Narae Lee (PhD candidate, 2016) credits a professor at
Harvard’s Graduate School of Education for starting her on the path that would
ultimately lead her to enroll as a doctoral student in Fuller’s clinical
psychology program. That professor was Dr. Josephine Kim, a lecturer on
counseling who had been an emergency outreach counselor to Virginia Tech’s
Korean American community after the 2007 slayings. In Kim’s class, Narae
learned of the need for more Korean American mental health care providers, and
she was struck by Dr. Kim’s belief that the Virginia Tech massacre might have
been avoided if Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter, had been given the mental health
treatments he so badly needed.
“At Fuller, we learn to discern the ways that biblical truth is at work in our discipline."
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“It was Josephine’s mentorship that prompted me to desire to
be that competent ethnic minority psychologist who would fill in the missing
void in psychological research and practice and serve the underserved Korean
Americans and other Asian communities.” In these groups, lack of access to
mental healthcare has combined with a prevailing cultural assumption that it is
better to remain silent about one’s personal struggles than bring shame to the
community. As a bicultural, bilingual Korean American, Lee is well-suited to
play a strategic role in reducing these barriers.
And why study at Fuller? Because, as Lee explains, “There
was no other program like Fuller’s that emphasized the integration of my
Christian faith with psychological knowledge and practice.” Lee cites Fuller’s
distinguished faculty and her cohort members as crucial to her process of
becoming a truly Christian psychologist, “At Fuller, we learn to discern the
ways that biblical truth is at work in our discipline. I truly appreciate the
way this education is challenging me and stretching me to become not only a
scholar and a competent psychologist, but at the base of it all, a theologizing
Christian with a firm foundation to serve the Lord and others through my work.”
After she completes her degree, Lee will play an active role
in Mustard Seed Generation (MSG), a nonprofit founded by Dr. Kim that partners
with Korean American churches to raise awareness of mental health issues and
encourages Korean American youth to holistic self-development. Through MSG’s
integrative approach, worship, group therapy, and educational sessions are
combined so that the local church’s mission is yoked with that of mental
healthcare agencies.
Without the scholarship support she is receiving, it would
be impossible to make ends meet each month. Lee sees the funding as a crucial
investment in her mission, “This money will serve not only me but also the
greater Korean American and Asian community at large in the future. Thank you!”