Asian Archives – Asian Mental Health Collective

WAVES IS BACK! Join us for a wholesome virtual midyear check-in, meet some cool people, and play some virtual games with us!What games are we playing?! You’ll have to come to find out.

Event Date: July 16th, 2022
Time: 1 pm PST / 4 pm EST
RSVP via Facebook.
Event will be held on Zoom.Reach out to Vivian if you have questions | vduong@asianmhc.org

Jane Kusuma is an illustrator and designer from Seattle and the one-woman team behind Jovietajane Creative Studio. As the Asian Mental Health Collective (AMHC) began to expand and rebrand, Jane Kusuma graciously reached out to our organization to donate her time and energy into designing the rebrand. Following the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, Kusuma realized she wanted to donate her time, not just her money. Kusuma chose AMHC after finding our organization through Instagram. She mentions how “mental health is the last thing people think about and donate to” and how she was inspired by her own mental health struggles to donate her time for AMHC. Kusuma wanted to modernize and neutralize AMHC’s branding to make it accessible for all ages. She used soft, tranquil color palettes to create a calm and containing environment for everyone who wants to be a part of AMHC.

Jane Kusuma was born in Indonesia and discovered a love for drawing at an early age. At 14, she solidified her decision to pursue the arts and worked towards a career in graphic design. After getting her start in working for major toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel, she began to do freelance work on the side. Kusuma was then sponsored by a company and began working in a corporate setting. However, after a period of time, she began to suffer from burnout and realized her mental health was deteriorating. She took a 3-month sabbatical to reevaluate her life and realized she “would be so much happier doing freelance work.”She jokes about “being allergic to the 9-5 schedule” as her most creative hours are in the early morning and at night. Kusuma asserts how the ability to set her own timelines, choose her own clients, and experience different creative projects helps fuel her artistic nature.

When it comes to mental health, Jane Kusuma reflects on how she has struggled with anxiety and depression throughout her life. At 28, she started to recognize the importance of rest. She remarks, “My mental state will always affect my art. I used to think that if I was struggling I would make better art but that isn’t true.” Kusuma has since placed an emphasis on including joy in her art and making sure to take the time slow down and rest as needed.

Her final reflections include a message to those who want to pursue the creative arts. She asserts that there is no need to buy expensive equipment but rather, to “use the resources you already have.” She notes using online resources and platforms like Skillshare to learn and expand on one’s artistic abilities. Kusuma also believes that college isn’t necessary to those who want to pursue the arts as there are many other ways to learn.

In regards to Asian mental health, Jane Kusuma expresses the importance of speaking out and being open about mental health issues, in spite of being raised in cultures where silence and silencing is the norm, and where mental health is stigmatized. Kusuma acknowledges the difficulty of the times andand emphasizes the need, now more than ever, to care for ourselves.

We took a break last week for self-care, but we’re back this week to discuss anxiety. We tried to cover most of the basics of anxiety, and we hope to address it more in depth in the future. If you have questions about anxiety, please feel free to drop them in the comments below. We’ll be back next week, starting a series on school and the struggles that mental health struggles that come with it.

AMHC content (including this video) may include information provided by mental health professionals, but watching this video does not establish a therapist-client relationship. The views and thoughts expressed by the individuals are solely their own and do not reflect those of AMHC. Reliance on any information through the AMHC content is solely at your own risk. The information in this video is provided on an “as is” basis. This information should not be interpreted as professional medical or mental health advice. Please consult with your health care providers such as your physician or therapist if you have any questions about the topics being discussed.

With everything going on in the world, we decided that it would be a good time to address the issue of self-care. We share a few tips and personal ways that we’ve been addressing our own stress and negative emotions during this time. Please join us again next week as we talk explore the anxieties of going back to school.

This week we’re wrapping up this series on boundaries and we’re exploring what boundaries might look like at work and with family and how to navigate them. Join us again next week as we explore various aspects of self-care, particularly in these uncertain and stressful times.

This week we’re continuing our series on boundaries. In this episode, we explore some of the factors that make boundaries unhealthy and how we can identify boundaries that might not be the most beneficial for us. Please join us again next week as we continue our boundary series and explore some of the details of boundaries at work, with family, and in relationships!

This week we’re starting a new series on boundaries. We hope that you’re able to get some helpful background information about boundaries, particularly in the context of being Asian American. Please join us again next week as we continue our boundary series!

We’re wrapping up from last week with the continuation of what clients can expect from therapy. We hope that this two part episode has been helpful for you and we’d love to hear any additional questions you may have for us that we might be able to address in future episodes! Please join us again next week as we discuss boundaries.

This week we decided it would be helpful to go a little more into the details of what people can expect from therapy as a client. The original recording went a little longer that usual, so we decided to split this episode into two parts. We hope that its helpful for you and that you’ll come back again next week for the conclusion of this episode.

As BIPOC mental health awareness month draws to a close, we decided it would be a great opportunity for us to explore the model minority myth. In this episode we talk about the origins of the model minority and we explore ways that it has affected us and the communities that we work with. Join us again next week as we explore the therapeutic process.

July 16, 2022 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm PDT

Asian Mental Health Collective