Dr. Helen Hsu

Resilience Project Fact Sheets

There are many smart people out there who are unhappily surprised to discover that the key to happiness and resiliency in the face of life's challenges - is not being smart.

Sure, being smart, like being beautiful, confers unearned benefits through daily life.  Yet I often meet intelligent people who have huge achille's heels.  Big flaws that could sink a Titanic. Mental rigidity. Paralyzing anxiety.  Lack of empathy or other social skills.  Lack of self awareness.  Poor coping skills. Narcissism.

Such "soft" traits as cognitive flexibility, a wide range of coping skills, and optimism, can guide a person through life's rough patches in a way that sheer, dogged smarts can not.  A great deal of education research now is examining how general factors of executive functioning (like coping skills and impulse self control) maybe much better predictors of school (and life) achievement than IQ points.

An area of psychological study that has fascinated researchers and clinicians alike for ages has been this: what are the factors for human resilience?  What factors help a person bounce back from trauma or stress?  Why does one victim of abuse repeat the cycle of violence or become severely depressed and another reclaims health? Why do some combat veterans have an smoother time re-integrating into civilian life than another?

For a great overview and to learn more about assessing your own resilience- take a look at the great information from the Resilience Project.

 Resilience Project Fact Sheets

Bochan: Local Khmer- American pride & Music

Review of Bochan video

Friday August 5th, 2011 I will be presenting at the American Psychological Association on the topic of inter-generational trauma for Cambodian American Women. 

It is a topic that Dr. Kayoko Yokoyama (of JFK Univ. Pleasant Hill) submitted to APA because of how deeply moved we were by the resiliencies of our Cambodian American women clients. 

We had both taken it upon ourselves to read and learn more about the history of Cambodia, and about the immigration and refugee journeys of survivors so we could better comprehend the larger history of our clients' families.

Yet it's impossible to comprehend a genocide that murdered 2 million innocent people, and plunged survivors into starvation and terror.  All we can hope for, is to learn from past horrors and mistakes.  As mental health providers, we hope to learn how to support those who have been through the unthinkable, and who live and love others who have survived.

Our hope is for them to not only survive, but learn to thrive again.  I wanted to share the Bochan video for several reasons:

• Bochan has a beautiful voice and graceful presence

• She's a young local artist - Yay, Oakland!
• She completely embodies the message of Khmer American pride 
• The video is beautiful and portrays both the pain and the resiliency of her community
• and disclaimer- I know Bochan personally, I had the privilege of being her supervisor when she was working to help Oakland youth empower themselves. She is truly a kind hearted person who inspires positivity in the Cambodian American community.

 

Support for locals impacted by Japanese Quake & Tsunami

The footage and stories coming forth from Japan are heartbreaking and nearly impossible to comprehend.  Long after the headlines are gone and the media have moved on, the people impacted by disasters are still rebuilding and healing.  I hope we will all keep our Japanese brothers and sisters in our hearts, minds and actions for years to come.

In the meantime, resources are being made available to assist with the immediate crises.  One SF Bay Area local therapist has organized free support groups in Japanese for those impacted by the disasters.

THANKS to Yuko Ninomiya!!!

INFORMATION on FREE SUPPORT GROUP in April:

The impact of these natural disasters and subsequent nuclear crisis have been overwhelming. 

The monster quake and tsunami hit Northeastern Japan on March 11 and there have been so many casualties.  

This support group is for Japanese-speaking people in San Francisco Bay Area to talk about their sense of sadness, fear and loss in a safe environment. 

Some may have lost family members, relatives or friends. Many may have been heart-broken by watching unimaginable disasters in their homeland. 

The goal of this support group is for participants to regain a sense of safety and strength.

This group will be offered for 5 weeks and conducted in Japanese. 

This is an open group so that people can join whenever they need support.

Dates : April 2 to April 30  Every Saturday 10:30 ~ 11:30 am

Location：2409A Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94115

                     （near California Pacific Medical Center and Japan Town）

Facilitator：Yuko Ninomiya, MA    Email: yukoninomiya@yahoo.com

                       　　　　      　                Phone:　４１５−６８２−４５２５

Living amid Disasters

Watching the heart rending footage out of Japan these last few days, I was reminded how we indeed are global citizens.  How we all aspire to the same things, treasure our families and our homes, and share vulnerabilities.  How we all live as puny beings in the shadow of natural events as well as our man made follies. 

In November of 2005, I volunteered to go on a federally organized disaster relief deployment in New Orleans.  I was privileged to spend almost all my days there working with First Responders and their families.  They were exhausted, mightily traumatized, and all around us was wasteland as far as the eye could see.  Homes with nothing left but the front cement stairs and some foundation.  Cars and boats flipped onto lawns.The post tsunami footage feels eerily familiar - yet is far worse in scope, and comes with an unwanted helping of snowfall and nuclear risk as well.

