Episode #18 Heidi Lee on living with mental health challenges

Asian Women for Health · Episode #18: A Walk In Her Shoes: Living With Mental Health Challenges

A Walk In Her Shoes: Living With Mental Health Challenges 
 Heidi Lee recently chose to speak publicly about her mental health journey as a daily survivor of bipolar disorder & complex PTSD. In this episode, she shares her lived experience with mental health challenges and the learning and passions that transpired along her healing journey. 
 
Today, she works as a certified peer specialist for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program(https://www.bhchp.org). She is also a part-time teacher, a gifted artist, mental health advocate, and mother to a beautiful, neurodivergent six year old. 
 
You will be moved by her stories of struggle and hope, encouraged by her resilience, and inspired by her resolve to address mental health and racial equity through advocacy in action.
 
Heidi’s Resource Picks:
Note: Even while the prevalence of mental health issues continues to rise in our communities, AAPI adults are the racial group least likely to seek mental health services in the U.S. (Mental Health America).
 
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - https://www.nami.org/Home
- NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer course - https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Mental-Health-Education/NAMI-Peer-to-Peer
- NAMI’s Family-to-Family course - https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Mental-Health-Education/NAMI-Family-to-Family
 
- Kiva Centers (formerly Transformation Center) - https://kivacenters.org
- Kiva Centers’ Certified Peer Training - https://kivacenters.org/trainings/certified-peer-specialist/
 
- Recommended Ted Talk: The Brain-Changing Benefits of Exercise by Wendy Suzuki
https://youtu.be/BHY0FxzoKZE
 
MORE About Heidi Lee
As a housing navigator for Boston’s homeless, Heidi’s goal is to bring dignity back to those who have had it taken away from them, which in this season means finding subsidized homes for those who are living on the streets or in shelters.