Liberating Ourselves and Decolonizing Mental Health with Dr. Han Ren
— EPISODE 89 —
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Dr. Han Ren [00:00:00] And so decolonizing mental health is really being able to unpack what is not working, and then replace it with different frameworks that does apply to people who don't look, or experience life the same way as the people who made these theories.
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Dr. Adia Gooden [00:00:22] Welcome to the Unconditionally Worthy Podcast. In this podcast, I will guide you on your journey to connect with the true source of your self-worth. Each week we'll discuss barriers to unconditional self-worth, the connection between self-worth and relationships, self-worth practices you can apply to your life. And how to use self-worth as a foundation for living courageously. I'm your host, Dr. Adia Gooden, a licensed clinical psychologist, dance enthusiast, and a dark chocolate lover who believes deeply that you are worthy unconditionally.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Unconditionally Worthy Podcast. If you are watching on YouTube, you are going to see in just a second that the outfit I am wearing now. It's not the outfit I will be wearing during the episode, and that's because I finished the episode and the kind of day I was having on the day we recorded the episode meant that I totally forgot that I need to record an intro. So just know that you're not seeing things. My outfit actually is different. It was a busy day. I had a talk, I had a call, I had a meeting. I think I had one other thing. It was a very busy day. And so by the time I recorded the podcast it was the end of the day and I think my brain was done. So I am back recording this intro.
I guess I say that to say we all have days and we just got to give ourselves grace and compassion and come back to it when we can. So today's episode is with Dr. Han Ren. You may have seen her on the Internet Street. She has a massive following on Instagram and TikTok, and she really talks about decolonizing mental health and takes such a fun and approachable approach to doing that. And so we have a really thoughtful and insightful conversation about what that means, what it means to decolonize mental health, what it looks like to take care of yourself as a BIPOC person navigating this world. And it's a really insightful conversation. So tune in and as always, let us know what you think.
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I am really excited and honored to welcome Dr. Han Ren, who uses the pronouns, she and they to the podcast. Dr. Han is a licensed clinical psychologist and school psychologist, consultant, speaker, and educator. She is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive work, practicing from a justice oriented interpersonal, culturally humble and systems informed framework through their widely viewed content on social media, which is how I encountered Dr. Han. They strive to make mental health accessible and applicable to our daily lives.
Dr. Ren addresses the pursuit of collective healing through her work centered in historically overlooked communities, especially Asian Americans and children of immigrants. She has been featured on the TEDx stage, the Headspace app, BuzzFeed, and the Huffington Post. When she's not in the therapy chair, you can find her laughing with family and friends, caffeinating with black coffee, dancing off beat to live music and Peloton - ing. So I am so excited to have you here. You have an incredible way of making mental health and therapy relatable and sort of calling out the things that I think a lot of us are thinking and feeling, but most people don't want to say. And so I just appreciate your sort of approach to being authentic and having real conversations, and I'm so grateful to have you on the podcast today.
Dr. Han Ren [00:04:06] Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure and joy.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:04:09] Awesome. Well, I would love to start our conversation by diving in the deep end and asking you to share a bit about your own self-worth journey.
Dr. Han Ren [00:04:21] Yeah. Gosh, I think I'm still on it. It's in no ways complete, but I think I have been making good progress. Especially compared to earlier in my life. I was a child immigrant to the US so I came to the US when I was five, and so much of my childhood was about fitting in and not being singled out. And a lot of the uprearing that I had was around performance and achievement and not really about who I was as a person. So a lot of my self-worth for I would say the good first half plus of my life was around what I did and who I was to other people. And it wasn't until after I like checked off a bunch of milestones off my list that I started being more thoughtful about, well now what if I can do all these things and be all these things to other people and still feel hollowed to myself, then there might be something else that needs some examining.
So I think just even in the past five years or so when I've had the space and time to be more reflective and think about my relationship to work and where I wanted to fit into my life and my relationship to other people in my life, I've been able to find a little bit more anchoring within me. I have an affirmation that I like to repeat to myself in these times, I belong to myself and we belong to each other. And yeah, it's still ongoing, but I'm working on it.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:06:10] I love that. I love the affirmation. I belong to myself and we belong to each other. And I also like your use of the term anchoring, right? Like this sort of anchoring within yourself. And I think I certainly resonate with your experience of like, okay, like what are the boxes that I have to check to get approval for other people to be happy with me? And I'm not an immigrant, my dad's an immigrant, so I'm sure that influenced, I know that influenced my sense of self and worthiness. And I think there's lots of different life experiences who've had a similar challenge with finding their worth within themselves and not sort of looking to all the achievements. And similar to you, I got to the point where I was like, okay, so this whole academic, for me, it's like academic, this isn't working.
