Asian Mental Health Advocacy: An Interview with Adora Du
In celebration of 2025 AANHPI Month, we are aiming to share the voices and experiences from Asian mental health advocates! If you are interested in submitting your responses to these interview questions, please email us at contact@fauna-npo.org - we would love to hear from you!
Please introduce yourself and why mental health advocacy matters to you!
My name is Adora Du. I use she/her pronouns and I am a second generation Chinese American, straight, cis woman. I am a licensed mental health counselor associate, and the founder of FAUNA Mental Health!
Mental health still carries a lot of stigma, within the Asian community and also beyond. I first started FAUNA because I saw firsthand in my clinical work (and in my personal experiences receiving therapy) how therapy often fails to align with the cultural nuances and contexts that BIPOC clients are coming from. We have a long way to go, but I like to believe that opening up conversations and spaces for us to talk about challenges is one of the best ways to decrease stigma and normalize these experiences!
What has taking care of your own mental health looked like, and how has it evolved through your lifetime?
My understanding of mental health has absolutely evolved over time. Growing up in an Asian household, there was definitely a lack of understanding around mental health and how challenges show up differently for different individuals. A lack of understanding oftentimes perpetuates stigma, even if unintentional, and my family was no exception.
Not having a grasp of what mental wellbeing looks like makes it very difficult to take actionable steps towards tending to it. In some ways I see my own journey of caring for my mental health as comparable to an awakening. I first had to become aware of my mental health as something to be experienced before I could attend to it. Thanks in part to ending up in this field of study and my current profession, my understanding of mental health has shifted a lot, and I think it will continue to shift as I continue to grow and live through life.
Today, taking care of my mental health means knowing myself and what I need. I know that I need structure and organization in my life to feel grounded. I know I need light exercise to minimize my stress throughout the week. I know that I need at least 9 hours of sleep every night or I will feel drained the next day. I know that if I am cold or hungry, I will get more irritated by the small stuff! And I also know that my needs are not the same as someone else’s needs. A part of tending to your mental health is learning about yourself and how to listen to your own body.
How can we, as individuals in the Asian community, support each other on a day-to-day basis?
The word that comes to mind for me is compassion. I think a huge strength within Asian culture is the ability to rely on community. Whether it is having compassion for someone who has similar experiences to you, or having compassion for someone who has completely different experiences from you, taking a moment to stop, take a step back, and empathize with what others in our shared Asian community might be going through, is the key to bridging us from being individuals into us as being a community.
On the flip side, I think we each have an individual responsibility within the community to educate ourselves (and others, when it is safe and effective to do so). Seeking out opportunities to learn more about the things we don’t yet understand will then in turn help us uncover the things that we do not yet know. And then we can educate ourselves about that, and then the next unknown, and the next, and the cycle continues. Learning is a lifelong process, and (I think) a life without continuing to learn wouldn’t be fun!
What advice do you have for someone seeking mental health support? What would you say to encourage someone who wants to seek support but is held back by stigma?
If you are considering seeking mental health support, I want to wholeheartedly tell you that that is amazing. Asking for help is incredibly hard and uncomfortable, and it takes a lot of insight, self-reflection, and courage to reach out. I also want to validate that finding a mental health therapist or a book or a resource that clicks can sometimes be a frustrating and lengthy process, compounded by the fact that if you are looking for help right now, you probably want it sooner rather than later. If you are looking for a therapist, I would recommend considering your various identities (culture, gender, your upbringing, neurodivergence, etc.) and if it is important for a therapist to come from a similar lived experience. For those who are looking for Asian therapists, I really recommend using PsychologyToday’s search filters, or try Asian Mental Health Collective’s Asian therapist directory (only in US and Canada). And of course, if you are experiencing a crisis or mental health emergency, please call 988.
If stigma or fear is holding you back from reaching out to a therapist, I would encourage you to reach out to a trusted friend or person in your social circle. If you don’t have someone that feels safe enough to reach out to, I would recommend you start by reading and self-educating. There are some great self-help books and mental health workbooks out there, and if you found your way to this post, you might also be interested in seeing the free mental health resources that we offer at FAUNA! And while I don’t think these means replace mental health therapy, I think they serve their own purpose and can absolutely make mental health more accessible!
About Adora
Adora Du, MA, LMHCA
Adora (she/her) is a DBT-informed associate therapist (MC61604494) and owner of Spring Day Therapy PLLC. She is currently provides mental health therapy services for youth, adults, and families. Her prior clinical training spans various levels of care and diagnoses, including experience in conducting individual and group therapy with children, adolescents, adults, and caregivers. Her DBT orientation is further enhanced by her passion and training in supporting Autistic individuals and providing culturally responsive care for Asian populations.
Adora's clinical work is supplemented by her background in research. She worked at the University of Washington as a Research Manager for over 2.5 years on numerous federally funded projects supporting autistic students and their educators in schools. A notable intersection between her clinical and research experiences include a study she supported on redesigning DBT for autistic young adults.
In addition to her clinical and research work, Adora also founded FAUNA Mental Health Foundation in 2022, a nonprofit organization advocating for culturally relevant mental health resources for the Asian community. She currently leads an international team of volunteers and interns to provide accessible mental health resources through their website and workshops with community partners.
