November Newsletter: On prioritising yourself.

Hello there!

October was a wildly busy month for us at Shapes and Sounds... we had a few big (top secret) deadlines that we were working towards while our team navigated uni exams, viruses, injuries, big life changes and the volatile Melbourne weather.

At the same time, we all lived through a disappointing referendum outcome and we held witness to the devastation and genocide occurring in the Middle East.

It has been a lot for the soul and it was a month that definitely required us to practice what we preach; to prioritise ourselves before supporting others.

For example, we'd planned to launch a new 4-week program called, Know Yourself in November, but we decided to push it back to 2024 despite having people already registered for the program.

Similarly, the ops team and I made a commitment to operate at our "bare bones" capacity, and we outlined each and every task that could wait until November.

And because of these decisions, we've made it out the other end in one piece and still with a little energy left in the tank to see us through to the end of the year.

I share this story for those who are also navigating some busy times as we head towards Christmas (ie. please remember to take care of yourself!) We also hope that we'll be able to share any good outcomes from our work in October with you, very soon🤞

For now though, we hope that you enjoy our November newsletter, featuring our new practitioners and interesting pieces from our wonderful Community Leads.

❤️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: This seminal study by Tan & Saw (2022) examines the relationship between mental disorders and LGBTQ individuals in South East Asia, examining the nuanced history and factors that contribute to minority stress. 

And some recommendations from our Community Leads: 

📚 Books: Love Language is a memoir by Linda Marigliano, which reflects upon her experiences reckoning between her Chinese-Malaysian and Italian heritage.

🤳🏻 Media:  For any bi-racial Asians out there, check out Being Biracial - which features different biracial people diving into their experiences

🎭 Arts: Vietnamese-Australian artist Truc Truong's exhibition Have you eaten explores the relationship between culture and food, and specifically her experience with the question - have you eaten? This is done in collaboration with socio-economically disadvantaged / culturally diverse schools, so make sure to check it out at the Adelaide Festival Centre! 

🔎 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 psychologist, Anushka Phal via our interview:

"Feeling our emotions can be an intense and sometimes uncomfortable process, and sometimes you may feel like you don't have a good enough reason to feel the way you do - but this is the first step understanding, processing and validating our experiences."

Get to know psychotherapist, Hee Zee Lu via our interview:

"The body is like a guest home, and it hosts various emotions that temporarily stay as a guest.  Of course, we wish all the guests are kind and friendly, but if they are not behaving, we don’t throw the guest out of the home."

✨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 power of community-based mental health services, which is exactly what we do here at Shapes and Sounds!

📱Click to connect back in with our Instagram!