Gestalt Therapy with Asian Americans - Guidelines & Special Considerations
Ever wonder how you can be more effective and culturally-responsive when working with your Asian-American clients? Do their relationships with their parents, difficulties with assertiveness, or challenges in expressing their emotions have you scratching your head? Come join us for a highly practical and engaging workshop that will supercharge you with knowledge and skills indispensable for providing quality therapy to your Asian-American clients!
As the “model minority” in America, Asian Americans have largely remained almost invisible in the present-day discussions of race, racism, and cross-cultural therapy competencies. Many of my Asian-American clients have related prior disappointing experiences with well-intentioned non-Asian (and sometimes even Asian) therapists whose insufficient understanding of their bicultural values and experiences unfortunately led to problematic responses and interventions. If you ever wonder why some of your Asian-American clients left therapy unexpectedly or prematurely, you're likely to discover the possible causes in this workshop.
Through ample case examples, experiential exercises, multimedia presentations, and cases brought in by the participants, we will learn about important and distinct Asian and collectivist-informed values, worldview, and communication style that influence how our Asian-American clients relate to themselves and to others (including us as therapists!). This knowledge will in turn help us reconceptualize their presenting issues and gain a deeper understanding of the internal conflicts they frequently experience from their bicultural upbringing. We will also delve into key Asian-American issues and therapeutic themes and explore skillful, culturally-responsive ways of working with them that avoid potential pitfalls resulting from interventions informed by unexamined Gestalt concepts or individualistic values. Participants are encouraged to implement for a week with their own clients what they’ve learned on the first day of the workshop and come back on the second day to share their experiences and receive feedback.
This workshop is intended for both Gestalt therapists and therapists of all other theoretical orientations. If you currently work with Asian Americans or are interested in expanding into this growing clientele, I guarantee you'll leave this workshop feeling much more informed and confident sitting across from your Asian-American clients!
Participants will:
Understand who Asian Americans are and the urgency and necessity for therapists to learn to work with this much-neglected population with cultural humility and responsiveness.
Learn the 3 important dimensions of multicultural counseling competencies.
Understand the important Gestalt philosophical foundations and guiding principles that inform our attitudes as Gestalt therapists and provide the ground for our work with clients from different cultures.
Learn the major differences between individualist and collectivist cultures and Asian culture’s particular flavor of collectivism, including the foundational values and worldview guiding how individuals within Asian culture relate to self and others and navigate the world.
Understand how unexamined Gestalt concepts and individualistic values might negatively influence our work with Asian-American clients.
Learn how culture influences cognition, such as attention, perception, thinking style, memory, causal attribution, judgement, and decision-making, and understand its clinical implications in our work with Asian-American clients.
Learn 4 key concepts from the field of Intercultural Communication that will help elucidate fundamental differences in communication styles and interpersonal contact between individualist and collectivist cultures.
Become informed about typical issues faced by Asian Americans, including concerns specifically related to their bicultural identities and values, as well as the detriments of sexual and non-sexual stereotypes, microaggressions, racism, internalized racism, and the “model minority” myth.
Learn the various factors that need to be considered when assessing an Asian-American client’s identification with their Asian heritage.
Learn 5 key therapeutic issues that frequently emerge in our work with Asian-American clients and how to work with these issues in skillful, culturally-responsive ways.
Sil Si-Wei Chen, MA, LCSW-R
Sil Si-Wei Chen, MA, LCSW-R is a psychotherapist and emotional wellness coach who maintains an LGBTQ-affirmative and culturally-responsive psychotherapy private practice in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and provides emotional wellness coaching nationally and internationally. As a gender non-binary, queer person, a photographer, and a transplant from Taiwan, Sil primarily works with creatives and engineers in the Asian-American and LGBTQ+ communities. She is a certified Gestalt therapist who regularly incorporates Buddhist psychology and mindfulness in her work with clients. In addition to her clinical work, Sil has spoken on panels, led workshops, and lectured to mental health professionals, including private practice psychotherapists, MSW graduate students, resident psychiatrists, and social work interns, on LGBTQ-affirmative therapy and clinical practice with Asian Americans. Outside of academia, she has educated Buddhist monastics on creating an LGBTQ+ inclusive environment in religious organizations. She has also been interviewed by World Journal and The China Press to address mental health issues in the Chinese-American and LGBTQ+ communities.
Fridays, June 10 & 17, 2022
1:30 pm - 5:30 pm via Zoom
Workshop Fee: $225
8 CE Hours for LMSW, LCSW, LMHC, LCAT, Licensed Psychoanalysts, and Licensed Psychologists
Register Now!
