The ATS Book Club
The ATS Book Club is a space for reflection, dialogue, and shared learning rooted in the values that guide our work — trauma-informed care, cultural awareness, relational healing, and social justice. Each month, we explore texts that challenge dominant narratives, deepen our understanding of self and systems, and support both personal and professional growth.
May’s theme of Mental Health Awareness and AAPI visibility invites us to deepen our understanding, challenge stigma, and expand the ways we speak about and support mental health. This month’s readings center education, cultural context, and lived experience—exploring how identity, language, and systems shape mental health, and how we can move toward greater awareness, compassion, and visibility in our communities.
“Permission to
Come Home”
—
Dr. Jenny T. Wang
A compassionate and culturally grounded exploration of what it means to return to oneself, Permission to Come Home invites us to examine the internalized narratives shaped by family, culture, and systems. Dr. Jenny T. Wang centers the Asian American experience while offering language and tools for boundary-setting, emotional attunement, and self-trust. This work speaks to the ongoing process of unlearning, reclaiming, and creating space for a more integrated and authentic sense of self.
“Crying in H Mart”
—
Michelle Zauner
A tender and unflinching memoir of grief, identity, and belonging, Crying in H Mart traces Michelle Zauner’s journey through loss, memory, and the complexities of cultural inheritance. Through food, family, and reflection, Zauner explores what it means to hold love and grief simultaneously, and how identity is shaped across generations. This work invites us to consider the ways we process loss, stay connected to those we’ve loved, and make meaning in the spaces between cultures, language, and memory.
“What My Bones Know”
—
Stephanie Foo
A deeply personal and investigative exploration of trauma, What My Bones Know follows Stephanie Foo’s journey to understand and heal from complex PTSD. Weaving together clinical insight, cultural context, and lived experience, Foo examines how trauma lives in the body and across relationships, particularly within immigrant and intergenerational dynamics. This work invites us to consider the non-linear process of healing, the importance of culturally responsive care, and the ways we can begin to make sense of what we carry while moving toward greater safety, agency, and self-understanding.
“I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki”
—
Baek Se-hee
A candid and quietly powerful dialogue on depression, I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki offers an intimate look at the tension between despair and the desire to live. Through conversations between Baek Se-hee and her therapist, this work explores the everyday realities of depression, self-doubt, and the internal contradictions many carry. Grounded in cultural context and lived experience, it invites us to approach mental health with greater nuance, compassion, and honesty—making space for both struggle and small moments of connection.
