Erasing Shame

Dr. Jessica Cho chats with DJ Chuang about how marriage can be much more than a perfunctory or functional stage of life between adulting and parenting. Listen to this episode for how you can enjoy your marriage with your partner and experience the naked-and-unashamed intimacy that the Bible talks about in the beginning. Learn what emotional connectedness looks and feels like up close. https://yout...

Jeanie Chang of Noona's Noonchi chats with DJ Chuang about how the Christmas holidays is the annual tradition that gathers family together physically but sometimes it's not the smoothest sleigh ride in town. How can being family time be a better opportunity for meaningful conversations and growing healthy relationships rather than steering into family drama? That's what we talk about, having bite-...

Dr. Jessica Cho shares her back story of going from marketing at MTV to the mission field in Japan (where they used talk therapy as part of ministry outreach) and becoming a mental health professional, with a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) degree and also a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Tuck in your earbuds and listen to quite the adventure in how faith and work come together in her life. W...

Pastor Jin Lee poignantly shares the urgent need for mental health among Korean American communities, opening with an alarming statistic. Jin serves as an executive board member of Mustard Seed Generation (MSG), a nonprofit ministry that is training Korean American churches to be strategically caring and supporting communities for those who struggle with mental health by providing all of its progr...

NewStory Church in Los Angeles, California, hosts a ministry called Celebrate Recovery. One of its leaders, Peter Ma, talks about how it's helped him and others in their process of becoming free from their hurts, habits, and hangups. Over its history, Celebrate Recovery has helped over 7 million people around the world experience freedom in Jesus Christ, and currently over 35,000 churches have a C...

Daniel Im (Lead Pastor of Beulah Alliance Church in Alberta, Canada) talks about how he manages his life, marriage, and ministry in one of the most stressful jobs there is.  He describes how he does so much—authoring books, podcasting, pastoring, parenting, and more. And we learn about how he stays healthy emotionally and mentally, why it's important for a pastor to have a counselor and see a ther...

Hannah Lee Sandoval shares her experiences with something called post-partum depression and why becoming a mother and even becoming a new father can be so difficult and overwhelming after the baby is born. What is indeed a very joyous occasion can often be a very emotionally distressful time also. Learn how young parents can get through this new season of life and how others can better care and su...

Hannah Lee Sandoval describes her experience of being diagnosed during her college years, and how she's better managed her symptoms through therapy and medication to living well. How did it help or hurt to be part of a church community? Listen to find out. https://youtu.be/yUas2PItNOM

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity." (Psalm 133:1) While 90% of Americans recognize that America has a mental health crisis, a powerful solution can effectively help many when churches and counselors creatively work together. Lighthouse Counseling Network was launched with just before the pandemic in 2020 by a handful of churches based in New Jersey.  Liste...

Pastors Sam Yoon and Steve Choi have honest conversations about pastoring well through thick and thin, ups and downs, learning how to ask for help, being human and healthy.  Just past the halfway mark, Pastor Steve shares many golden words of wisdom and lessons learned from pastoring since 1994 as an Asian American of Korean heritage, all the more important and valuable in this day and age when we...

Diana Sun and Sam Lee of Standing Stone Ministry elaborate on how they’re a part of a most wonderful ministry that shepherd shepherds, caring and supporting pastors, ministry leaders, and their spouses, to stay healthy, to prevent burnout, and to not carry their burdens alone.  Learn how it’s become even more stressful for pastors and families during and after the coronavirus pandemic; and how Sta...

Co-hosts Pastor Sam Yoon and DJ Chuang will have conversations about pastors, church leaders, and mental health throughout the month of October, on this occasion of National Clergy Appreciation Month. We discuss how pastors can have healthier lives amidst a very stressful and demanding vocation, and where their help can come from. https://youtu.be/75H5RoWf36E SHOW NOTES Pastoral Care Ministries an...

#CW #TW Trigger Warning: Attempted Suicide Next Gen Pastor Phyllis Myung speaks personally from her lived experiences of surviving suicide attempts and what it was like to be at that moment of despair, being overwhelmed with pain.  By the grace of God, working hard to find her way to living healthy now, she shares what can save the life of someone who might have suicidal ideation and normal strugg...

#cw #tw trigger warning: depression, suicide, suicidal ideation. DJ Chuang and his Son Jeremiah Chuang (Chinese American) talk about depression and suicidal ideation, based on their lived experiences and how they've been impacted by suicide loss, and suicide prevention warning signs. SHOW NOTES • DJ's personal crisis in 2017 djchuang.com/my2017 • Are you in a crisis? Please call or text the Suicid...

Having a mental health ministry in any church can be very challenging. It's all the more challenging in ethnic Asian American churches because of our cultural contexts.  We take a closer look at the practical details for how to start a mental health ministry in an ethic Asian church, based on the experiences at Chinese Christian Church of Thousand Oaks, in California. You'll hear about the divine...

#CW Content Warning #TW Trigger Warning: Suicides.  How do you make sense of your own life and everything else in world, when someone you love dies by suicide? Research has found that each suicide affects around 115 lives, with 1 in 5 reporting that this experience had a devastating impact. Korean American Erica Kang opens up and shares her poignantly honest story of surviving suicides in her very...

Introducing a new chapter of the Erasing Shame podcast, as we embark on a faith adventure to advance compassion and care for Asians and Asian Americans. Listen to how this nationwide initiative will bring together collaboration in our communities to help nearly a million people in experiencing the abundant life.  https://youtu.be/QFKNP6bPv0Y Show Notes The mental health testimony of DJ Chuang http...

Be among the first to hear what's coming next for the Erasing Shame podcast, as we take a leap of faith into a new chapter and venture into new challenges and horizons. Listen in with co-hosts DJ Chuang, George Xiong, and Hannah Lee Sandoval. As they say, we're building the plane as it flies. Wheeeee.... 

Emily Wu Truong childhood wasn't easy as a Taiwanese-American for so many reasons, being compared to high achievers, having depression, got bullied, and other challenges. Through the support of friends and personal growth, she's become a mental health advocate and motivational speaker in the San Gabriel Valley area, outside of Los Angeles, for almost a decade. She shares poignantly on this episode...

Japanese-American therapist Robyn Tamanaha talks with Erasing Shame co-host DJ Chuang during the month of May—AAPI heritage month and mental health month about those 2 themes. We chat about what helps Asian Americans most to get that first appointment with a therapist or counselor, the difference between Bipolar Disorder I and Bipolar II, some books Robyn’s reading, and how she hosts 2 podcasts, a...

Are you worn down from trying to fulfill your parents’ expectations? Your Asian community’s expectations? Your manager's expectations? Even God's expectations? On this special episode of Erasing Shame, Eunice Lee (author of "More Christ, More Me: One Woman's Spiritual Journey of Finding Her True Self") talks with co-host Hannah Lee Sandoval about her experiences of erasing shame and feeling not en...

What does lament and Thanksgiving have to do with shame? That's what our four co-hosts explore and discover on this November episode. You'll have to watch and listen to see how it unfolds! Plus, you can support the work of Erasing Shame with your tax-deductible donation - go to erasingshame.com/donate

What is the deal with our fears, phobia, anxiety, and shame?

Erasing Shame pulls back the curtains and talks with Tara Teng, an Embodiment Coach who works in the intersections of spirituality and sexuality. Co-hosts Leah, George, and DJ chat with Tara for over an hour about a whole bunch of things, too many to name, here’s some of the topics we explored: how we learn about sex, men and women, fetishes, desires, why the body matters more than we’ll ever know...