2021 continues to test our beliefs and resolve. The dichotomy of being violently targeted while feeling socially invisible is upending. I’ve been feeling the weight of my own identity development, from assimilation to racial reckoning, and grieving for the loss of that perceived privilege. This racism highlights the complex intersectionalities that should bind yet historically have isolated Asians as persons of color. The recent surge of hate crimes against Asian American Pacific Islanders, have brought a harsh focus on the racism toward AAPI, the false perceptions, hostility and burden of eternal outsider status.

Gina Samuels, University of Chicago scholar, recently spoke of “Authorizing our own pathways and counterspaces of resilience and healing” at the Rudd Adoption Research Program. The framework of the power of knowledge, the meanings that we can make for ourselves, and the spaces that we can inhabit outside the oppression of dominant culture narratives, were presented by Professor Samuels to illustrate the our power and process to heal as adoptees. In fact, this framework has had great value to help me organize my thoughts about my Asian identity. I encourage you to view the link above to see her keynote, and to explore the Rudd Adoption Research site for loads of important research on adoption.

To support our community, Robyn Joy Park, LMFT and I will be facilitating a National AAPI Adult Support Call for Adoptees/Foster Alumnx provided by PACT, an Adoption Alliance on Wednesday April 7, from 5 to 6:30pm PT.. See below for details and registration or click HERE.… Read the rest “Making Sense of the Chaos”

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

I hope you and yours are safe and well, as we together meet the challenges and opportunities that 2021 have already wrought.

We commemorate the legacy of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on his national holiday, while acknowledging the ongoing struggle for the Black-bodied to endure and live justly amid the racism that has been so painfully witnessed in the last 365 days. As we faced the Covid-19 Pandemic, the glaring inequities for Black and Brown people and the condition of our social infrastructure were laid bare. With the power of activism, our change in leadership and the work of many in the field of healing, I look for progress in 2021.

The need for connection has been great, yet the manner in which we could connect is very limited and limiting. As a clinician I have felt deeply connected to my clients of all ages, as we joined in the narratives of isolation, parenting, working from home, education, personal loss, and even politics. I am hopeful that this year will begin to restore us in all the ways we so deeply need. In a virtual tween workshop that I facilitated, the consensus of the group was to “hug my friends” or to “have a slumber party” and “go into my friends’ homes” when the Pandemic is over. Amen! With my colleagues I continue to encourage and support dialogue through workshops, teen groups and Adult Adoptees of Color meet-ups.… Read the rest “Meeting This Moment”

The escalation of isolation and safety measures to quell the Covid-19 crisis has required that we innovate to serve our communities. I’ll be doing a weekly Virtual Teen group with Lesli A. Johnson, MFT and a biweekly Young Adult Adoptees of Color group with Robyn Park, MFT. Please look at this website’s page menus for details, or email me with any questions.… Read the rest “Welcome to Online Weekly Teen Group & Online Biweekly Young Adults AoC Groups!”