Dr. Han Ren [00:06:58] Yeah, Never works.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:07:00] Got the PhD, got the thing like that didn't work, so what else? And so it sort of forces you to turn inward and part of what I think about when I think about your work and how you show up online is the courage that it takes to go against the grain. And to-
Dr. Han Ren [00:07:17] Oh yeah.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:07:18] Challenge, right? A system, a framework around mental health that is grounded in whiteness, grounded in white supremacy. And to sort of call it out, especially when we have been trained and socialized that like, you don't do this because that's, you know what I mean? Like there's, there's all these sort of rules, right?
Dr. Han Ren [00:07:40] Yeah.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:07:41] The ethics and the things, you know what I mean? And so I'd love for you to talk about, I guess I have two questions, but I always am like, let's just ask one question at a time. I'd love for you to talk maybe first about the courage and where you found the courage, how you've cultivated that to come out and call out, right? This system that doesn't fit for you or it doesn't fit for your clients and what that's felt like, what that's been like for you.
Dr. Han Ren [00:08:13] You know, I think in terms of social media, when I first started making TikTok, it was just a boredom buster. It was October of 2020. I was like done all the paint by numbers and then cross stitches. I'm like, I need something else to do that can really channel my creativity. And everything was still so locked down at that point that it felt just like I was alone in my backyard or in my office. And it didn't feel real like, I'm never going to meet people like who seen my work or there was a lot of like screaming into the void about that. And that actually gave me a lot of courage cause I didn't have to think too hard or too deeply I could get more off cuff and authentic. And also, in that time it was such a reckoning on a societal level when it came to racial injustice and mental health.
And so much of what I was seeing out there was very like Eurocentric traditional kind of generic about breathing exercises for your anxiety and really not calling out the systemic factors that influence our mental health or the identity factors that can actually be very much sources of strength for folks. And because my practice from the day I started it had really centered on BIPOC mental health and children of immigrants and Asian Americans especially. I felt like I was in a good position to be able to speak on that from both professional and lived experience. And the response was very positive. And that made me realize just how badly the world needed to hear this.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:09:56] Yeah. It makes sense that initially sort of not really thinking about other people seeing it or what other people would think about it was just like, okay, great. Like this is fun, this is creative, this feels honest. And starting there how that would help with courage. I think that makes a lot of sense. Can you talk a little bit more specifically about sort of what it means to decolonize mental health? Because I know that that's kind of one of the things that you do, that you talk about, that you train on. So can you share like, what does that mean? What needs decolonizing and what does it mean to actually do that?
Dr. Han Ren [00:10:35] Yeah, it's getting down to the roots of what is the interventions, treatment modalities, the conceptualization and theoretical frameworks for why people have mental illness or just struggle with mental health and what are the solutions to address it. And if we look at what we have that's documented, it's predominantly written and created by white men. And so there's very much an individualistic Eurocentric framework for what causes mental illness and how do we treat it. And this doesn't apply for a lot of people, the global majority. We're finding that it misses the mark on capturing our experience. And also if we can't identify the problem, then we don't have good solutions for that either. We can't tailor the solutions for it. And so decolonizing mental health is really being able to unpack what is not working, and then replace it with different frameworks that does apply to people who don't look or experience life the same way as the people who made these theories.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:11:48] Yeah. I love that because it allows for thoughtful and intentional questioning of what is right versus saying, well, this is the way, this is the right way, this is the true way, this is the best way. But really sort of challenging that. I have a good friend who's also a clinical psychologist and does a lot of DEI work, and part of what we talk about is different ways of knowing things, right? So even like the research framework and the framework of evidence based or research based, it's like, well, what gets studied and who is studying it and who created the manual? And that's not to say that there can't be useful parts of that, but acting as though that is the only way to know that something is effective or that something is helpful, you know what I mean?
