This episode delves into the critical topic of maternal mental health research and policy, especially as it pertains to the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. Our guest today features Cindy Herrick, a certified peer support specialist and Senior Editorial & Research Manager at the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health.

Cindy is a Taiwanese American mom of one who shares her personal journey through maternal mental health challenges, including anxiety, depression, and perinatal OCD, and discusses the systemic gaps in research and policy that affect AAPI mothers. While Cindy never imagined herself doing policy work, through volunteering, she realized that she could impact so many more people if she focused her energy on the research and policies that could affect so many moms that fall through the cracks—like herself.

We also explore the pressing issue of maternal mental health within the AAPI community and what limited research has been done and is still currently being explored around AAPI moms, especially also around maternal suicide. The conversation highlights the importance of addressing these issues through storytelling, research, and policy change, and we hope it might inspire anyone to get involved in advocacy work.

Thank you Cindy for your time and dedication to maternal mental health awareness and even more so for our AAPI mothers!

More about Cindy:
Cindy has led the Maternal Suicide program at the Policy Center since 2018, and is an expert in maternal suicide, MMH screening, peer support, and researching MMH disorders from a holistic perspective. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Nursing Science & Healthcare Innovation at Arizona State University, where she also received her MA in Special Education. Her doctoral research focuses on maternal suicidality and mortality.

Cindy is a Certified Peer Support Specialist (CPSS) in the State of Arizona and is also certified in Perinatal Mental Health (PMH-C). She is a core member of the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Maternal Mortality Review Board (ADHS MMRC). Cindy is also on ADHS’s Arizona Maternal Mental Health Task Force, where she chaired the awareness workgroup. As a Peer Support Certification Expert Panelist for SAMHSA, Cindy advised on the development of a national framework and standard for peer support. Previously, Cindy served as the Strategic Partnerships & Campaigns Lead at the Policy Center, during which she routinely convened stakeholder events, led the national Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week Campaign (2018-2022), and served as the pharmaceutical advocacy liaison. Additionally, Cindy serves as a reviewer and reviewer mentor for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Cindy is currently the President of the ASU Edson PhD Student Organization and will serve as the 2026 Community Liaison Officer for Marce of North America Perinatal Research Society.

Connect more with Cindy:
Email: cindy.herrick@policycentermmh.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cindyleeherrick

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In this episode, we had the extreme pleasure of interviewing New York Times bestselling and award-winning author, Joanna Ho. Many of you may know her from her children's books like Eyes that Kiss in the Corners or even her young adult novel The Silence that Binds Us.

Joanna tells us about how her passion for equity, inclusion, and social justice led her to eventually writing the dozen plus books she has published to date in an unexpected departure from her previous jobs. She shares how after becoming a mother she did not see the Asian American representation in books that she wished her child could see, so she took it upon herself to figure out how to become an author and write the books she wanted her child to have available.

We talk about how she stayed mentally strong when going through a divorce in the middle of the pandemic when her first book was being published, all while mothering 2 children and working as a high school vice principal. We dive into the heartwarming story behind how she decided to pursue dating after divorce and eventually re-married a friend she had known since middle school (and have another baby)!

We discuss themes of silence around mental health, racism, and social justice that affect the AAPI community and why books and community are revolutionary components. Joanna tells us how she drew upon the strength of her own mother and developed a better relationship with her mom after entering motherhood herself.

This conversation is rich with discussion around healing, self-love, and community in relationship to motherhood and mental health. We are so grateful to Joanna for the honor of this interview and we hope you'll love this conversation as much as we did!

***

Joanna Ho is a second generation Taiwanese/Chinese American mother of 3 who has received the Asian/Pacific American Award for Children’s Literature Honor, a Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor, and been finalist for the Kirkus Prize. She is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. She holds a master’s from the Principal Leadership Institute at Berkeley and has been an English teacher, a dean, the designer of an alternative-to-prison program, a creator of educator professional development, and a high school vice principal.

She lives in the Bay Area, where she survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids. Keep your eyes open for more books to come!

Find more of Joanna at:

• Website: joannahowrites.com
• Instagram: @joannahowrites
• Podcast: Kidlit Happy Hour

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Last February (2025), we sat down with co-founders Soo-Jin Lee and Linda Yoon of Yellow Chair Collective as guests ourselves for the first time as a duo on the Yellow Chair Collective podcast! We focused on the topic of Eldest Daughters and the traits that typically embody. Linda and Soo Jin were gracious enough to share the podcast recording with us so that we could share it more directly with our listeners too at some point. And that is what today's episode is!

For those of you who are newer to Healing the Tigress and may not have listened to our back story before, this episode will also give you some insights (or refresh your memory if you've been a regular listener!) into how our podcast was born and what postpartum mental health challenges Peggy and Jasmine personally went through that led them here today. We also dive into how our birth order and Asian American Eldest Daughter traits may have contributed to any perinatal mental health disorders and how we eventually learned to get help.

Thank you to Soo Jin and Linda for inviting us as guests for this discussion and letting us be in the guest seats for once!

Yellow Chair Collective (YCC) is a psychotherapist group based out of California and New York, specializing in serving the AAPI community.

