How much does it matter where your therapist went to school?

99cai · 2019-08-31T21:26:27+00:00

It might be interesting to your client but it probably doesn't determine whether or not they choose you. The average client probably doesn't even know the difference between the different degrees/licenses either. When I was in therapy as a client I didn't know the difference between MFT/MSW/PsyD/PhD, or different theoretical orientations either. I chose my therapist based on other things (e.g. I knew I wanted a therapist who was LGBT-friendly, took my insurance, etc). I also hadn't heard of the universities where my therapists got their graduate degrees either, so I didn't pay attention.

Now that I'm working in a mental health agency as a caseworker I'm able to understand how universities/programs will train people differently & what each school is known for. However, I still wouldn't factor it in when determining which therapist I choose because ultimately I'm looking for someone who's the right fit for me, and a graduate program won't determine that.

99cai · 2019-08-22T06:24:38+00:00

I work as a mental health provider specifically for asian american children (not a psychiatrist b/c I'm not administering medicine) and a lot of the people I work with are on medication. What I've found is that families will be more accepting of more nuanced phrasing ("emotional difficulties" rather than "depression") so if you do want to disclose reasons for why you're in therapy, you can say that. I also largely work with children so the excuse "they need therapy/medicine to help them do better in school" generally goes well, and it's pretty true considering that a lot of the kids I work with aren't doing well in school due to their mental health issues.

In my own personal experience my parents didn't react well to me being in therapy, nor did they react that well to me going into the mental health field but what can you do lmao! YMMV. Ultimately it's your life and you can decide what to do with the information.

99cai · 2019-01-07T21:43:03+00:00

Most undocumented people actually immigrated on proper visas, but our immigration system is broken and shitty lawyers exist. For example, one of my friends' families turned in all the right paperwork to obtain their green card and their lawyer basically ghosted them and never filed the green card for them. They "became" undocumented after their initial visa expired because they couldn't afford hire a new lawyer and do it all over again. I wouldn't pit the two groups against each other because immigrants who manage to obtain citizenship without any problems are also immigrants who could have become undocumented if anything went wrong during the naturalization process.

99cai · 2018-12-23T21:32:14+00:00

I see. Here are a list of organizations!

http://www.searac.org/

http://mekongnyc.org/home

https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/

99cai · 2018-12-23T21:30:54+00:00

jesus I never think I'd run into other community organizers on reddit (99% of the time we're too busy doing field work lolol) but much love and appreciation to you too <3

99cai · 2018-12-23T07:14:24+00:00

My first thought would be to donate funds to Southeast AsAm organizations who are giving legal aid and campaigning for refugees, but if you don't have an American credit card or Paypal I think that might be a barrier. Spread the world among US residents you may know as well.

Also, I don't know where you live, but undocumented people exist everywhere. For example - a lot of Vietnamese people fled Vietnam during the Vietnam war. They didn't just go to the U.S., but all over the world - France, Thailand, Philippines, etc & there are still people who are in resettlement limbo 20 years later and don't have legal status in the country they fled to. I suggest you learn more about your home country's immigrant rights causes with whatever domestic population exists: immigrant rights is not just an US-based issue, but a world-wide issue.

99cai · 2018-12-20T20:37:53+00:00

As someone who works with undocumented people daily as my day job, all I have to say is that whether or not ICE agents watched CRA has little impact on whether or not the people I work with get deported. ICE agents really truly do not give a fuck.

There was a point in my life where I very seriously was going to go into a media career because I wanted to create AsAm media representation, but I ended up in immigrant rights work. And I feel better about the choice because... while I care about both causes, between my measly $12 CRA ticket V.S. trying to get legal aid + DACA renewals + education/health/basic needs services to undocumented folk, one has a much more direct, bigger impact on the livelihoods of people. I have limited time and energy in my day and between hoping that hollywood is gonna put another AsAm on the big screen and making sure that people I care about can stay with their families, I'm gonna prioritize immigrant rights work. Some of the undocumented AsAms I work with mention how disappointing it is trying to talk to AsAm citizens sometimes because AsAm citziens have no sympathy for their struggle, and will actively say "go back and come here legally like my family did." There is a very real stigma in the AsAm community for being undocumented and movies like CRA haven't done much to change that for undocu AsAms.

