September Newsletter: Creative arts therapy!

September: New programs, new beginnings.

Hello!

Last month was a big one for us as we launched our new creative arts therapy program, "Creative Community Care", and we recorded season 2 of the Asian Mental Health podcast!

In addition to the above, we onboarded three new amazing team members, Tanya, Daleney and Michelle who have brought a fresh wave of joy and excitement to our little team.

August felt like an accelerated month within what has already been a big year of change for us at Shapes and Sounds. And as we take a moment to breathe this month, I want to say a big thank you for your continued support and encouragement.

We hope to connect with you either in Creative Community Care, or via the Asian Mental Health podcast (returning in October!)

❤️Asami

🌱Upcoming workshops:

For therapists: Develop your culturally-responsive practice at our next professional development session, Connect and Grow on November 14th at 7.30pm AEST.

Learning theme: Connecting with emerging mental health research and perspectives from Asia.

For international students from Asia: Express yourself, connect with others and learn skills to manage your mood via our Creative Arts Therapy workshops!

Every Thursday until October 3rd, starting at 6.30pm. In partnership with LaTrobe University.

🦉 Interesting things relating to mental health and Asian Australian identity

📚 Academia: This month we explore the cross-cultural differences and similarities in the associations between trauma and dissociative symptoms. This paper specifically explores betrayal trauma, and raises key socio-emotional considerations when working with trauma survivors from different cultural backgrounds.

🤳🏻 Events: The city of Box Hill in Melbourne is holding a Moon Festival celebration on September 7th. For those in other states, check out: Cabramatta Moon Festival in Sydney, or this Lantern Festival in Scarborough in WA. Make sure you check them out if you get the chance, and have some delicious moon cakes! 

🔎 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 registered psychologist, Takeo Kameoka via our interview:

"Try to be more present everyday, appreciate where and who you are, be more grateful for the people you have in your life, and interact with the nature more!"

  

Get to know counsellor, Natalie Anderson via our interview:

"Be present in the moment, and accept that it is exactly what it is." 

✨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've introduced our new team members, such as Tanya (pictured here), who is our amazing Music therapist. She, along with some of the new members of our team, will be facilitating our Creative Community Care workshops. Explore our instagram to check out some more content!