Welcome to You Are Here, the podcast where we have conversations with people who have

courageously taken the road less traveled.

I'm your host Rachel Ree and in each episode we'll be exploring stories from people who have

followed their own path and are living life on their own terms. Know that we're here to meet

you where you are and where you'd like to be. This is you are here.

Hi friend, we are back this week talking about mental health with Brandon Shindo.

He is a fourth generation Japanese American working as a licensed clinical

social worker and is the founder of his own practice K&B therapy. He specializes in advocating for Asian American Pacific Islander and other

people of color professionals and college students. Even if you don't identify as

someone in these groups, a lot of what he discusses is universal.

When we go down at different life paths or are working through mental health issues,

it's something that affects us so uniquely, yet also threads us all altogether through common feelings and experiences.

Let's dive into today's episode to learn about Brandon, his background, and chat more

about tools that we can lean on in times of mental need.

So there are a lot of conversations that I'm having through this podcast with all of my guests where people are really taking a lot of unconventional paths in life.

And psychology in itself is not necessarily an unconventional path, but I think for you, someone who's Asian American, someone who's male, it is not necessarily a path that is commonly pursued and explored.

So I'm wondering if there was a catalyst or an experience from your past or series of experiences that really led you down this path to really explore mental health as a profession.

That's such a great question and I think the best way I can answer it for you is a I'm a fourth generation Japanese American. I'm the son of two blue collar working parents.

And I think growing up it was really this push on education of like you need to go to school

and you need to either become a doctor or an attorney or an engineer and that's how you know you're going to make it in this lifetime.

And so I was on that path for a long time. And I can remember at 14 years old,

I spent a lot of time at a hospital

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