During a conversation at the Asian American Cultural Center on March 9, psychologist Jenny Tzu-Mei Wang opened up about the stigmatization of mental health challenges in AAPI communities and the inspiration behind her 2022 book: “Permission to Come Home” — a resource aimed at helping Asian Americans reclaim their psychological narratives.
The event saw attendance from undergraduate and graduate students, Assistant Dean and AACC Director Joliana Yee and several staff members from Yale Mental Health and Counseling. Event moderator Melodie Grace Liu GRD ’27 kicked off the afternoon by reading a section of the book that explored compassion, an entity that Wang referred to as the “final” and perhaps most “elusive” condition in the “search for home.”
That search for belonging has cemented itself as the core of Wang’s own pursuit of psychology, which started with self-introspection and the comfort of being open with herself.
“I’m a firm believer that my ability to be present with the people who need me really depends on my ability to understand my struggle [and] my wounds first,” Wang said. “I use this analogy a lot — like if I have a gash in my arm, and then somebody says to me I have a cut in my leg, I’m gonna have a hard time paying attention to the fact that they have a cut in their life, because I’m also struggling. And so until I can get to a point where I feel strong enough to carry my struggle, I’m gonna have a really hard time holding somebody’s presence [and] holding that space for them.”
“Modeling the … early stages of grief and mental health… doesn’t always look like: let’s sit down, talk about all your traumas, all of [these things] that the elderly spent a lifetime trying to protect,” Wang said. “Maybe it’s not the talking, [but] the being with. Let me watch a drama, right, let me do something that helps my body feel safe and [that makes them] feel safe with me.”
Read more at YaleDailyNews.com.
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