This four-session IAP workshop series celebrates and explores the uniqueness and diversity of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) voices, experiences, and identities at MIT and beyond. We will use in-class close reading and reflective writing exercises to foster self-reflection, build community, and help one another develop richer and more meaningful personal relationships to our cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. How do our individual narratives reflect and fit into, but also transform and go beyond the narratives of the communities that we belong to? What do we gain from listening deeply to each other’s stories and developing our capacity to attend to, interpret, affiliate ourselves with, and act on those stories? How does this kind of relational work help us arrive at a deeper appreciation, as individuals and as a community, of what it means to be AANHPI?

Email jchou@med.mit.edu to sign up/add your name to the waitlist. This opportunity is limited to 15 self-identified AANHPI students, with priority given to students who can commit to attending all four sessions (please reach out even if you cannot commit to all four). No work is required outside of the workshop series - all you have to do is show up! We will meet in person for all sessions (location TBD), and students who fully participate and complete the workshop series will receive a free copy of Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings or another book germane to the workshop series. 

Sign-up deadline: January 1^st, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Jonathan Chou, MD, MS, is a psychiatrist and the multicultural community engagement specialist at MIT Medical, Student Mental Health & Counseling Services. He received his MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and his MD from the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. In addition to his work at MIT Medical, he is on faculty in the MS in Narrative Medicine Program at Keck, where he teaches advanced narrative medicine methods and practice.

Facing Climate Change and Cultivating Hope 

A Workshop for Graduate and Undergraduate Students

Facing Our Grief

Coping with Anxiety

Finding Hope

This workshop is for students recognizing the effects of the deepening climate change crisis on our mental health. We will meet in person and create a safe environment where students can share their feelings, connect with others, and contemplate their place in the climate work. We will talk about climate related grief, worry, anger and fear and will discuss ways to cope. There will be a combination of psychoeducation and sharing. We will also use materials from the books Under the Sky We Create by Kimberly Nicholas, PhD and Active Hope, by Joanna Macy, PhD and Chris Johnstone.

Free book copies will be provided to all participants.   Free dinner will be served at 5:30

Talking about your climate related distress and listening to others can be upsetting and can trigger memories of previous traumas and losses. The hope is that such conversations will also be healing and affirming.

When: 1/29 at 4-5:30pm

Where: TBD

To sign up please email: mminkova@med.mit.edu

The group is limited to 15 participants. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcomed.

Sign-up deadline: January 24th, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Maria Minkova, PsyD is a clinical psychologist who has been providing psychotherapy for over 20 years. Supporting people struggling with climate related psychological distress is a high priority in her work. She is a member and contributor to Climate Psychology Alliance.

At this workshop students will explore different ways to write a journal and the potential benefits of writing it by using mindfulness practice. Participants will be encouraging to share part of their writing.
The goal is to motivate participants to the experience of journaling and the power of writing as a way to integrate experiences through language and narratives. The class will include four sessions. (1 per week).

Topics of the session will be related to: gratitude, nature, play/enjoyment, / sleep & dreams
Students with or without journaling experience are welcome.
Journaling could be a daily, weekly, monthly or as needed tool to express thoughts, feelings, keep track of interests, dreams, plans etc. It can have different formats: daily experiences, drawings, poems, stories, bullet points, short lines (tweets), images, etc.

To sign up please email:  jmatorras@med.mit.edu  jmatorras@med.mit.edu 

The group is limited to 15 participants. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcomed. It is expected that students will be present for all four workshops. Sessions are 1 hour long. We will provide and share snaks at every  workshop.

Sign-up deadline: January 5th, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Jaime Francisco Matorras is a mental health counselor orignially from Argentina who has been providing psychotherapy for over 15 years. He is also enjoys writing short stories, poetry,  journals and health related articles. He designed and run a workshop on Journaling at MIT Medical last summer. 

This four-session IAP workshop series celebrates and explores the uniqueness and diversity of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) voices, experiences, and identities at MIT and beyond. We will use in-class close reading and reflective writing exercises to foster self-reflection, build community, and help one another develop richer and more meaningful personal relationships to our cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. How do our individual narratives reflect and fit into, but also transform and go beyond the narratives of the communities that we belong to? What do we gain from listening deeply to each other’s stories and developing our capacity to attend to, interpret, affiliate ourselves with, and act on those stories? How does this kind of relational work help us arrive at a deeper appreciation, as individuals and as a community, of what it means to be AANHPI?

Email jchou@med.mit.edu to sign up/add your name to the waitlist. This opportunity is limited to 15 self-identified AANHPI students, with priority given to students who can commit to attending all four sessions (please reach out even if you cannot commit to all four). No work is required outside of the workshop series - all you have to do is show up! We will meet in person for all sessions (location TBD), and students who fully participate and complete the workshop series will receive a free copy of Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings or another book germane to the workshop series. 

Sign-up deadline: January 1^st, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Jonathan Chou, MD, MS, is a psychiatrist and the multicultural community engagement specialist at MIT Medical, Student Mental Health & Counseling Services. He received his MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University and his MD from the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital. In addition to his work at MIT Medical, he is on faculty in the MS in Narrative Medicine Program at Keck, where he teaches advanced narrative medicine methods and practice.

At this workshop students will explore different ways to write a journal and the potential benefits of writing it by using mindfulness practice. Participants will be encouraging to share part of their writing.
The goal is to motivate participants to the experience of journaling and the power of writing as a way to integrate experiences through language and narratives. The class will include four sessions. (1 per week).

Topics of the session will be related to: gratitude, nature, play/enjoyment, / sleep & dreams
Students with or without journaling experience are welcome.
Journaling could be a daily, weekly, monthly or as needed tool to express thoughts, feelings, keep track of interests, dreams, plans etc. It can have different formats: daily experiences, drawings, poems, stories, bullet points, short lines (tweets), images, etc.

To sign up please email:  jmatorras@med.mit.edu  jmatorras@med.mit.edu 

The group is limited to 15 participants. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcomed. It is expected that students will be present for all four workshops. Sessions are 1 hour long. We will provide and share snaks at every  workshop.

Sign-up deadline: January 5th, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Jaime Francisco Matorras is a mental health counselor orignially from Argentina who has been providing psychotherapy for over 15 years. He is also enjoys writing short stories, poetry,  journals and health related articles. He designed and run a workshop on Journaling at MIT Medical last summer. 

Facing Climate Change and Cultivating Hope 

A Workshop for Graduate and Undergraduate Students

Facing Our Grief

Coping with Anxiety

Finding Hope

This workshop is for students recognizing the effects of the deepening climate change crisis on our mental health. We will meet in person and create a safe environment where students can share their feelings, connect with others, and contemplate their place in the climate work. We will talk about climate related grief, worry, anger and fear and will discuss ways to cope. There will be a combination of psychoeducation and sharing. We will also use materials from the books Under the Sky We Create by Kimberly Nicholas, PhD and Active Hope, by Joanna Macy, PhD and Chris Johnstone.

Free book copies will be provided to all participants.   Free dinner will be served at 5:30

Talking about your climate related distress and listening to others can be upsetting and can trigger memories of previous traumas and losses. The hope is that such conversations will also be healing and affirming.

When: 1/29 at 4-5:30pm

Where: TBD

To sign up please email: mminkova@med.mit.edu

The group is limited to 15 participants. Both undergraduate and graduate students are welcomed.

Sign-up deadline: January 24th, 2024

About the workshop facilitator: Maria Minkova, PsyD is a clinical psychologist who has been providing psychotherapy for over 20 years. Supporting people struggling with climate related psychological distress is a high priority in her work. She is a member and contributor to Climate Psychology Alliance.