Over 90% of The Cosmos community members are seeking mental health care from Asian women practitioners. But 50% of our community still can’t find the care they need.
Today, we’re proud to announce our mission to close the mental health care gap for Asian women in our lifetime. Scroll down for opportunities to join us and other Asian women practitioners!
Dear Care Team,
I’m a life coach and many of my clients are Asian American women. During this time of so much pain, I’m grateful that my career enables me to support the community I care about. But most of my time and emotional energy is dedicated to 1:1 work. And it’s taking significant emotional energy right now because I’m grieving too.
I want to do more, but I’m worried about burning out. Any advice?
Sincerely,
Drained & Constrained
Dear Drained & Constrained,
Earlier today, my cofounder Karen and I were discussing the free AAPI healing event we were part of in partnership with our friends at Ethel’s Club last Friday.
After a harrowing couple of weeks filled with grief and exhaustion, that event reminded me of how good it felt to be in shared space with community. I didn’t know everyone’s names or stories, but I didn’t need to. Simply being in a space where we were encouraged to feel our feelings together was the reminder I needed that while many days feel lonely, I’m not alone in my experience.
One of the questions Karen and I asked ourselves was “Why weren’t we the ones hosting that type of event for our community?”
Given the work we do at The Cosmos and Give Good Care, it would’ve made sense. We have 3 years of experience serving the Asian women community. We have the Asian practitioner relationships. Hell, our business is centered around creating experiences for Asian women to process, heal, and grow together!!
So why didn’t we do it?
Because we burned out producing 100+ free/low-cost events last year. Because we need to prioritize revenue-generating activities that enable our small business to pay team members during a pandemic and economic recession. Because we’re trying to disrupt the trauma of enduring late-stage capitalism, which normalizes working to the bone and giving until we’re empty.
All of this to say, we feel guilty, too. We struggle with the same pain points you do. But that doesn’t mean we’re powerless! As a community, we can tap into an infinite well of wisdom, resources, and creativity.
Your question got us thinking, “Well, there’s got to be more of us feeling this way… what if we all got into a room together?” So we’re putting together a free Community Task Force event bringing Asian mental health practitioners and creatives together this Wednesday 3/10 6-7 PM ET. We hope to meet you there!
With love & care,
Cassandra Lam
P.S. Our mailbox is open and we’d love to hear from you! Submit your reader letters below.
GGC Trainings
Given the ongoing AAPI hate crimes, we wanted this training to be accessible to as many community members as possible. So we've lowered the pricing for this training to $25!
What you’ll learn
We'll share the type of care that Asian women are looking for as we deal with a global pandemic, AAPI hate crimes, and just being Asian American in 2021.
What the training will be like
You can expect a safe, non-judgmental space to learn, meet new practitioners, and work on your practitioner story in real time.
Community Task Force
We’re creating a creating a task force to organize resources to stop AAPI hate. Calling all Asian mental health practitioners (inclusive of therapists, coaches, healers, yoga/mindfulness teachers, energy workers, etc.) and creatives!!
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Credit: Tay of @bountayy
“I don’t have all the answers on how we get to liberation, but I do know that women/fems are leading us there. I do know that the road there is an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist one. I know it’s Pro-Indigenous, Pro-Black, and led by Trans women/non-binary kin. Disabled women, single mothers, incarcerated women, and migrant women are leading us there. I know young girls/teens are in the front and not forgotten.” - Terisa of @terisasiagatonu
“Trans women are women” is not enough as a rallying cry. It’s pity. And if anyone knew what trans women have accomplished, they’d know we don’t need pity. We need resources, opportunities, love, commitment.” - Xoài of @xoai.pham
“Human worth is innate, not measured by desire and consumption. People don't have to prove that their life has value; life is intrinsically valuable. Women and femmes don't have to perform anything to "unlock" our worth; we are already worthy.” - Kendriana of @futurefemmetext
Editor’s Note
Going forward, you’ll notice that we’re removing the term “womxn” from our language and replacing it with “women.”
We originally made this change with the intention of being inclusive of all identities harmed by the patriarchy, but thanks to teachings from gender scholars like Blair Imani and Lex Chandra, we have since learned that our intention did not match our impact. We unintentionally alienated and misgendered members of our community. We believe that trans women are women, and non-binary and gender non-conforming folks cannot be equated with women, and we’re updating our language to reflect this.
Thank you for your understanding, your patience, and for learning alongside us!!
I’m worried about burning out