Boston Workshop — Lotus Project

Date & Time: Thursday, September 11, 2025 9AM-5PM ET

Location: Boston University Photonics Center Colloquium Room 906 (8 St. Mary’s Street, 9th floor, Boston, MA 02215)

Online registration is LIVE now. [REGISTER HERE]
*Registration is FREE & refreshments will be provided

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About the Lotus Project

The Lotus Project is a Center for Asian American & Asian Immigrant (AAAI) Child Trauma-Informed Care & Prevention that provides technical assistance, training, and resources to mental health service providers, community health workers, school staff, and other professionals who work with AAAI children and families affected by traumatic events and stress. Funded by the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Lotus Project is a collaboration between the Public Health Institute (PHI) and Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS), based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About the Workshop

Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are one of the fastest-growing communities in the Greater Boston area and account for about 10% of the total population. A significant proportion of the AAPI population are first- and second-generation immigrants, who have suffered various types of traumas before and after migration. However, mental health needs among AAAIs have been under-reported and under-treated due to assessment biases, cultural stigma, and a lack of culturally responsive services and systems of care. In addition, Asian Americans in Boston are almost 3 times more likely to live in poverty than their Caucasian counterparts and more likely to live in households with limited English language capacity (e.g., 32% Vietnamese and 30% Chinese families), making it both financially and linguistically difficult for them to access quality care.

The current workshop will invite mental health service providers, researchers, community-based organizations, and AAAI community members to discuss trends and insights for trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAIs in the Greater Boston area. Building on the Lotus Project’s past experience of hosting five workshops on trauma-informed care for AAAI children and families (e.g., Afghan communities in Sacramento, AAAI communities in the San Francisco Bay area and metropolitan Washington DC area, and AANHPI communities in Honolulu), we will center AAAI children and women to address age-specific mental health challenges among youth and the unique mental health concerns experienced by AAAI women and other subgroups. This workshop also aims to cultivate collaborations among local AAAI-focused agencies and mental health professionals and to foster advocacy efforts to create more resources and opportunities for trauma-informed care and prevention for this population.

Workshop Goals

To destigmatize mental health issues in AAAI communities through understanding the lived experiences of AAAI individuals and address community needs;
To showcase community-based and culturally competent practices, programs, and rituals that enhance community bonding, pride, mutual support, and physical and mental health;
To highlight research findings on trauma-informed care for AAAIs and how they could inform clinical practices;
To discuss strategies to strengthen the collaboration among AAAI-serving mental health professionals, community members and consumers, researchers, and government officials to enhance trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAIs;
To amplify advocacy activities that prioritize the urgent mental health needs of AAAI communities at local and national levels;
To connect attendees to resources of SAMHSA’s National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN).

Featured Topics

Lived Experience Panel
Trends in Culturally Responsive Care for AAAI Children and Families
Addressing Trauma-informed Care and Healing Through a Gender Lens (AAAI women-focused)

Collaborations

In collaboration with Dr. Hyeouk Chris Hahm, the School of Social Work at Boston University and Dr. Pata Suyemoto, the National Asian American and Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), the Lotus Project aims to work closely with local mental health providers, researchers, and AAAI-serving organizations to implement this workshop.

Speakers

Aileen Lee, Psy.D.
Clinical Psychologist at BU Counseling and Psychiatric Services

I am a Clinical Psychologist currently working at BU Counseling and Psychiatric Services. My specialization is in trauma-informed treatment, Mindfulness and Psychodynamic treatment. I have worked in multiple therapeutic settings, supporting individuals with emotional struggles related to trauma, cultural adjustments, emotional struggles and developmental issues. The objective of my work is to help individuals develop a healthier and stronger sense of self; negotiating cultural barriers and values.

Amy Manion, B.A.
Artist, Tunefoolery Music, Inc.

Amy is a Boston-born singer-songwriter (voice, guitar), poet-spoken word artist, visual storyteller, and public arts events creator currently residing in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Labeled with a psychiatric disability, Amy is stepping into what it means to be boundless. Amy’s work is full of unchained expression, exploring what it means to inhabit her body as an Asian American woman. Amy is blessed to have so many supports and to live in Massachusetts. She is learning to accept that it’s okay to get, need, and utilize services. Also, to embrace her uniqueness and that she is human and that she is loved.

Angela Tang, LCSW
Chief Executive Officer of Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS)

Angela Tang is the Chief Executive Officer of Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS), a not-for-profit mental health agency in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to assuming the position in 2023, she had served at the agency for nearly two decades including being on the Leadership Team that drives innovative and culturally responsive programs and operational excellence. RAMS continuously achieves outstanding external reviews and is recognized as a highly reputable mental health services provider. In addition, Angela is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, has served as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Smith College School for Social Work (honorary) and a Program Advisor for Boston University School of Social Work. She was also on the founding Board of Directors for Friends of Roots, a volunteer-run genealogy organization that promotes an awareness of the Chinese American identity. A daughter of immigrants and a San Francisco native, Ms. Tang earned her Bachelor of Social Work degree at SF State University and received her Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University. She is certified in Lean Six Sigma and has had certification in Healthcare Compliance. Her areas of interest include macro-level, systems, and strengths-based theories & practices; organizational development; and program evaluation.

Brian Keum, Ph.D., M.A.
Associate Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health

Brian TaeHyuk Keum, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. Trained as a counseling psychologist, his research focuses on mental health disparities among racially/ethnically minoritized communities through a culturally-informed, intersectional lens. For Asian Americans, he examines the mental health costs of intersectional anti-Asian racism (e.g., gendered racism), gendered racial socialization and culturally-informed risk (e.g., shame) and protective factors (e.g., empowerment), risky behaviors (e.g., substance use and suicide), and disruption of anti-Blackness and the internalized model minority myth. He has published 100 peer-reviewed articles and covered by major media outlets (e.g., Washington Post, NBC).

