(bell chiming) - [Announcer] "Next Door Neighbors" is made possible by the support of the Nissan Foundation.

- [Nina] Bullying, barriers to communication, the traumas of war.

These are just a few of the challenges immigrants and refugees may face as they begin new lives in a foreign land.

But far from being defeated, they often tap inspiring levels of resilience.

In this episode of "Next Door Neighbors", we'll learn how several individuals in Middle Tennessee find peace of mind and activities that promote mental well-being.

(Thuy puffing air) - The first time I tried Tae Kwon Do was in eighth grade and it was from a volunteer teacher.

And I tried it for eight weeks and I loved it.

It was the first time I really, really got exposed to martial arts and got to take lessons.

I always wanted to know martial arts to be able to defend myself, especially from bullies on the playground, 'cause they would watch kung fu movies and think I was Bruce Lee and they would try to beat me up on the playground.

So school ground bullying, I mean, I carry it with me always.

It really did affect me deeply.

It made me a lot more cautious around just everyone.

(hopeful gentle music) Since I was little, I always looked around my shoulder to make sure no one tripped me or pushed me or pulled my hair or punched me.

I'm always looking around and it made me always afraid of people and it really affected my friendships, my relationship with my family and friends.

- [Nina] A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that immigrant children are more likely to be bullied than Native-born youth and those who do experience bullying are more apt to report interpersonal, socio-emotional, health, and substance abuse problems.

- As a child refugee from Vietnam, I came to the US with my family, we were very poor.

Not only we didn't have any money, we also had cultural differences in our neighborhood.

We had language barriers.

There was a huge misunderstanding always 'cause we didn't understand the language.

Third, there was a lot of racism that we experienced in our neighborhood when we moved there because people were afraid.

We were the only Vietnamese family in our neighborhood and it really created a lot of friction, a lot of conflict.

So it was a very, very traumatic experience for me and my family.

(soft piano music) So as you become older and an adult, you think that you escaped all these experiences.

The school ground bullying, 'cause you're not in school anymore.

You think you escaped xenophobia, racism.

But then, you do experience it.

(soft piano music) (birds chirping) - [Nina] A report by the Stop AAPI Hate coalition found that nearly 11,000 hate incidents were reported against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders between March of 2020 and December of 2021.

A majority of these reports were made by women.

And among those who have experienced racism, there are increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

- Mental health wise, I think about self-care.

And you know, and when you try avoid meeting people because you think that they're gonna do something to you or say something you know that might hurt you, it really is debilitating because you don't want to deal with people.

And with the pandemic, you kinda shut down even more, so you isolate yourself.

So, yes, it's very depressing, it's very sad, and my mental health was not good because I was thinking I was surrounded by the enemy.

And I'm truly not surrounded by enemies, but that's what I felt.

- The increase in hate crimes was definitely something that was really hard.

For me, personally, and having parents who are older, in this world, yeah, my mental health definitely plummeted.

- So it was like, I can be... - [Nina] Pam Beam is a master's-level clinician at Hampton House Counseling in Nashville.

Her job as a therapist is to help others by supporting their mental health, but seeing an increasing in anti-Asian hate crimes has taken a toll on her as well.

(soft piano music) - I did notice that I was feeling less safe.

I was afraid to go to the grocery store by myself.

I was afraid to even drive down the interstate by myself in the car, with fear of someone either, no lie, like, shooting me, or throwing something at my car to make me swerve.

So it was really scary.

I definitely saw an increase in anxiety for most Asian Americans and a lot of Asian women because there is this sort of, I guess, stigma that Asian women are really small and quiet and demure in a lot of ways, when that's not true.

My Asian sisters, you all know as well as I do the feeling of being viewed as an object.

- [Nina] By her mid-20s, Thuy had grown tired of feeling small and vulnerable.

While her parents couldn't afford Tae Kwon Do lessons beyond the free class she took in eighth grade, she was now in a position to take her physical and mental wellbeing into her own hands.