It really limits us and cuts us off from the wealth of wisdom that comes from communities, right? That comes from our lived experience. And I know sort of of late, like I was I sort of recently co-authored a book on black women's mental health and I basically have left academia. So I sort of leaving academia as I was writing the book, and I was finding myself feeling very annoyed with like, okay, having to be like black women experience A, B, C and then A, B, C and being like, now let's look for articles that prove black women experi,ence. And I'm like, they do. I know they do. I don't want to have to cite three articles.
Dr. Han Ren [00:13:28] Totally. Yeah. There's a lot of gatekeeping involved in the research process and academia and all of that, which is by design to keep certain voices from being amplified. And I think in recent years there's been more of emphasis on lived experience, especially for issues of identity or neurodivergence and I think we've been able to add to what we know with so much more nuance and richness because of that.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:14:00] So I think that there's a tendency when we're thinking about decolonizing, dismantling, engaging in social justice work, I think that there's a tendency to throw everything away or you shame or just paint everything as like, this is all bad and it's all awful. And that is how we sort of engage in our modern discourse, I would say, or like public discourse is, it's like there's a lack of nuance. It is all good and all bad. And where I'm going with this is that your Ted talk discussed using guilt and not shame, right? As sort of like a transformational emotion or experience that actually helps us to make changes. And you know, we see even in these days, right? Like people will protest and I'm not saying these people saying, shame, shame, shame is wrong because many times I'm watching, I'm like, yeah.
But that is a sort of like a common thing that you think, okay, well we'll shame people out of it or maybe you'll shame yourself and I'd love for you because I think people may be listening and thinking like, oh, there are things that I want to dismantle or decolonize, but not knowing how do you do that in a constructive way that doesn't just necessarily involve burning it all down. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about the distinction between guilt and shame and how guilt can actually be a helpful tool in these types of processes.
Dr. Han Ren [00:15:39] Yeah. So I think the way that we think about feelings historically, like when I was in grad school, it was like you have positive affect and negative emotions and there was just this like polarized labeling and that's just not how the experience of emotions are felt. There's so much more nuance to it and everything has a function. So if we can approach it with just that curiosity, then maybe we don't need to discard anything and we can really learn from some of it. And the neurobiological experience of shame is that it is a social moral emotion that we need in order to survive in communities. It's something that comes online when we're about a year and a half old and we're learning from our environment what is acceptable for our behaviors and what isn't. And when shame is able to be repaired through an explanation, through a relational repair, then we can move to a place of guilt, oh, I did something bad. Shame being I am bad. I'm a horrible person, and guilt is, I should not have done that. That was not a cool move. And then we can separate the act from ourselves and hold that with the curiosity of no negative emotions truly exist. They're all here to teach us something. And that allows us to just grow curious about what it is that our feelings are trying to tell us, and how we can lean into that and shape our actions and how to move forward.
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Dr. Adia Gooden [00:17:20] The journey to embracing your unconditional self-worth can feel overwhelming and you may be wondering where to even begin. Well, I created the perfect free guide to get you started on this journey in my free ebook on four practices to help you connect with your unconditional self-worth. I share about my own self-worth journey and struggles with believing that I was worthy or good enough. And I also break down four practices that will help you to begin to embrace your unconditional self-worth. This is the perfect starting place for you on your self-worth journey, and it's free. Grab your copy now by going to www.dradiagooden.com/free-ebook
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I love that distinction, right? Because when we're in guilt, then it's easier to do something, right? Like often when we're in shame, as you're saying, it's like, I'm bad. And if I connected this to my work around helping people to know that they're unconditionally worthy, it's like when you feel bad, you often feel like you are bad, you're in shame, you feel like you are wrong, you are unworthy. And often when we're in that space, all we want to do is hide, right? It's actually a hard space to clean up messes from, to make amends from, to fix, to have proactive action. Usually we want to hide, we don't want anybody to see us, we want like just like hide, right? Leave the group. Versus if we can hold onto our sense of worthiness, even while we acknowledge, hey, that was a misstep, that was harmful to someone, that hurt someone that wasn't the best move, then it's actually easier to say, hey, I need to apologize, right? And to not apologize with the, I'm the worst human ever. Which usually then is intended to sort of evoke a, no, it's not that bad. No, you're ok.
