QCP #16| Stephanie Balon, MA, AMFT |Decoding The Filipino American Experience

"No history, no self.

Know history, know self." 

- Jose Rizal

Many of us don't know about the trauma that our parents harbor. As children of parents that immigrated to the United States, the same trauma they harbor could be passed on to us, and manifested in different ways. 

 

Some of us might have these questions like - 

Who am I? 

Why do we speak this way? 

Why do I not know anything about you, our grandparents, or relatives? 

Why is it hard to approach my parents with these questions?

 

Our next guest, Stephanie Balon has taken the first giant steps to help answer these questions, and the countless others we have faced for generations. The idea of providing space, even if only for conversation, might provide a way to heal our forgotten, indigenous, colonialized ways of living - of being together in community. Or as we say in our native language - in Kapwa.

GUEST BIO

Stephanie Balon is a mental health clinician, an expressive arts therapist with a focus on trauma-informed care, narrative and cultural therapeutic approaches. She holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Washington and a Master's in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

 

With over 15 years in the non-profit sector, and her work as an activist, she helped raise awareness for the Filipina/o/x Community. As a co-chair for the Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County, she has received recognition for her community activism from District 5 supervisor, David Canepa. For congresswoman Jackie Speier, she served on the Asian American Advisory Committee to devise strategies for community engagement. Stephanie also helped raise over two and a half million dollars with the intention to co-found the first Filipino Cultural Center in San Mateo county that aims to provide mental health and wellness services for the Filipino Community.

 

NOTES | MENTIONS | RESOURCES

• GET INVOLVED + SUPPORT
  • Filipino Mental Health Initiative of San Mateo County
  • Kapwa Gardens
  • Soma Pilipinas
  • Undiscovered SF
• Bruce Lee
• Chosen Ancestors
• generational/ intergenerational trauma
• Kapwa
• Intergenerational Resilience
• Maya Angelou - “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
• KTEH - channel 26
• Non Profit business vs for profit business
  • What is the difference?
  • What type of person does it take to have longevity in this kind of work?
  • What are the metrics of success of nonprofit work?
  • Paying people what they are worth. How to change nonprofit work.
  • Exploitation in nonprofit work
• Doreen Fernandez - how to indigenize a dish
• Colonial Mentality
• Cognitive Dissonance
• H.E.R.
• Why isn't there a "Filipino Town" like there are China Towns
• Kapwa Cultural Center and Cafe
• Liwanag, Daly City
• Helping the Senior Community with Food Security
• How to approach different cultures about mental health, and provide an open space for expression.
  • How to be culturally attuned
• Healing Practices
• Kapihan - Filipino coffee house. To sit and have coffee
• Healing Ritual Practices -
• How to practice self love
• What is a mentorship?
• Awakening, Anthony de Mello