Find more of YCC:

• Entwine Community: ⁠⁠⁠https://entwinecommunity.org/⁠⁠⁠
• Yellow Chair Collective Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://yellowchaircollective.com/⁠
• IG: @yellowchaircollective
• TikTok: @yellowchaircollective

Original podcast episode from YCC Eldest Daughters Talk Series

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For the final episode of the year, we have the pleasure of talking to another reproductive psychiatrist on the show! (Check out Episode 17 if you want more details on debunking myths for perinatal psychiatric medications). In this episode, we talk with Dr. Kristin Yeung Lasseter, a Board-Certified Psychiatrist based in Texas who specializes in Reproductive Psychiatry and Women’s Mental Health.

Dr. Lasseter opens up to us about her experience with postpartum anxiety after the birth of her first child while being a second year medical resident. We discuss what ultimately led to her decision to start medications and how she recovered. We also talk about medications and treatment for postpartum anxiety and insomnia and considerations during breastfeeding. Most importantly, Dr. Lasseter again emphasizes the risks versus benefits of using medications compared with the risk of untreated mental illness.

Dr. Lasseter is the Founder and President of Reproductive Psychiatry and Counseling, which hosts multiple psychiatrists and psychotherapists specializing in mental health across the reproductive life span, and treats people across the state of Texas. Dr. Lasseter is also Affiliate Faculty at The University of Texas Dell Medical School, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is a board member of the International Society of Reproductive Psychiatry. She volunteers time at Postpartum Support International’s Psychiatric Consult Line and raises awareness about reproductive mental health through speaking engagements and social media.

Find more of Dr. Lasseter:

• TikTok @the.repro.psych on TikTok
• Instagram: @the.reproductive.psychiatrist
• Websites: www.kristinlassetermd.com and www.rpcclinic.com

Thank you Dr. Lasseter for honestly sharing about your personal postpartum experience with perinatal mental health disorders and medications, as well as your clinical pearls on medication risks and benefits!

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Maternal mental health goes beyond just the immediate postpartum period and that we know that as we learn to parent, our mental health is also affected by the way we parent. We love talking about breaking generational cycles in parenting because we think, especially as AAPI parents, that is one of the keys to achieving better mental health in the long run. So for today's episode, we talked with the two clinical psychologist co-founders of Modern Asian Parent, Dr. Michelle Chung and Dr. Laura Berssenbrugge!

Together we discuss:

• What is the "Modern Asian Parent" (MAP) and how this was born and grew into a community and movement for Asian American parents amongst Dr. Chung and Dr. Berssenbrugge's New York community and beyond
• Some personal and professional pivotal moments for our guests that helped to develop and shape MAP
• How raising biracial children in the AAPI community can raise different challenges and how to help modern Asian parents navigate this
• The unique challenges and gifts of raising an Asian American child and hence why a different approach to parenting may be needed
• How one can begin to define their family values and parent in a way that feels aligned with them

Dr. Laura Berssenbrugge is a child and adolescent psychologist and former middle and high school teacher. She grew up 5th generation in Hawaii and is biracial: 1/2 Chinese, 1/4 Japanese, 1/4 Dutch. Dr. Berssenbrugge is the Founder of Gramercy Psychology, a group practice on New York’s Upper East Side specializing in evidence-based treatment for anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, stress and emotion regulation challenges, and neurodivergence. She is the author of Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Uncertain Times.

Dr. Michelle Chung is a Korean American award-winning clinical psychologist with over two decades of experience. She is the founder of InPractice Psychology Group, a New York City practice serving children, adults, families, and parents. Dr. Chung also holds a position at Mount Sinai Medical Center, teaches clinicians in training, and has published in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. She is also a sports and performance psychologist for elite and Olympic-level athletes and the consulting psychologist for a leading NYC fencing club.

Find more about The Modern Asian Parent:

• IG: @themodernasianparent
• Website: https://www.themodernasianparent.com/
• Substack: https://themodernasianparent.substack.com/

Find more of Dr. Laura Berssenbrugge

• IG & TikTok: @drlaurabtherapy
• Substack: https://drlaurabtherapy.substack.com
• Website: https://www.gramercypsychology.com/

Find more of Dr. Michelle Chung

• IG: @dr.michellechung
• Substack: https://inpracticepsychology.substack.com/
• Websites: https://www.inpracticepsychology.com/ ht

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✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

*Special Thanks to our sound engineer Dr. Tony Huynh, PharmD for helping us edit this episode and introducing us to Dr. Jenny Kim*

*Trigger Warning: This episode discusses infant loss.*

We had the honor of interviewing our guest today on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day last month (October 15) to hold space for her story and loss. Dr. Jenny Kim, PharmD, BCPPS is a Chinese American board-certified pediatric pharmacy specialist who has worked in the NICU, PICU, and CVICU for almost 10 years in places like Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, Boston Children's Hospital, and UCSF Benioff Children's in Oakland.

