Emory Diverge: On Multicultural Voices

We’re only different leaves, drifting…

Tag: wellness

  • #UndertheSkin: Series 1 Episode 1

    #UndertheSkin: Series 1 Episode 1

    Mental health is known to be out of attention, discussion, and care in Asian culture due to its conflicts with cultural values, like emotional control and humility, and the corresponding stigma around help-seeking for mental health issues.

    This first series “Under Asian Mental Health Culture” aims to reveal and amplify the existing values and perspectives from the Asian international communities that might challenge the cultural image of Asian mental health, constructing a culture of understanding, empathy, and care. 

    In this first episode, Yolanda Li interviewed Fay Sukparangsee from Thailand, whose mental health journey began with the overwhelming disorientation she felt upon arriving at Emory as an international student. Through these challenges, she has come to recognize the foundational role mental health plays in her life. After taking a gap year to reset and prioritize her well-being, she has learned to approach mental health with greater intention.

    For Fay, good mental health isn’t about always being perfect or feeling well—it’s about maintaining a balanced regulation of the full spectrum of emotions. She believes that no emotion is inherently good or bad, and that true well-being comes from experiencing, acknowledging, and regulating them rather than suppressing them.

    As part of her emotional regulation, Fay finds comfort in openly discussing unwellness with friends and family. Whether to release emotions or gain new perspectives, these conversations provide her with meaningful support. The care and insights she receives from her connections have become a cornerstone of her well-being.

    Now a junior, Fay continues to navigate the complexities of her identity as an Asian international student—seeking community, integrating into the broader city, and embracing diverse perspectives.

    To fellow Asian international students facing similar struggles, Fay hopes you “trust yourself and be in tune with your body”, and know that “here are people who love and care for you. You’re always surrounded by people. You’re not alone.” 

    Diverge shares this mission of amplifying diverse and caring voices especially under the intensifying political pressures.

    Click on image below to view.

    Interviewer: Yolanda Li

    Interviewee: Fay Sukparangsee

    Editor: Alicia Xia

  • #UndertheSkin: What are the Hidden Expectations of Mental Health

    #UndertheSkin: What are the Hidden Expectations of Mental Health

    Introducing Diverge collaboration with Under the Skin — Healing through revealing: where shades of life emerge, diverge, and surge to healing, a project led by Yolanda Li on the mental health of Asian international students.

    For too long, we forget to listen to ourselves. For too long, the “system” helps without asking what we need. This project hopes to help people heal in different ways by inviting and listening to community members to reveal what really matters to them. 

    Through a series of interviews, spotlight stories, collective toolkits, and outspoken artworks, we will see the diversity and strength of the community and form a collective understanding, respect, and striving for what the community values and needs in mental health.

    This revealing and healing process is empathetic, where we see our interconnections and interdependence through our wellness and unwellness, where we come to joint actions towards our shared aspiration of living a good mental health. This revealing and healing process is justice, where we provide a channel for them to speak, to be listened, and to be understood as they should, where we support them to fulfill their mental health needs as they expect, where we empower them to become the active agents of changes in their life, community, and culture as they can.