Email: gestalt@gestaltnyc.org
or call (212) 387-9429
Gestalt Center
37 East 28th Street, Suite 408 (Between Madison & Park Ave)
Testimonials from Past Participants
“Sil Chen has designed and delivered a workshop like no other. Her research data on the Asian-American community alone is worth attendance. Sil has researched, gathered and organized a cache of information I don’t believe exists anywhere else. She delivers the historical, cultural, and clinical material in a beautifully balanced presentation of charts & graphs, experiential exercises, Q & A, as well as clinical and personal examples. Sil knows of what she speaks and brings this “data” to life. During this download of voluminous ideas, I felt engaged by Sil’s expertise, enthusiasm, humor and obvious passion for her work with this community. While Sil’s workshop focuses on the Asian-American community, the clinically-sound and heart-centered methodology, mindset and techniques she is teaching, had me thinking about all of my clients and how our differences influence, interfere with or contribute to our working together. I left this workshop renewed and excited to return to work Monday morning, to see with fresh eyes.”
“Sil’s workshop was full of nuanced and fascinating information for therapists to help understand the differences between American individualistic culture and Asian collectivist cultures and how that can affect clinical work. I was eager to enroll given that culture is a constant topic with my first generation Asian clients, and Sil’s skill and compassion with the material exceeded my expectations. I found it to be a perfect opportunity as a white therapist to increase my knowledge of Asian cultures, the specific challenges for first generation clients, and related clinical applications, so the burden of my education on these issues is not loaded on my clients. It’s really true that I’m seeing themes from Sil’s workshop come up all the time with my Asian clients and it’s so helpful. I can’t thank her enough!”
“Wanting to learn more about and increase cultural responsiveness to my growing number of Asian and Asian-American clients, I signed up for Sil Chen’s training on Gestalt Therapy with Asian Americans: Guidelines and Special Considerations. I found the training to be highly informative and illuminating, filled with practical skills and case examples that made it easy to envision myself applying the aforementioned skills and knowledge in sessions. Sil’s presentation was highly engaging, and despite my complete lack of training in Gestalt therapy, was easily digestible. Indeed, I now find myself interested in learning more about Gestalt theory and techniques. I appreciate Sil’s offering such a valuable perspective to a clinical conversation.”
“As an Asian, and as a Therapist, Sil’s workshop did not only educate me more on how to be culturally aware when working with Asian-American clients, but also helped me feel heard and understood personally. Sil’s extensive knowledge and research on the topic, helped me add tools and new perspectives to my own practice. The way she presented us with a wide variety of case examples, also helped the knowledge to sink in and made the workshop a fun and engaging process. If you are an Asian or non-Asian therapist looking to expand your cultural awareness and therapy toolbox, this workshop is definitely for you!”
“Sil Chen’s workshop illuminated the patterns I am observing in my own work with Asian and Asian-American clients. To consider how more Individualistic/Western values contrast with more Collectivist/Eastern values has helped me find new frameworks and language to help clients articulate the anxiety this conflict can create. The workshop also helped me do something that has to be central to my practice — questioning how my western education as a clinician may be creating bias in the way I measure progress with Asian clients. I would recommend spending five hours reflecting on this content to any therapist who wants to treat Asian and Asian American clients with more empathy and proficiency.”
“Sil has a wonderful, real, authentic presentation style which creates a safe space for attendees to interact, learn and absorb the information in a way that can be applied to the respective populations we serve. It feels very much like communal learning, which I personally appreciate, as opposed to just a lecture. As a result of Sil’s ability to organize the information, I can now expand more of what we’ve been doing in my agency and help the diverse population that we serve, along with the diverse population that we employ. Thank you Sil!”
“This workshop is chock full of important information about Asian Americans, by an Asian American with tons of experience working with Asian Americans. The content was thorough, useful and well-researched. The gestalt aspects were clearly presented and the case examples were illuminating. In short, this class is time well-spent.”
“I really enjoyed this workshop. It was informative and practical, and brought to light many important considerations for working with Asian-American clients. We must be aware of our clients’ culture lest we unknowingly pathologize culturally normative behavior. The information I learned here gives me a clearer lens to see my Asian-American clients through and meet them where they are.”
“I highly recommend this workshop as Sil Chen has expertly and clearly shown the power of Gestalt therapy in working with the Asian-American population.”
“I found this workshop working with Asian Americans both unique, and extremely informative. Unique because the focus of this workshop was Asian Americans and Sil Chen is an immigrant from Taiwan herself and was able to share information as well as experiences from a very personal perspective. In addition, Ms. Chen projected an informal and comfortable manner which encouraged an open and friendly interaction. There were lots of questions and a lot of sharing among the participants during the workshop. I think Ms. Chen’s personal & open style definitely helped create a better learning experience. I highly recommend this type of workshop to any practitioner who is working cross culturally with Asian-American clients.”
The Gestalt Center for Psychotherapy and Training is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers (#SW-0201), by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists (#PSY-0025), and by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychoanalysts (#Psyan-0001), Licensed Mental Health Counselors (#MCH-0079), and Licensed Creative Arts Therapists (#CAT-0073).