And it becomes about you, right? Versus you can sort of soothe yourself, ground yourself, apologize, and make it about the person who was harmed instead of making it about you and your need for affirmation, reassurance, whatever it is. Because that is often kind of what happens is either people get angry and they're like, you shouldn't make me feel this way. Or they hide and don't apologize, or they apologize in a way that centers themselves instead of the person or the people who were harmed and the repair that needs to happen.
Dr. Han Ren [00:20:06] Yeah, totally. I mean, they're both uncomfortable sensations, right? Shame and guilt. And they're very similar. Our body codes some very similarly, but I think of guilt as more activating. Shame is more of like an implosion that like hide like, oh my gosh, I don't deserve to exist kind of feeling. Whereas guilt's like, Ooh, how do I make it better? How do I clean this up? And that activation is energy, it's motivation to like, okay, I spilled it up, so I need to clean it up, or I need to actually make repair or like make things right somehow. And it gives us just a little bit of space so we can do the repair behaviorally.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:20:48] Yeah, I think that's so helpful. And I think if we're thinking about like how people respond to themselves, right? It's like, okay, so if you mess something up, you don't need to beat yourself up and shame yourself. You need to acknowledge what happened and get into that. Like, what did I do wrong? What can I do differently? What can I do to fix it? Versus how am I wrong? How am I bad? Et cetera. And then I think also if you are in a system or in something, you want to make shifts, it's also thinking about, okay, how do I communicate what people did wrong? Because if we are, it's not our responsibility as BIPOC folks or people who have been harmed to protect the feelings of the person who has harmed us. And if we can communicate in a way that's like, here's the thing that you can do differently, or here's the problem, then I think it makes it more likely that change will come about and that action will be taken versus a sort of standoff where we're saying you're bad and wrong and you're saying, no, I'm not. And then we're just like looking at each other or not looking at each other and feeling stuck. What are your thoughts about that?
Dr. Han Ren [00:22:09] Yeah, I think being able to acknowledge guilt is important step towards accountability. Where we can actually be held accountable to the harm that we have done and move towards behavior change and repair. So often when people get called out or called in, especially if they're people in positions of power, they doubled down on what they did and like, I didn't do anything wrong. And then like if they have power, they're going to have supporters who can be like, yeah, that's right, they didn't do anything wrong. So then there's no accountability, there's no recognition or acknowledgement of harm done. And then that leads to another backlash and then they're like, oh my gosh, cancel culture. You know, it becomes a whole thing. Whereas if you can just approach it from non defensiveness and acknowledge, okay, I hear you, this may not have been my intention, but this was the impact and I can acknowledge that impact because that is your reality. And then what can I learn and how do I move forward in a personally responsible, accountable way so this doesn't happen again in the future.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:23:20] This conversation makes me think about why it's important to both have people, organizations, communities that are working to dismantle and change and challenge systems and structures that are harmful and why it's important for BIPOC folks, trans folks, LGBTQ, right? Like people who are marginalized and harmed by some of these systems to claim our worthiness and take care of ourselves in the best way we can now because we can't wait. And I'm sort of thinking about that in the context of I believe that I have this right, that you live in Texas and I know that you are a person of color, you serve BIPOC folks, and I'm curious about how you navigate this for yourself and I sort of highlight Texas just as a space and a place that has been very out front, like open around like it's treatment of immigrants, you know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? It's treatment of trans folks, it's treatment of people of color. And so I guess I'm curious about like for you, if you're willing to share like how you navigate that as a person and then also how you support clients who are navigating this as well in that place.
Dr. Han Ren [00:25:00] Yeah, I mean this is something that is very much an ongoing process for me. I am very in process with it because on the one hand that we have a lot of community here. I've got school aged kids with friends and families that we can count on. And we have a home. I have a group practice like we're established here. On the other hand at the day of this recording, it's right after a string of mass shootings in Texas and just the legislation around gun ownership and concealed carry and all of these things make it really, really scary. And I'm just talking about gun control, not about reproductive rights or anti-trans laws and just all the different ways that makes it really hard to exist as a marginalized person in this state.
