September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Unfortunately, suicide is a very real issue for the Asian American community. According to the Office of Minority Health, in 2017 the leading cause of death in young Asian Americans in the US was suicide. My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is passionate about promoting emotional wellness and a prevention model for mental health.

Dr. Eunice Yuen is a child and adult psychiatrist who specializes in Asian American mental health. She sat down to speak to me about the stigma of mental health and the reluctance of Asian Americans to seek help. Dr. Yuen noted that prevention through mindfulness of emotional wellness are especially important for teenagers and young adults, which is the age at which mental illness often first manifests.

Dr. Yuen is working on an innovative tool called CHATogether that helps to resolve conflicts between Asian American parents and children. More than ever, tools like CHATogether are useful to address heightened child-parent conflicts during COVID-19, and discussions about racism. Please note that any of the advice or content shared in the episode is not meant to be taken as medical advice or psychiatric treatment.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Why Dr. Yuen decided to enter the field of child and adult psychiatry and where her special interest in promoting emotional wellness in the Asian American community comes from
The difference between emotional wellbeing and a mental health issue
How building emotional resilience is important to help deal with everyday stress
How daily routines and structure is important for emotional wellbeing especially during the Coronavirus pandemic
How to identify when someone is dealing with a mental health issue and needs to seek help
Some individuals may display physical symptoms e.g. a stomachache, diarrhea, headache, while being able to function
What should you do if you think that someone you know (e.g. a friend or family member) is in need of help with a mental health issue
What the project Dr. Yuen CHATogether is about
How CHATogether is based on a paper published by Brazilian theater director, Augusto Boal in the 1980s called “Theater of the Oppressed”
What ages CHAT has been developed for
The concept of mentalization
The CHATogether community
What type of feedback CHATogether has gotten from its’ participants
How Chatogether has addressed child-parent conflict during COVID-19, talking about Black Lives Matter and racism
The concept of regulating emotions
The 3 R’s: Recognize your emotions, Realize where the emotions are coming from, Regulate your emotions
The importance of labeling your emotions and talking about your feelings
How to overcome the stigma of mental health within the Asian American community