Sharon Kim: Real Talk: Mental Health for Korean Americans

(Content Warning: This episode contains mention of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and sexual abuse while discussing journeys through mental illness)  As many of you know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This week, I invited Sharon Kim onto the podcast to discuss her own mental health and illness journey and her passionate involvement in bringing awareness and bridging the gap for better mental health access for Korean Americans. Sharon serves as the Executive Director at Mustard Seed Generation (MSG), a nonprofit organization that exists to lower mental health barriers in the Korean American community. She was born in Paraguay to Korean parents and grew up in Paraguay, Spain, and China and has worked in Korea and Mexico. Growing up as a global nomad, she experienced hardships that many Third Culture Kids go through, namely anxiety that comes from constantly moving around as well as a sense of rootlessness and identity crisis. Through those experiences, she became passionate about raising awareness of cross-cultural kids to mono-cultural parents and hopes to help strengthen parent-child relationships through MSG. She holds a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature from Seoul National University and a master's degree in International Education Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. Sharon enjoys going anywhere and everywhere on a journey with her brown leather journal, a black pen, and a good book in hand in her spare time.   Sharon is an Ennegram 1w2 and her MBTI goes between an INFJ - The Advocate and an ENFJ - The Protagonist Instagram: @msgeneration Podcast: Research Sense for Korean American Therapy Register for their upcoming Mental Health Training for Korean American Church Leaders If you loved this episode as much as I did, head on over to rate and subscribe so you never miss an episode! I would love to hear more from you on the topics you want to hear. Go to @kollercommentary to comment your key takeaways and join the email list to share what you want to hear about next! Eunjoy ~