The Asian Australian Mental Health Practitioner List (Vic).

Whenever I talk about this platform, Shapes and Sounds, the number one question I'm asked is, "do you know of a good Asian Australian therapist?" It's such a simple question but it speaks to me on so many layers:

Firstly, despite popular belief concerning the low engagement rate of Asian Australians with mental health services, it really feels like there are many of us who are ready and interested in finding the right supports.

Secondly, it seems like we know that we want and need better, more culturally responsive services and therapists. This would look like a therapist who can think beyond the literal words that we're saying and have a baseline understanding (or seek to gain a baseline understanding) of the cultural context in which our experience exists within.

And lastly, it feels really obvious that one of the biggest barriers to accessing therapy is having to go through the tiresome process of finding a therapist, and that process becomes even more tiresome when you are a person of colour.

Why this list?

It’s important for me to state here that I don't think that seeing a therapist of the same ethnic background as you means that you're necessarily going to have a great experience... they still have to be a good therapist and you still need to be able to form a trusting relationship with them. And to be completely transparent, the most memorable experiences that I have had in therapy have been with Caucasian psychologists.

However I do think there are times when it makes things a little easier if we know that a therapist may understand some of the unspoken yet inherent cultural values, structures and pressures that we exist within.

Especially as I’ve aged and started to understand the impact of growing up Asian in Australia in greater depth, I’ve found it quite jarring when I need to engage with a psychologist/therapist who clearly has no understanding or exposure to Japanese culture (apart from, how much they love the food lol…).

A work in progress.

I've wanted to contribute to this conversation for a long time and over the Summer, I worked on contacting Asian Australian psychologists who are passionate about supporting our community. I wanted to deliver this resource when it was 100% complete, but it seems like this will take a lot longer than anticipated and I hope you will accept my developing project with a list of only the Victorian practitioners.

This is clearly a work in progress and will be updated periodically with the other states.

You can find this list HERE or you can navigate to "Asian Australian MH Practitioner List" from the home page.

Yes - the UX on my website sucks but this is another work in progress and will get there eventually! Please forward this resource on to anyone who you think may benefit.

Thanks for your patience and your ongoing support🍌