Welcome to aapicenter. We’re dedicated to creating community for AAPI folks who might feel marginalized in some way. I’m Eileen Drapiza Dornan, a second generation Filipino American. I’ve been a licensed psychotherapist for a decade, and my practice was founded to serve a certain segment of the population that my professors back in grad school warned me about: Asians didn’t come to therapy, they said. The past 10 years has taught me that my professors were wrong. Asian Americans do come to therapy when they can see themselves reflected and when they have reason to believe that they will obtain culturally appropriate services.
During the pandemic, like many of my colleagues, I found myself at capacity for taking on individual clients, and I was often frustrated at having to turn away people who were seeking mental health services.
The dark days of pandemic isolation also coincided with escalating violence against Asians, and it became imperative for me to find ways to feel strong again, and to help others connect with their own inner resources, and so I set out to push the limits of my own comfort zone and create a small time-limited group of AAPI individuals who were in need of support and encouragement, and who were also willing to provide the same for others.
Since then, the Hyphenated No More group and its members have flourished. Some members have come for 1 or 2 series, while others have stayed longer. We are nearing the end of our 3rd series, and I am planning to expand this part of my practice to offer more groups in 2022.
Those who attend have challenging relationships with their immigrant parents, and have few places (or none at all) to talk about the complexities of the experience. Most members have had early experiences of racism, and are still untangling the knot of mixed emotions and defenses that have protected them into adulthood. In group, we do this work together, shedding shame, grieving ambiguous losses, and reclaiming our creative instincts.
aapicenter was created based on the idea that these groups will seed more connectedness IRL.