Catherine Vuky, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Program Director at William James College

Dr. Catherine Vuky, is an assistant professor and program director at William James College, where she founded the first national Asian Mental Health Concentration. She also serves at South Cove Community Health Center as Director of Training and Clinical Policies and Associate Director, Behavioral Health Department. With 20+ years of experience supporting immigrant and refugee families, she champions culturally responsive care and multilingual access. She consults for the Asian Community Fund, leads statewide efforts to address mental health disparities, advises Dalat University on counseling initiatives, and serves on the Massachusetts Statewide Mental Health Advisory Council to inform policies.

Christina Shea, LMFT
Chief Clinical Officer of Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS)

Christina Shea, LMFT is the CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER at Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS) in San Francisco, California. She oversees all the clinical departments at RAMS and supports the development of new clinical programs across the organization.

As a first-generation immigrant from Hong Kong and mother of two adults, Ms. Shea is personally and professionally aware of the experience of acculturation, integration and developmental issues prevalent in the population in which RAMS serves. She is a strong advocate for the underserved communities, continuously raises awareness about mental health issues, diligently addresses barriers of access to services and is passionate about mentoring and promoting the next generation of bilingual and bicultural clinicians, and supporting the development of clinical programs that are culturally based for other community based organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Colleen M. Nguyen, MPH
Executive Director of Asian Women for Health

Colleen Nguyen is a public health leader, community organizer, and DrPH candidate at Tulane University, deeply committed to advancing mental health equity in Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. She currently serves as Executive Director of Asian Women for Health, where she leads community-driven programs focused on culturally responsive health education, workforce development, and mental health advocacy. Colleen’s work centers the voices of those with lived experience and aims to reduce stigma, expand access to trauma-informed care, and build sustainable systems of support through research, storytelling, and coalition-building.

Dawn Sauma, MSW, LICSW
Co-Executive Director and Clinical Director of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK)

Dawn Sauma, MSW, LICSW, is Co-Executive and Clinical Director of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence (ATASK), where she has led direct services and cross-sector collaboration since 2010. With over 30 years in social services, she has supported Asian and Pacific Islander communities as a clinician, educator, and nonprofit leader. Dawn serves as Board President of Jane Doe Inc., Community Co-Chair of ADAPT (Tufts CTSI), and is an active member of the steering committees for APIsCAN and the MIRA Advisory Committee, advancing policy and advocacy for immigrant and AAPI communities.

Dorothy Chin, Ph.D.
Associate Research Psychologist at UCLA

Dr. Dorothy Chin is Associate Research Psychologist with the UCLA Center for Culture, Trauma, and Mental Health Disparities at the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA. Her research examines the effects of community and personal trauma on psychological functioning, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD, among ethnic minority populations. Recently, she has published articles on race-based trauma and post-traumatic growth. Dr. Chin is currently Member-At-Large of Div 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, serves as a consulting editor for the APA journal Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and writes a blog for Psychology Today called "A Different Lens: Psychology from Multicultural, Working Class, and Women-Centered Perspectives.

Emily Chen, MS, CF-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist

Emily Chen (she/her) is a neurodivergent second-generation Taiwanese American who grew up in Newton, MA. Emily is a speech-language pathologist at Peer Projects in Beverly, MA, and she recently earned her Master’s in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Emerson College. Emily is dedicated to providing neurodiversity-affirming, culturally responsive speech-language therapy and community education. Emily is also the creator of DisOrient, an educational YouTube series on Asian American mental health and neurodiversity, as well as a member of the Asian American Mental Health Forum’s planning committee and National AAPI Empowerment Network’s steering committee.

Hyeouk Chris Hahm, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Research at the Boston University School of Social Work

Dr. H. Chris Hahm is Associate Dean for Research at the Boston University School of Social Work and the first Asian American to be promoted to full professor at BUSSW. Her work centers on health disparities, health risk behaviors, and mental health, with particular expertise in epidemiology, theory development, and suicide prevention among Asian Americans and US young adults. Dr. Hahm’s research has been consistently funded by major organizations, including NIH, NSF, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Her work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post, and The Economist. She currently serves as Vice President of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) and will be inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in 2025.

Pata Suyemoto, Ph.D.
Executive Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA)

Dr. Pata Suyemoto is a feminist scholar, writer, educator, curriculum developer, equity trainer, mental health activist, and artist. She is the Executive Director for the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA) and is passionate about creating awareness of AANHPI mental health issues and elevating the voices of those with lived experience. She is the Associate Director of Equity for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention. In 2024, she won the American Association of Suicidology’s Transforming Lived Experience Award and her claim to fame is that she rode her bicycle across the country in the summer of 2012.

Payal Kumar, B.A.
Cultural Worker

payal (they/them) is a multidisciplinary cultural worker and abortion doula based on Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Pawtucket lands in so-called Boston. Their work across mediums is grounded in forms of folk art and [sub]cultural resistance from peoples' movements across local and global margins (particularly from the visual language of their family’s villages in the Madhubani district of Bihar). They are a recipient of the prestigious Boston LAB grant in 2021 and just completed a summer-long gallery and programming series at the Harvard Ed Portal around the medical-industrial complex, generational trauma, and bodily autonomy. Rooted in the in-betweens, their work calls on us to challenge the state's monopoly on Imagination so that we may all unearth and activate our collective power.

BOSTON WORKSHOP - SEPTEMBER 11, 2025