April 24, 2024 | By Tsz Yan Winnie Wong, MAATC, ATR-BC, LPC
Belonging, a fundamental human need shaped by identity, relationships, and well-being, takes on complex dimensions amid global migration.
I warmly invite you to join me on April 30 for the session, “Pen, Crystal Bracelet, and Furniture: Exploring the Complexities of Belonging and Well-Being,” to discuss diverse perspectives of well-being in the context of immigration within the ever-evolving social, cultural, and political environment we all share.
I will share the stories, challenges, and hopes of recently emigrated Hong Kongers whom I interviewed for my research to explore their changing relationships with home. The personal objects, such as a crystal bracelet, a hard drive, and a celebrity cardboard, carried by the emigrants on their journeys serve as focal points to unravel their evolving understanding of well-being. During the session, I will also discuss how papermaking, like the one in this video on the right, has helped me reflect on my evolving concept of home.
Additionally, I will share creative projects that brought people together through their personal objects during times like the 2020 US election and the pandemic.
You will engage with reflective questions throughout the session on applying these concepts to your work or practice. Drawing from my trauma therapy and research practice, I learned that healing is an ongoing journey of reintegration and reconnection. It is my hope that this session will provide you with insights and tools to enrich your practice.
Register today to join me for an enriching discussion that honors the differences among diverse and dynamic communities through creative approaches. Everyone is welcome to attend, and the session is free for AATA student members. Attendees may receive 2 CE credits.
I look forward to seeing you there, especially as we celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month together.
About Winnie Wong
Tsz Yan Winnie Wong, MAATC, ATR-BC, LPC, is a Registered Board-Certified Art Therapist, Licensed Professional Counselor, an EMDR-trained clinician, supervisor, educator, researcher, and artist. Winnie‘s research centers on cultural identities and trauma recovery in art therapy practice. Her art practice examines belonging and connection and is presented through participatory art and site-specific installations, with her recent work exploring emigration and home through papermaking.
With over 14 years of diverse experience spanning institutions and communities in Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Winnie currently practices at YWCA Metropolitan Chicago. There, she applies anti-oppressive frameworks rooted in critical feminisms and relational-cultural theory, offering trauma-informed art therapy to survivors of sexual violence across all age groups.
(Learn more about Winnie Wong in her Featured Member profile here.)