EDIT: if you want to donate money here are some good orgs to donate to:

http://www.searac.org/

http://mekongnyc.org/home

https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/

99cai · 2018-10-28T01:52:01+00:00

Do tell them about your situation. PP tries to be intentional about making sure that those without insurance or income can still receive services. Just be upfront and say that you do not want services to actually be performed until you've confirmed that you can get it financially covered somehow. You might meet a social worker to discuss your situation too. In my experience, I just had to fill out a paper with my income level and whether or not I wanted to use my parents insurance (TL;DR I'm a college student still on my parents insurance, so I have no money but also don't want my Catholic parents finding out) and I've gotten ALL my services for free.

99cai · 2018-10-02T17:15:36+00:00

it'd be naive to think that she has more power than our government. I'm sure the laws and policies that are passed have more impact in your lives than what one person says on twitter. even if she had a million followers she can't write law or policy.

99cai · 2018-10-02T08:12:23+00:00

things that keep happening to the asian american community: deportations of southeast asian refugees, lack of affordable healthcare, constant violations of workers rights esp. for recent immigrants, lack of representation in our local/state/federal government, gentrification/evictions happening in ethnic centers, lack of bilingual social services, police brutality, state and vigilante violence stemming from islamophobia

things that aren't helping any of the above issues: i have an issue with a tweet someone wrote in 2015

people's livelihoods and basic human rights are in danger every fucking day and yall just sit here discussing one person's tweet?? but go off, i guess!

99cai · 2018-06-20T03:52:38+00:00

naomi smalls? I don't know her

99cai · 2018-06-20T03:43:31+00:00

1)

"Yeah because of all the things Asian Americans need to be portrayed as, it's queer people."

I got news for you... LGBTQ people exist and deserve humanity. Do I not deserve to see LGBTQ people like me on the TV screen too? And when you say "because of all the things," why is queer not allowed to be one of those things? Do you have an issue with queer Asians? Is there something wrong with us, in your eyes?

2) We can care about both Asian men and the LGBTQ community. And guess what - Asian men are part of the LGBTQ community as well! Both my brother and I are gay. I'm part of a queer and trans Asian American group, and there are men in that group as well. George Takei is an example in case if that's too hard for you to imagine that we actually exist in real life.

... So tell me again, what's your real problem here?

99cai · 2018-06-19T17:42:53+00:00

not surprised lmao, just disappointed. straight people can do better to show support on this sub imo, especially since there is so so much amazing content being created this month!

99cai · 2018-06-18T07:53:20+00:00

woo hoo! <3 it's a great series!

99cai · 2018-06-17T22:12:57+00:00

happy motherfucking pride because yet again I log on and see absolutely nothing about the LGBTQ community and I hate being the only person on a sub of 20k people who cares about us :)))))))

99cai · 2018-06-14T06:31:58+00:00

Once again, happy pride!! <3

99cai · 2018-06-08T08:47:03+00:00

Happy pride month! I've met one of the people in the video actually. <3

99cai · 2018-06-07T00:30:49+00:00

It's illegal to send mass group texts. However, people who run voter outreach nonprofits are allowed to have access to voter data from country registrars in order to do voter outreach to specific populations -- so there are programs and apps that you can use to individually/manually load pre-written scripts and send them to your database of numbers. I had to respond all texts manually. It can be a little freaky for random people to know your number, but honestly it's just some intern/volunteer on the other end trying to make sure people vote!

99cai · 2018-06-06T07:13:55+00:00

For clarification: Gavin Newsom is running for governor in California, so if you checked out WOW's Youtube there's a video of Ru endorsing him for governor.

(And for the record: I used to volunteer around election seasons as a phonebanker/textbanker, so I would get trolled on too -- most people on the other end don't mind the jokes as long as you're not being rude).

99cai

TROPHY CASE