants, many APISA-identifying folks might have. They also go into how the right community and support system can help assuage the ups and downs of this stressful experience.

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
Find a Therapist
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Write to us with comments & questions, we'd love to hear from you.
@bridgesmentalhealth
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buymeacoffee.com/bridgesmh

This week, Christie chats with Dr. Monica Band about the existential process of figuring out who we are, our purpose and fulfillment in life, and, ultimately, our sense of belonging. They talk about the introspection it takes to hone in on the self as social beings and be in tune with our emotional worlds, as well as embracing the anxiety, ambiguity, and vulnerability that naturally comes with this search for meaning.

Dr. Monica (she/her) is an award winning licensed mental health professional, advocate and educator. She is the owner of a group mental health practice, based in Washington D.C. and clinical supervisor to pre-licensed professionals. She specializes in providing EMDR and somatic based interventions to support healing of complex-ptsd and dissociation. She provides training to clinicians on how to treat intergenerational trauma and identity concerns for Asian Americans. Connect with Monica at @the.mindful_healer

Monica’s Go-To Resources:

• The JED Foundation’s Mental Health Resource Center and JED Voices
• The Asian Mental Health Collective’s Lotus Therapy Fund
• The Asian Mental Health Project
• The AAKOMA Project’s State of Youth Mental Health of Color 2022

 
Bridges Mental Health connects Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian Americans (APISA) with culturally responsive mental health professionals and resources. We hope to make mental health care more accessible and approachable across the Asian diaspora.
Find a Therapist
Join our Clinician Community

Write to us with comments & questions, we'd love to hear from you.
@bridgesmentalhealth
[email protected]
buymeacoffee.com/bridgesmh