(Thuy yelling) - So I went into Tae Kwon Do thinking, "I'm gonna get healthy, get some exercise, and learning to defend myself."

But it was a lot more than that.

Learning Tae Kwon Do, the movements, the philosophy, all the new skills, all that really, really helped me mentally because I got to focus on something that was outside of my current life.

- I believe that learning any new skill, like Tae Kwon Do, can really challenge somebody to stretch their mental capacity.

Like, "Hey, I can actually do something that's really hard rather than being defeated by it."

- [Nina] Evidence shows that learning something new can improve self-esteem and build a sense of purpose while exercise can boost your mood and relieve stress.

These are lessons Thuy learns through her study of Tae Kwon Do and she wants to pass along the knowledge.

(Thuy yelling) - We wanted a way that martial arts could be accessible.

I wanna make sure that every kid, any student who wants to study Tae Kwon Do, they can do it without being financially burdened.

- Sky!

- What are you kicking?

- [All Kids] The sky!

- The sky, that's right!

- The sky.

On the count!

Go now!

- [Nina] That prompted Thuy and her husband Mike to co-found Tae Kwon Do Anywhere, a non-profit martial arts school in Nashville.

- Go now!

- What started with some informal neighborhood classes in their garage quickly grew.

- If you asked me, like, five years ago, that I would be founding a Tae Kwon Do non-profit, I would be like, "I wouldn't believe you."

But that class in our garage with our child, his friends also became interested, the neighborhood kids became interested.

And we're like, "You know, our garage won't hold them anymore."

So we went to the park.

And slowly our four, five kids went to 20 kids.

And all of them were, like, "Thuy, we really wanna study this for real."

Yay, bow.

Head down meditation.

Look down.

Leave all the bad stuff outside the door.

- [Nina] Today, Tae Kwon Do Anywhere has a home studio and a growing roster of students.

For Thuy, it's an opportunity to pass along both the physical skills and the mental resilience she's discovered along the way.

(kids yelling) - The goal is to build a sense of respect, getting high block and leadership, and compassion for each other.

I want them to have something that they can look to that they say, "Hey, I am good at something.

I'm good at Tae Kwon Do and that I can take it with me wherever I go."

(soft piano music) - I think what I love most about making art is that it gives me the opportunity to understand myself more and also my identity as first-generation Kurdish American.

My personal migration story starts with my family fleeing southern Kurdistan in 1988 due to a genocidal campaign under the Ba'ath regime.

They then became refugees and were placed in refugee camps for about four years.

I was also born during that time.

When I was about a year and a half, my family was finally placed in Nashville, Tennessee.

So my family's history really informs a lot of my work and I think, for me, as an artist, it's important to share stories that are similar to my own.

- [Nina] Beizar Aradini is one of countless Nashvillians who have a migration story.

In fact, Music City is home to the largest Kurdish community in the United States.

- What's so great about this is that for someone that grew up between two cultures, I still have access to my culture, whether it's through the community or through restaurants.

- How are we doing today?

- Good, how are you?

- I'm doing great, thank you.

- I think that it's so important to still have this even for our parents, our parents still are thriving because they have this part of culture that reminds them of home where they feel like they belong.

- [Nina] But that sense of belonging wasn't universal.

For Beizar, being pulled between traditional Kurdish and modern American values led to a period of turmoil.

- I think as a woman in this close, tight-knit community, I had to make decisions for myself that were contradictory to cultural norms.

So at the age of 18, I decided that I would go and live a more independent life whereas within our community culturally, it is known that usually women are to stay with the family until you're married.

And obviously, things are changing, this was, like, 10, 12 years ago.

- [Nina] But change hadn't come soon enough and the decision to live life on her terms led to a long period of separation from her parents.

- This obviously led to extreme isolation.

I dealt with so much time alone without community and without family.

I feel like discussions of mental health weren't being discussed or there was a lack of vocabulary to talk about these things that were being experienced with people that deal with intergenerational trauma or deal with being separated from family.

