About us

Shapes and Sounds is a social enterprise that destigmatises mental health for Asian communities.

Here, you'll find mental health programs and resources that are specifically designed by culturally-responsive mental health professionals, for people of Asian and Asian diaspora identities.

Whether you're brand new to the idea of therapy, or you're seeking something more to facilitate deeper growth, we're here to help you at every point in your mental health journey.

Our team

We're a team led by culturally-responsive and trauma-informed mental health practitioners and combined, we have over 30+ years' experience working across a broad range of mental health settings.

Asami (she/her) is a first-generation immigrant from Japan. She's the founder of Shapes and Sounds and is a registered music therapist and yoga teacher with over 17 years experience working in the youth mental health, trauma and community sectors.

Smruthy (she/they) is a registered psychologist and was born in India and moved to Australia after founding a mental health organisation in Chennai in 2012. She specialises in working with people with multicultural and diverse identities, LGBTIQA+ and neurodiverse clients. Committed to intersectionality, she uses a trauma-informed, culturally responsive and person-centred practice framework.

Stef (she/they) was raised in Hong Kong and is a second-generation Australian-born Chinese living in Narrm. They are a multi-disciplinary artist and registered art therapist with experience working with a range of clients from ages 13 to 78 in acute and sub-acute mental health, family violence, and disability sectors.

Tanya (she/her) is a first-generation Chinese-Indonesian Australian who spent her early childhood in the vibrant city of Jakarta, Indonesia, before moving to Australia during her teenage years. She's a Registered Music Therapist with diverse experience across mental health, disability, educational, and hospital settings.⁠

Marcus (he/him) is a second-generation Chinese-Australian, however, has lived most of his life in Hong Kong before moving back to Australia in 2017. He is currently a Psychology honours student at the University of Melbourne and is interested in cross cultural and post-traumatic mental health

Oscar (he/him) is a second year student at RMIT studying engineering. He's biracial (Japanese-Dutch Australian), and has a passion for innovation, fashion and now, all things Shapes and Sounds.

Michelle Park (she/her) is a Korean-American mental health enthusiast currently living in Sydney. After seven years in tech sales, she’s leveraging her experience to help grow the Shapes & Sounds community. Her personality lately consists of inhaling xiao long baos, listening to the Asian Mental Health Podcast, and finding the best matcha latte in Sydney.⁠

Yeo (he/him) is a Malaysian-Chinese musician and audio professional with over 17 years of experience in the music and media industry. His practice has led him through many facets of the creative world as an artist, musical director, composer, podcast producer, DJ and audio engineer. Yeo is addicted to songwriting, grassroots sport and home cooking.

Daleney (she/her) is a second-year student studying Psychology at the University of Melbourne and is interested in pursuing a career in youth mental health. She is Malaysian-Chinese and moved to Australia in 2017. She loves crocheting, listening to music, and trying new food!⁠

Our values

Leadership

We step into the privilege of our qualifications and experience to work towards improving the mental health of people of Asian identities.

We learn, we take action, we reflect and we repeat, so that we can inspire change within ourselves and our community.

Human-ness

We celebrate the fact that we're a bunch of imperfectly perfect humans, working to support other imperfectly perfect humans.

We use technology to make mental health accessible, but behind every screen or email, is just a mere human reaching out to connect with you.

Hope

We know that a safer, kinder and more equitable future exists and we hold onto this vision with deep conviction.

When we lose hope, we know that we're tired so we rest and care for ourselves until we feel that sense of hope emerge again.

Our approach

Improving your mental health is a non-linear journey, and whether you’re brand new to the idea of therapy or you’re now seeking something more to facilitate deeper change within, we’re here to help.

Below, you'll find our three step approach to help you improve your mental health. Know that it's common to move and weave across all three steps at different times in your life.

You’ll see that we have resources and programs to support you at every step - what would be of most help to you right now?

1. Get to therapy

2. Connect with community

3. Be creative

Start here

💡We created our "Essential Guide for Asian Australian Mental Health" by surveying over 350 Asian Australians during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Download our guide and learn about the three most pertinent areas of concern for the Asian community, with tips and strategies to support you through.

Download the Guide