September Organisational Newsletter

September:

Hello there!

Recently, we presented the findings from our Student Changemakers program to a packed room of international student service providers at Study Melbourne.

During the panel session, one of our international student alumni's shared something quite shocking: they'd graduated from university last year without knowing their university had a counselling service.

They only discovered its existence through another student they met in our program.

The room audibly gasped.

It was such a simple example, but an important reminder:

We can be doing incredible work within our services, but sometimes the biggest barrier is much earlier in the journey...

Do the people we're trying to support actually know we're there?

This is something we've been thinking about a lot at Shapes and Sounds. We've helped organisations find different ways to build relationships with communities, from breakfast sessions that create an approachable way to connect with parents, to peer leadership programs that bring international student voices directly into suicide prevention work.

💡Sometimes better engagement simply requires small tweaks in messaging, or making sure that you're meeting people where they are in a way that makes sense to them too.

We have space to work with two more organisations before the end of the year. If improving community engagement is a priority for your team, scroll down to learn more about our consulting services and how we could work together.

Cheers,
Asami

🌱 Important dates and festivals this month

Some important cultural festival and dates this month include: 

September 4: Krishna Janmashtami. Krishna Janmashtami is one of the most important Hindu festivals. This day celebrates the birthday of Lord Krishna, who is believed to be the eighth reincarnation of Lord Vishnu - who gave the vital message of the Bhagavad Gita (the guiding principles for Hinduism). 

September 15: Ganesh Chaturthi. Ganesh Chaturthi is a Hindu celebration of the birth of Lord Ganesha.

September 25: Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival/Tết Trung Thu/Tsukimi/Chuseok. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a popular celebration of abundance, togetherness, and harmony across many East/SE Asian countries, such as China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

How will your organisation be marking these important dates this month? Feel free to reach out to us if you'd like some ideas!

🦉 Research perspectives to strengthen your culturally-responsive practice:

Liu and colleagues explored how sociocultural factors (e.g., how much one adopts their new host culture) influence experiences of social anxiety among Asian Diaspora living in Western countries. They found that Asian migrants experienced less social anxiety when they feel more connected to the local culture and see themselves as independent individuals. On the other hand, facing discrimination and interacting with people outside their own cultural group can increase social anxiety.

What does this mean for clinicians and the community?

Instead of taking these findings as one-size-fits-all conclusions, this suggest that services must consider the unique challenges of balancing two different cultures to provide effective, personalised mental health support. Clinician must remain curious about how sociocultural experiences interact with the individual's own cultural upbringing and norms, and how this in turn influences how they view and experience their own mental health.

Reflective prompt:

How do you sensitively explore a client's experience of acculturation, enculturation, and discrimination? What are some steps you can take to ensure a culturally safe therapeutic space when probing these topics?

You're welcome to reach out to us by replying to this email, if you'd like some perspective on this.

💡Build your organisation's cultural-responsiveness in 2026.

Shapes and Sounds helps mental health, education and community organisations build the confidence and practical skills to better support Asian communities.

We currently have capacity to work with two organisations across November and December, and we can support your team through:

- Our core 90-minute professional development session, Addressing Mental Health Stigma in Asian Communities
- Reflective practice and cultural supervision
- Bespoke consulting services

Join organisations including headspace Syndal, Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School, Neami National and The Royal Children’s Hospital in learning practical strategies for delivering more culturally responsive support.

Ready to learn more? Click the link here!

💪 Why Culture Needs to Be More Than an Afterthought in Therapy

Recently, our programs lead Marcus had an insightful discussion with clinical psychologist and PhD candidate Daniela Ho-Tan, where they talked about cultural safety in therapy.

Daniela will soon be delivering her workshop, East Meets West: Integrating Culture into Schema Therapy Practice for Asian Heritage Populations, through Project Horizen. 

This workshop is designed for psychologists and mental health professionals, and will explore practical ways to integrate culture into schema therapy, including culturally responsive assessment, formulation, imagery rescripting and chair work.

Click here to watch our full interview with Daniela to learn more about her work, her research, and how you can further incorporate culturally-responsive perspectives in your life and work.

🔎 Connect with our new therapists.

Our Asian Australian mental health practitioner list introduces you to private practitioners who are skilled in supporting the Asian community's mental health needs.  

🐌 And last but not least:

Recently on Linkedin,

We shared our practitioner interview with psychotherapist and counsellor Bek La. Read our interview with her HERE.