On today's episode, Jenny shares with us in poignant detail the tragic accident and story of losing her son Joey Tate Kim right around 7 months old in 2022. We also talk about:

• What it was like being on the patient side of things after having worked in pediatric critical care for so long
• What the stages of grief looked like for her and how they evolved over time
• How Jenny processed Joey's loss with her two older sons
• The complicated emotions and decision around trying to conceive again after losing Joey and being blessed with twin girls
• How Jenny is supporting other parents now on their grief journeys and the customizable children's book she's written to honor angel babies

This episode is deeply raw and vulnerable, and we thank Jenny for bravely sharing her story and feelings to help others feel less alone if they are also going through infant loss or any sort of loss journey. We also love the work she is doing to honor lost babies and creating a beautiful keepsake in remembrance of others' angel babies. Please check out her work if you're looking to support a loss mama and also see ways to connect with Jenny below:

• Instagram:
  @whatjoeytaughtme for my grief space
  @grieversandfriends for updates on support items for grievers and friends
• Book Website: https://www.grieversandfriends.com/
  This is a platform to customize children’s grief storybooks to nurture grief conversations through the lens of living with grief while carrying grief forward with memory, care, and love. The first book, Look To The Sky, just launched on Joey’s 3rd Angelversary on July 23rd.

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We had the great pleasure of talking with Kriti Lodha in today's episode about her postpartum story that surrounds the highly stigmatized and misunderstood topic of postpartum psychosis, which can affect 1 to 2 in 1000 women. While Kriti didn't have noticeable risk factors for postpartum psychosis, her experience with being a first-time pandemic mom while also grappling with the postpartum mental health emergency has profoundly affected and shaped her motherhood journey and career path going forward.

Kriti is a South Asian mom who was born and raised in Luxembourg, Europe and moved to the U.S. when she was 11 years old. Kriti is a seasoned marketing and technology executive with a track record of building and scaling multi-million-dollar businesses, brands, and teams across the SaaS and CPG industries, including Toast and Procter & Gamble. Today, Kriti proudly serves as Executive Advisor at the Center for Women’s Mental Health at Mass General Hospital, on the Board of Directors at Postpartum Support International, as well as a peer support group leader for fellow psychosis survivors.

In this episode, we talk about Kriti's story, thoughts on breastfeeding and societal pressures, how being South Asian played a role in her journey, and why she now chooses to pursue work that advocates for maternal mental health. We also pointedly talk about why it is important not to "rarify" postpartum psychosis and see it only as the sensationalized version portrayed in the media. Because while postpartum psychosis is a medical emergency, it is often not the sensationalized version and also highly treatable so families need to be equipped with the tools to recognize symptoms and know how to take action.

We loved this discussion with Kriti and we are excited that she is now working on marrying her lived experience and professional expertise to design new models of care that expand access to specialized treatment for families navigating severe perinatal mental health challenges!

Find More of Kriti:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kritilodha/

Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Ruta Nonac's blog on breastfeeding/mental health
• More than Blue documentary - this is where folks can check out trailer, sign up to host screenings, etc.
• Postpartum Psychosis (PPP) Get Help Page from PSI- one stop shop that includes discussion tool, support groups, etc.
• So Glad You Asked Podcast (Available anywhere you get podcasts too!)

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✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)

We've had several guests on the podcast talk about postpartum depression, but fewer have notably admitted or recognized depression during pregnancy too. In today's episode, our guest Serein Wu shares about how she was worried about postpartum depression with her mental health history going into motherhood, but she did not expect to have prenatal depression while she was pregnant too.

Serein goes into depth sharing her story about the complicated emotions of losing her mother, who she shared a very close relationship with, before becoming a mother herself. Then when she thought she was ready to conceive, the pandemic had started closing in on the world and Serein suddenly found herself even further isolated from loved ones while navigating pregnancy without her mom and/or community. In the episode, we dive deeper into:

• Maternal health care during the pandemic
• Serein's traumatic birth with PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy), pre-eclampsia, and an emergency C-section
• Prenatal depression, postpartum depression, and ways to heal--including Serein's thoughts on how she wished she had tried medication in hindsight
• The shame of not bonding with your baby right away and recognizing that not everyone has that instantaneous connection
• Serein's work of moving through the grief of not having her mom with her through her motherhood journey and finding pieces of her mom in her life now
• Deciding whether or not to have a second child while also considering her partner's experience in this parenthood journey

Serein Wu is a Taiwanese/Chinese American mother, a certified nutritionist through Precision Nutrition, and a Lagree Level 2 certified fitness instructor. She has dedicated her career to helping people improve their overall well-being and has had 10 years of experience creating digital content on her YouTube channel, her blog, and more.

Find more of Serein:
Instagram: @sereinwu
TikTok: @sereinwu
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MoreSereinWu

We want to say a sincere thank you to Serein for being so vulnerable and open about your motherhood experience and loss, and we hope her story might help someone else out there who is also going through any similar stories.

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✨ If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast for access to more bonus episodes, please click here for Buzzsprout Subscriptions! Once subscribed, you can use an RSS feed to listen from any of your podcast platforms. Thanks in advance for your support, as this really helps us keep the show going! ❤️ (Think of it like buying us a boba...to share! 😉🧋)