Back in NOLA -at one point, a police officer grumbled some gruff appreciation and noted "I can't see why anyone would come here right now."  My response, was that someday, we would need help too.  And when that time came, we would need to lean on our brothers and sisters too.  Surely the "great quake" which would level Northern California, which I had been hearing about since elementary school - was coming. 

I saw some wretched things during deployment, but I also witnessed the purity of purpose which inspired thousands of volunteers.  I bumped into a fellow Oaklander, who was cooking up breakfast for First Responders out of a camper in a  makeshift, tarp covered feeding station.  There were people there from every single state of the Union-and other countries too. 

What our government was unequipped to handle - volunteers helped provide.  Shelter, food, animal rescue, clothes, comfort, medicines, information, childcare...

Whether the damages and pain occurs in Louisiana, China, New Zealand, Haiti, Libya, Ivory Coast, or Japan, we all have a little something we could share.  Just imagine what would help you, what will help us when our "big one" hits-and lend a hand. 

Doctors without Borders

Living Social Red Cross Donation

Memorial Day should honor all of our Veterans

As the sister of an Iraq war veteran, as someone who has served clients suffering trans-generational trauma, or direct PTSD decades after war, I can personally attest the the fact that for many, war never ends.  As a country we honor those who died on the battlefield on Memorial Day-but I hope we can realize the importance of also honoring those who live with service related disabilities, or fall to suicide in the aftermath of their service.  The sacrifices of these veterans, and of their families who have borne so much suffering on behalf of the rest of us should be acknowledged and respected.

Military policies leave out our Veterans who died of suicide

There are many who feel that PTSD and other "invisible" injuries should render a military person eligible for a purple heart medal in the same way that an obvious physical injury should.  Some military families complain that our government chooses not to categorize mental health injuries and illnesses properly simply to avoid paying the benefits of proper treatment.  This country we all love, and those who have risked it all, is worth sacrificing a bit of funding for.

We were fortunate that my brother returned from the Gulf War safely.  But was he ever the same again, a normal citizen able to slip into mainstream college and relationships with ease? I don't think so.  And many of the promised benefits of enlistment never seemed to materialize.  I recall the tightly wound dread that permeated out home when he was away on deployment.  The tense way my parents would watch the war coverage each day on the news channels.  I can not imagine the pain and loss of those loved ones whose soldier/marine/sailor never came home again, or lives with massive permanent disabilities-especially the "invisible" ones.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sleep disorders, Tinnitus, Mood Disorders...these may not look as severe as the loss of a limb, but they can be equally disabling and lead to death by suicide.

Katrina Assistance Project

Hurricane Season 2005 brought the worst natural disasters in United States history.  SAMHSA activated the largest mental health deployment project ever attempted, the Katrina Assistance Project (KAP).  What originated as a contract to bring professional mental health workers to Louisiana for 60 days grew into over a thousand deployment assignments over 9 months and 3 states.

Late 2005 through the Asian American Psychological Association listserv, I noticed a “call for ethnic minority psychologists” to volunteer in the Gulf Coast region.  My immediate reaction was simply “yes”.  I wanted to try and contribute rather than continue helplessly watching the heartrending scenes on TV.

What followed were weeks of intense credential screening and disorderly travel planning, (a scene familiar to all government workers) and then deployment.  Volunteers had to keep up with First Responders and their 12+ hour shifts, sharing FEMA facilities set up within parking lots and deserted hotels.  Teams of licensed professionals, all strangers, needed to mobilize effectively within a vacuum of local infrastructure.  We showed up at outdoor makeshift canteens for breakfast, or at 6:30 a.m. roll calls, or ate with them late at night aboard the cruise ships which now housed thousands of homeless families. 

The weeks comprised a life-altering and bizarre mix of emotional highs and lows.  Psycho-education, therapeutic support, play therapy, and case management took place in police and fire stations, makeshift shelters, parking lots, cruise ships, and dining tents. 

Resilience sprouted among eerily dark streets despite the garbage, abandoned cars, and broken glass.  Daily team debriefings occurred where KAP volunteers could consult and share their joyful stories, anger, despair, horror, worries, laughter, and learning.

I spent the truest Thanksgiving imaginable serving with First Responders in New Orleans.  People who had lost everything shared special "9th ward gumbo" laughter as we listened to their disaster experiences and heard the pain of dislocated, separated families.   Our entire team extended our 2 week deployments so as to spend the holiday with First Responders and their families.  The KAP project ended, but I hope that SAMHSA will again include many ethnic minority psychologists to contribute their unique services when disaster strikes next.

 

The opinions stated here are my personal responses and in no way represent Westover Consultants, Inc.or SAMHSA.  The work described was performed under SAMHSA contract No. 280-02-0204, SAMHSA Katrina Assistance Project.

My favorite New Orleans book & music: