Many of us grew up learning to hold everything — translating, soothing, organising, protecting — long before we had space to be children. In Asian and migrant families, this responsibility is woven with love, culture, and survival. Healing isn’t about rejecting our roots, but finding room for ourselves within them.

Australia’s diversity shapes how people live, relate, and seek care. As a psychologist, I see how culture, identity, and lived experience influence mental health. True inclusion requires cultural responsiveness moving beyond competence to reflexivity, humility, and advocacy. When we honour diverse ways of being, we create a society where everyone feels seen, valued, and safe.

Confucian values still quietly shape how many Asian Australians understand emotion, duty, and connection. Harmony, restraint, and relational identity guide how distress is expressed and why separation can feel like a moral rupture rather than a simple choice. When clinicians recognise this cultural logic, they create space for care that honours the worlds their clients move between.