And so sometimes I think about, gosh, I need to get out of here. It's like insanity if we just keep living here. But then I also think, well then it's going to be this southern flight, right? Like everyone who are the change makers who are progressive and committed to having this state go a different direction are going to leave. And then what? So it's a really hard dialectic to hold. And that's what I name with my clients too because I have these conversations with them all the time about some who are in the process of leaving Texas. I'm like, you do you, you get to safety if that's what you need to do. And some people who are like, I can never leave Texas because it's my home. Like I get that too. There's roots and it's really, really challenging and I don't have a great answer for it other than like, I just need to zoom out sometimes and then zoom back in to like the minutiae of what is in my control and where my pockets of joy can come from. And then other times when I have more bandwidth, I can plug into more of the systemic things that are happening around me. But I will say that overall there are communities of very invested passionate progressive people here. And they do provide that social support. And I do feel like Austin is a bit of a bubble. I wouldn't live anywhere else in Texas. So it's just that zoom in, zoom out kind of riding the wave.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:27:36] Thank you for being willing to share that because I'm sure that there are a lot of people sort of wrestling with this very real content of like, this is my home, this is where I've set up my life and I don't just want to leave that. And then also the sense of responsibility to the state, the community, right? And then also knowing that it is important to find your people. It is important to find the communities with like-minded folk and feel like you can be supported and connected. And I also think, yeah, zooming in and zooming out and like knowing when to sort of connect and engage politically and when to take a little bit of a break from the news, right? Like when I often talk about like, where are you getting your news from? This is a marathon and we do have to go at a pace that is sustainable. Because if we burn ourselves out, that is really no good for anyone. And sort of how do you live in this reality feels like sort of the question that you're sort of like living through. You know there's not a perfect answer, but you live through it every day.
Dr. Han Ren [00:28:49] You do what you can every day. And that's my favorite thing about just liberatory work in general is the emphasis on play, connection, pleasure, and rest. That this is not option. It's a non-negotiable that you have those elements because that's what nourishes your body and soul to wake up and do it again tomorrow.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:29:11] Oh, I love that. I love that you're bringing in play, connection, pleasure, and rest. Because I do think they often feel like luxuries and like options and there is a sense of like, put your head down, keep pushing, pushing, pushing. And what we know is that for marginalized communities, it may result in a mental health crisis. It may result in a physical health crisis, it may result in burnout. There's so many things that happen to us when we don't take the time for rest and play and pleasure and all of those things. And I also think that those things play, rest, pleasure, connection are also things that help to affirm our worthiness, right? That when we make room for fun and pleasure and enjoying ourselves and not being productive and doing something for some sort of outcome, that we're sort of affirming our being and affirming that who we are in this moment right now is worthy.
And that is also a form of resistance and a form of pushing back on the narratives that we have to be perfect. We have to always be working. We have to, right? Like all of these narratives around sort of like this is what you have to do. It's like respectability politics, at least in the black communities and there's there's all different names for different communities, right? But there's this idea that if we do it perfect, if we're always working, always on time, always dah dah, if we're serious then they'll treat us well. And what we know is that's not true, right? Like that that actually isn't how it works. And I also think if we're tapping into legacy, we know that our ancestors do have legacies of celebration, of joy, of connection and community and play and fun.
Whether that's like, or dancing in a sweaty saloon or whatever celebration. And so I think that's also about kind of what you were saying earlier about like decolonizing mental health, what it looks like to take care of ourselves, to take care of our mental health. And it's like going back to the legacies of our ancestors and how they celebrated and how they connected and how they did all of these things in the midst of incredible pain, trauma, challenge. That there was still these moments of joy and lightness and pleasure and that it's important for us to continue that legacy.
Dr. Han Ren [00:31:49] Totally. Yeah. Therapy does not have a monopoly on healing. There's so much more that's happening in life that doesn't exist in a manual. And we feel the inherent feeling of deserving it without having to earn it. And we can actually utilize it as a way to nourish ourselves and our community then we're stronger for it.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:32:16] Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that. And it does feel freeing, right? It does feel like, oh and I could enjoy my life even in the journey, right?
Dr. Han Ren [00:32:27] Totally.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:32:28] Like even while all this stuff is happening. And I think there's also, if we go back to the guilt versus shame, there's often there can be guilt, right? Around enjoying life and experiencing pleasure while you know that other people are suffering. And I think if we can think about enjoyment, joy, play, fun and pleasure as a tool of liberation and as a tool of resistance. That helps us to see that it's not selfish and it's not counter to our efforts and to what we want to change and dismantle. It actually not only sort of fuels us as you were saying, like gives us the energy to continue, it also affirms our worth. It also gives other people permission, right? To do those things. And so it isn't selfish and it isn't counter, it's actually essential.
Dr. Han Ren [00:33:20] Absolutely. And I think a lot of it goes back to relinquishing control. When we try so hard to control outcomes and the future, we discovered there's actually very little that's within our control. And so not coming from a place of needing that allows us to explore what we can actually have agency over around in our environment and how we feel and how we can tap into these things that feel good as part of our inherent worthiness.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:33:53] I love that. Releasing the need to control, right? Like that's certainly something I am in process on. And it also feels like sort of another thing that's decolonizing, because I think in the sort of white Western world, there is a sense of like, these outcomes leads to this input leads to this output, right? Like we can research it, we can like narrow it down, right? Like there's just, that is sort of how there's a tendency to have tunnel vision around all the contextual factors that may lead to various outcomes. And so releasing control, yeah, exactly, right? Releasing control sort of dismantles that and also frees us up. And I will say as somebody who likes control is scary. So I would love to know how do you manage that. How do you lean into releasing control? How do you help others lean into that as a practice?
Dr. Han Ren [00:34:59] Yeah, I mean I really think of it as control versus agency. Control means you have to know every single possible permutation of outcomes so you can pick the right one. Whereas agency is this belief in like, I'll figure it out, it's possibility, it's potential, it's part of trusting yourself and learning to trust yourself and the people that you surround yourself with. Where can you find agency given your specific set of circumstances? And there are certainly places where we have more or less agency, but we always have some agency. Even if the consequences are painful, there's some consequences that are going to be less painful than others. And so we always have that choice and really being intentional about seeing the places where we have that agency I think is super liberating. Then we have the energy to actually follow through on what the agency inspires.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:35:57] Yeah, I love that distinction between agency and control. And I also think when we are focused on our agency, that moves us out of feeling like victims feeling like we are the victim of this situation. We're the victim of this system, we're the victim of this and we can't do anything about it. And so we may not be able to eliminate racism tomorrow, right? And we do still have agency and choice, right? We do still get to live out our values, we do still get to make choices around how we show up. And I agree that that's where we tap into our power. That is where we feel free. And you know, I also think when we are trying to control all the outcomes or have that certainty, we tend to predict the worst possible outcome versus like the best possible outcome. So we catastrophize and we say, oh it's going to be awful, it's going to be horrible, it's going to be and we get very limited in terms of what feels possible and then we feel limited in our choices and our agency.
And so when we can say, hey, I don't know, like you're saying, I don't know what's going to happen. There's a lot of potential outcomes and here's how I want to show up. I talk about values, like here are the values that I want to use to guide my decisions and my choices and that's what I can do and I can't control the outcome that lowers the pressure. And then allows people to live their life in a way that feels aligned even if the external circumstances aren't necessarily exactly what you might want them to be.
Dr. Han Ren [00:37:32] Exactly. And I think it's a good reminder for all of us that we can always change our mind, we can always pivot. Our flexibility is our strength and the need to plan every single thing out before you even start is maybe more about your self-confidence and you know something about you rather than the task itself. When you have the trust in yourself and the belief that you'll be able to figure out no matter what happens, it might not be easy, but you have that agency and you have that ability, then it allows you to just get started and walk that first step and trust in yourself along the way.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:38:12] Yeah, I love that. I really do love that. I would love for you to share with people how they can follow you, connect with you online, kind of learn more about you and the work you do, the content you put out into the world.
Dr. Han Ren [00:38:28] Yeah. You can find me on my website, drhanren.com or on Instagram and TikTok also just Dr. Han Ren. And my group practice is pivotpsychologyatx.com where I have a team of wonderful clinicians.
Dr. Adia Gooden [00:38:44] That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast, having such a thoughtful and dynamic conversation with me. I so appreciate it. I know our listeners will appreciate it and you know, thank you and I wish you well.
Dr. Han Ren [00:39:00] Thank you so much for having me. This was a pleasure.
