Where I Belong
Soo Jin Lee, Linda Yoon
An essential resource that addresses the unique experiences of trauma, healing, and mental health in Asian and Asian American communities.
Coauthors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon are professional therapists who witnessed firsthand how mental health issues often went unaddressed not only in their own immigrant families, but in Asian and Asian American communities. Where I Belong shows us how the cycle of trauma can play out in our relationships, placing Asian American experiences front and center to help us process and heal from racial and intergenerational trauma.
This book validates our experiences and helps us understand how they fit into the broader context of our family history and the trauma experienced by previous generations. Lee and Yoon draw on their own stories, as well as those of a diverse segment of the Asian diaspora, to help us feel seen and connected to our wider community. They provide essential therapeutic tools, reflection questions, journal prompts, and grounding exercises to empower readers to identify their strengths and resilience across generations and to embrace the beauty and fullness of their own identity and culture.
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Photo: © Tiffany J Photography
Soo Jin Lee
Soo Jin Lee, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist, executive director of Yellow Chair Collective, and cofounder of Entwine Community. As a previously undocumented Asian immigrant who struggled to access mental healthcare, she brings a unique perspective to her work. Lee has a degree in fine arts, and creativity plays an essential role in her personal and therapeutic process. When she's not spending quality time with her family, she can often be found exploring nature on a hiking trail or offering expert guidance in psychotherapy to individuals and groups alike.
Photo: © Tiffany J Photography
Linda Yoon
Linda Yoon, LCSW, is a licensed therapist and social worker who has dedicated her career to helping people along their healing journey find a sense of belonging. As a survivor of C-PTSD and having received a late adult diagnosis of ADHD, Linda is passionate about serving Asian American communities, survivors of violence, and those who are neurodivergent. Growing up, Linda was drawn to the color yellow, which symbolizes resilience, joy, and hope. This deep personal connection inspired her to name her founding practice Yellow Chair Collective. She is also a cofounder of Entwine Community, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting Asian and Asian American mental health. Linda currently resides in Los Angeles with her spouse, Mathew, and her furry companion, Mini, who has been by her side for eighteen years.
Praise for Where I Belong
"Filled with relatable anecdotes and tangible exercises for self exploration, Where I Belong is a loving exploration of Asian American identity that is rooted in community and compassion. This book allows us all to feel less alone as we redefine who we are as Asians and Americans.”
— Jenny Wang, founder of Asians for Mental Health and author of Permission to Come Home
“Where I Belong by Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon is a much-needed book for our AAPI communities during this moment of racial reckoning. Although capturing our communities' diversity and addressing our racial trauma are difficult tasks, they have done so with amazing sensitivity, insight, and expertise. The book highlights the ethnic particularities of our mental health issues well, especially by sharing the voices of individuals. Even more significantly, the authors detail the unique AAPI cultural wealth and community assets that can bring health and wholeness. Where I Belong has contributed to my own journey of healing and hope, and I know it can assist others just as deeply.”
— Russell M Jeung, Professor of Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University and cofounder of Stop AAPI Hate
“This book explores what it means to be Asian American, and Lee and Yoon break down complex histories and precise experiences with so much care and compassion. With stories, journal prompts, and grounding exercises, you know you are in good hands while you go on this journey to understand, heal from, and even celebrate the fullness of your lived experience. I’m certain this book will be a returning resource for many.”
—Sahaj Kohli, Founder of Brown Girl Therapy and author of But What Will People Say?
“With Where I Belong, Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon bring years of expertise to a groundbreaking message. As Asian Americans and diaspora, our experience of mental health and belonging is often seen as an afterthought, and discussions of healing in popular media are often framed through an individualistic, Western lens that neglects our unique heritage. Within the powerful shared stories in this book, Where I Belong does an incredible job navigating the subtle nuances of what it means to heal through the lens of Asian identity, and offers transformative exercises that cultivate resilience, inner strength, and deeper self-compassion. If you want to heal, to grow, or to support your loved ones, Where I Belong is a MUST READ.”
—John Wang, Host of The Big Asian Energy show
"With compassion and warmth, Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon have taken their experiences as professional therapists to create an essential resource for anyone exploring their Asian American identity and wondering how therapy might help in that journey. Weaving history, personal anecdotes, journal prompts and reflection questions, Where I Belong gives readers the necessary language to name—and reclaim—their experiences. An inclusive, grounding work that will help countless people in search of what it means to be Asian in America."
—Kat Chow, author of Seeing Ghosts
“One of the most terrifying and isolating aspects of feeling like you don’t belong is the ineffableness: Asian Americans, even in all our diversity, often lack the words to describe how it hurts, why we feel this way, the ways our loneliness manifests, and — most importantly — how we can change things. Where I Belong is an entire book that puts words to this too-often invisible pain, in astute and kind ways that take into account the latest scientific studies and the particularities of Asian American family dynamics and cultural norms. Many among the diaspora will appreciate the book’s tone: Never patronizing or cloying, authors Soo Jin Lee and Linda Yoon provide diverse examples, clarifying explanations, and actionable steps that make you feel in control of your future happiness.”
—Connie Wang, author of Oh My Mother!
