December Newsletter: Happy Holidays!

Hello there!

While it's still only the 1st of December, we wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your support during 2023, as well as to wish you a beautiful end of year and transition into 2024 ahead!

📸 Here's a little snapshot of what we got up to in 2023:

- we welcomed 77 amazing new Asian Australian therapists to our practitioner list
- we ran 3 (and will run 4) professional development sessions for 85 therapists
- we launched and ran 2 Community Check In sessions (our free, mental health and wellbeing program) for 166 participants
- we worked and partnered with organisations such as Neami National, headspace, Monash University and the Australian Music Therapy Association.

~

2023 has felt like a strange year; one that seemed somewhat hopeful to start with, but also one that slowly descended into chaos as the year progressed. 

In saying so, I hope that the end of year offers you time to rest and reflect on all that's happened, and we look forward to connecting with you again in 2024!

❤️Asami

🌱Upcoming workshops:

 For therapists: Develop your culturally-responsive practice at our next professional development session, Connect and Grow on December 14th at 7.00pm AEDT.

Learning theme: Yearly reflection and celebrating you, the practitioner. 

 🦉 Interesting things relating to mental health and Asian Australian identity:

📚 Academia: As we wrap up this year's newsletter articles, we thought we'd share just another reminder of how important culturally responsive mental health is, as many systemic barriers still pervade within our healthcare system today. Check out this meta-analysis which identifies the many community and policy-level interventions that our system urgently requires. 

And some recommendations from our Community Leads: 

📚 Books: Cold Enough for Snow is a short novella by Melbourne's Jessica Au that explores the nuances of maternal love and care.

🤳🏻 Media: If you are looking for some light-hearted yet heartfelt comedy, check out Quiz Lady starring Sandra Oh and Awkwafina!

🔎 Searching for a therapist?

Connect with our new practitioners below, or share this page with someone who may need this!

🎤 Therapist spotlight.

Get to know counsellor, Maria Bui via our interview:

"Trust the process and enjoy the little moments."

 

✨Thank you for reading up to this point!

We rely heavily on your generous support to provide ongoing and free mental health resources to Asian communities in Australia.

Support Shapes and Sounds HERE.

🐌 And last but not least:

Recently in social media land,

We shared our thoughts on the importance of finding a therapist who you can build a strong therapeutic alliance with, regardless of whether they are Asian or not! 

📱Click to connect back in with our Instagram!