As part of my faith journey, I will say yes to every invitation to share about how I’m living with a mental health diagnosis, going on 26 years now. When I shared about this special invitation from Fuller Seminary with some friends, several asked for a recording. I was honored to be invited. And even more touched that some people wanted to hear the talk; that warmed my heart. I was able to get half of it recorded.
an insider look into one bipolar life & podcasting too
DJ Chuang was invited as a guest speaker in a class at Fuller Seminary’s School of Psychology. He talked about his lived experiences with mental health, managing life with bipolar disorder, and the origin story of the Erasing Shame podcast.
The second part of the talk didn’t get recorded (but maybe one of the students caught it.) What he talked about there was the precious value of support groups and the reason Christian Asian Mental Health launched, because every Asian & Asian American church needs mental health ministry.
2 videos related to the topics of support groups and Christian Asian Mental Health:
- Finding community in support groups https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhnZpn8gzfM&t=706s
- How to Launch a Mental Health Ministry (and Why We Must) https://youtu.be/k03lxfyxqUk
(This raw recording was made using Voice Memo on an iPhone 13.)
links
Free Christian Mental Health Workbooks (Living Grace, Family Grace, and more) by Mental Health Grace Alliance ~ in English, español Spanish, & 中文 Chinese
Free Support Groups at Saddleback Church, both in-person and online
directory listing of Asian American Christian Counselors & Therapists
“This study examined Chinese shame concepts. By asking native Chinese to identify terms for shame, we collected 113 shame terms.” – Li, J., Wang, L., & Fischer, K. W. (2004). The organisation of Chinese shame concepts. Cognition and Emotion, 18(6), 767–797. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930341000202
postscript
What a gift this was, thank you Dr. Melissa Zwart for the invite and Dr. Eunice Lee Hua for the recommendation.
How did it go? I’d say this was the most receptive & engaging audience I’ve gotten to speak with in years, hallelujah, praise the good Lord. I know it was particularly enjoyable for at least one person (you had to be there; or listen carefully to the raw audio.)
I feel so much better talking unscripted and having interactive conversations instead of monologuing or lecturing. I even had a handful of one-on-one chats; that was also very meaningful and valuable.
I’ve put out an open invite, so some of them may even come on the Erasing Shame podcast to chat about shame and mental health. Shame is not just an Asian thing, it’s a human thing, destructive and devastating for too many.
a mental health conference for Asian Amerian Christians on April 10-11
Let’s go together to this Asian American Christian mental health conference » “Our Flourishing, Our Faith: Navigating Rupture and Repair in Asian American Christian Communities.” Be in the room where it’s going to be happening! Attend in person for all the connections & conversations at Biola University (La Mirada, CA); or, participate virtually for free anywhere.
See event website for more, at ourflourishing.org; and one more thing. Connect with me to attend in person for just $25, courtesy of Christian Asian Mental Health—email or text 949-243-7260. For churches with 3 (or more) attending, get an added bonus!