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Dr. Adia Gooden [00:39:07] Thanks for joining me this week on the Unconditionally Worthy Podcast. Make sure to visit my website, dradiagooden.com and subscribe to the show on iTunes so you'll never miss an episode. You can also follow me on social media at Dr. Adia Gooden. If you loved the show, please leave a review on iTunes so we can continue to bring you amazing episodes. Lastly, if you found this episode helpful and know someone who might benefit from hearing it, please share it. Thanks for listening and see you next episode.
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This episode was produced by Crys & Tiana and the music is by Wataboi.
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What does it mean to decolonize mental health? How do we liberate ourselves, individually and collectively, from the modern shackles of colonization and mental illness? Let’s answer those questions.
In this episode of Unconditionally Worthy, I welcome Dr. Han Ren, a licensed clinical and school psychologist, consultant, speaker, and educator who is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive work.
Today, Dr. Han and I are talking about what it means to decolonize mental health and what it looks like to care for and liberate yourself as a BIPOC person navigating this tumultuous world. Plus, Dr. Han details their self-worth journey as an immigrant living in Texas and how she got the courage to call out the colonization of mental health on social media. Throughout the episode, we’ll be highlighting ways you can start decolonizing mental health and liberating yourself.
What Does it Mean to “Decolonize Mental Health”?
If you explore the roots of mental health in America, you’ll find that the documented interventions, treatment modalities, and conceptualizations of mental health/illness are predominantly written by white men. Thus, there’s an individualistic, Euro-centric framework for what causes mental illness and how to treat it, but it doesn’t apply to the global majority. These frameworks fail to capture our experiences as BIPOC people, as immigrants, and as minorities in a colonized society.
“Decolonizing mental health is being able to unpack what is not working and replace it with different frameworks that [do] apply to people who don’t look or experience life the same way as the people who made these theories,” Dr. Han says.
Essentially, to decolonize mental health, we must challenge the mainstream way of thinking about and treating mental health issues. We must allow for more thoughtful and intentional questioning of the treatments that are effective and available for us BIPOC folk.
Ways to Decolonize Mental Health in Constructive Ways:
To add more nuance and richness to our knowledge of mental health, put more emphasis on lived experience, especially regarding issues of identity or neurodivergence.
Turn your shame and guilt into curiosity and action. When shame can be repaired through explanation or relationship, we can separate the act from ourselves and our self-worth. This allows us to grow curious about our feelings, move forward, act in more constructive ways, and make real change.
Being able to acknowledge guilt is an important step towards accountability where we can actually be held accountable to the harm that we have done and move towards behavior change and repair,” Dr. Han says.
Find communities of like-minded folks where you can feel heard, supported, and connected. This work is hard to do alone! Without a tribe, how much can we really move the needle?
Know when to connect and engage politically and when to take a break from the news and social media. This is a marathon, not a sprint! Protecting your peace and mental health is what will keep you going for the long-run without burning out. Dr. Han suggests you focus on play, adventure, pleasure, and rest.
Go back to the legacies of your ancestors and how they celebrated and connected in the midst of immense pain and trauma. See how you can mirror that in your own life.
Practice releasing control and focus on where you have agency in your life. Tune in to hear Dr. Han’s tips for releasing control + the difference between control and agency!
Resources Mentioned:
Claim your FREE ebook, 4 Practices to Connect to your Unconditional Self-Worth: www.dradiagooden.com/free-ebook
About Dr. Han Ren (she/they):
Dr. Han Ren is a licensed clinical and school psychologist, consultant, speaker and educator. She is deeply rooted in liberation and anti-oppressive work, practicing from a justice-oriented, interpersonal, culturally-humble, and systems-informed framework. Through their widely viewed content on social media, they strive to make mental health accessible and applicable to our daily lives. Dr. Ren addresses the pursuit of collective healing through her work centered in historically overlooked communities, especially Asian-Americans and children of immigrants. She has been featured on the TEDx stage, the Headspace app, Buzzfeed, and the Huffington Post. When she’s not in the therapy chair, you can find her laughing with family and friends, caffeinating with black coffee, dancing offbeat to live music and Peloton-ing.
To connect further with Dr. Han Ren:
Visit her website: https://www.pivotpsychologyatx.com
Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.han.ren
Follow her on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drhanren
This episode was produced by Crys & Tiana.
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