HOW IT STARTED

As a first generation Filipino American who grew up in Hampton Roads, mental wellness wasn’t discussed. So navigating my emotions or even becoming a therapist was confusing and lonely. Seeking therapy was also difficult because many therapists didn’t understand my culture so it made me feel unheard and sometimes inferior because they weren’t able to meet me where I was at.

Additionally, even as a licensed therapist, I’ve only met a handful of Asian American therapists and zero Asian owned mental health practices. Not to say that there aren’t any, but they are very few and far in between, especially in Hampton Roads, VA. I initially created Kultura Wellness and Consulting as a space for Asian Americans to grow and thrive mentally and emotionally.

Growing up in a first generation Asian American home, there was a huge stigma that you were weak if you had “mental issues” and there is a lot of shame surrounding getting professional health. As such, there is a misconception that Asian Americans don’t care about mental health, but we do care. And thankfully, there is a cultural shift that more Asian Americans want help.

For a long time I just accepted the stigma and that this is just how it is going to be, but the more I dug into my cultural healing tradition, and the healing tradition of other pre-colonial cultures, the more I realized that Asians not believing in mental health was far from the truth.

Mental health is a western concept, and with the language and approach of western medicine segregating healing, the truth is traditional Filipino and Asian (and basically any indigenous tradition) practice integrates mental wellness in overall wellness/lifestyle.

A lot of our traditions and reasoning for our traditions are lost because of colonization, modernization, globalization, and immigration. And because of this, we are led to believe in a grim prognosis for our mental wellness. 

Kultura Wellness and Consul\ting was initially created for Asian Americans by Asian Americans, but the truth is, we all belong to a variety of cultures and the intermingling of those cultures informs who we are. There aren’t many spaces dedicated to us, especially on the East Coast. According to the model minority myth, “we’re fine.” But there are so many unanswered questions from generations of trauma, immigration, language barriers, and misunderstandings of culture.

We have to figure out who we are and decide what traditions we want to keep from our various cultures, and which ones we want to create. We have to discover our identity in an environment where we will never be “asian enough” or “american enough” and hopefully come to accept that we are more than enough

Kultura Wellness and Consulting was created because we matter, too. We deserve a space where our stories aren’t secondary, but the dominant narrative. We deserve a space where it is understood that, although we are individuals, we are also extensions of our families. A place we can feel comfortable taking off our shoes. A space where people look like us. 

Although we started with the focus on Asian Americans, Kultura Wellness and Consulting celebrates all cultures and the intersection of cultural identity and mental wellness. We believe that healing begins when you feel seen and heard, and we are committed to creating an environment where you can openly share your story without fear of judgment.

WHERE IT IS GOING