- [Nina] While Beizar didn't have immediate access to mental health resources, she did maintain a deep well of creativity and began to pour her energy into making art.

- Art became just another way to communicate for me, it became a way of expressing myself, and I think this language barrier that I'm talking about, I felt stuck, I felt like no one understood what I was experiencing, so art just kind of became this new language, this new thread that really reconnected me and my parents and my family members just to further understand one another, to be like, "Hey, I see you.

Can you see me now?"

- [Nina] For Beizar, it's also a way to maintain her cultural identity.

- So my main process is embroidery.

I use embroidery as a way to reconnect to my roots.

It forces me to slow down.

There is this repetition that happens that is very cathartic.

- [Nina] Embroidery is more than just a preferred medium.

For Beizar, it's a way of stitching together an identity, both formed and frayed by the refugee experience.

- There are so many great things about my culture and I feel like sewing was such a large part of the lives of women in Kurdistan and weaving as well.

And so, even just you doing this repetitive motion, within the body, there's a connection between the past and the present.

And so, using thread becomes very therapeutic.

- [Nina] Beizar's current work focuses on snapshots from the past.

It's a way to reconstruct moments in time and meditate on their significance.

- So many of my pieces deal with family photos from Kurdistan or even from our lives growing up here in America.

And the photo I'm working on right now, the larger image is of my mother fixing my sister's hair.

And this was just, like, a mundane task she would do, there was seven children, there was five girls, and she would always fix our hair, that was the thing we did to get ready.

The opportunities and the life decisions I've been able to have were because of the sacrifices she made, even giving up so many parts of herself.

So this larger image really just focuses on the small moment that was a larger part of our lives.

- How are you doing today?

- [Nina] While Beizar has found healing and purpose in her artwork, she also acknowledges that seeking outside help has been key to her personal journey and overall mental wellbeing.

- Let's talk about that part.

Creating the other opportunity.

- Therapy is just another tool for me in my healing journey.

I seek professional therapy after just feeling stagnant and stuck and really not being able to ever have professional help and so that was something very important for me, was finding someone that worked with multicultural families and it is just another tool within the whole healing journey.

- That's what was coming up for me.

- [Nina] Sasha-Nicole Cory is a licensed marriage and family therapist at Works Counseling Center in Nashville.

She practices a type of expressive arts therapy called Sand Play based on the work of Carl Jung.

- But they were really friendly.

- I think that art therapy is great and in the same ways that Sand Play therapy is general great, it's very inclusive.

I work with a lot of diverse populations.

I work with people for whom language may be a barrier.

And as we are all finding that we need to work towards a more diverse and inclusive way of practicing therapy for people, I think that art therapy can allow people a way of expressing themselves and research bears this out.

People really heal their trauma experientially.

(soft music) I think that immigrants and refugees, they do come here with a lot of trauma, but they also come here with a lot of strengths.

And I think that they don't always know what their strengths are because you're here in a new society and it can feel like I'm different and I don't have anything to offer.

And so, therapy and art, both, and having access to mental health services so that they can heal their trauma, have a meaningful life, and be part of their community is really important.

- I think it is becoming more normalized to seek help and we are slowly breaking the stigma of seeking professional help.

And I hope it just continues to be that way.

- [Nina] Beizar also hopes that her artwork will shed light on both the triumphs and the struggles of fellow immigrants and refugees.

Her work in the Best of Tennessee Craft 2021 Biennial won Best in Show, exposing her artwork to a growing audience.

(gentle soft music) - The piece that I have in there, "My Existence is Political", was inspired by my friend, Janesha Colsi.

Her family's history is very similar to mine.

Her family fled Kosovo during the civil war and though she grew up here in America, she never gained her citizenship until the 2020 election, she decided to become naturalized.

And so, that piece, I really just wanted to share her story, but also to share with the audience and the viewers that, again, these stories are so common.

There are so many of these stories that are amongst our community and the people that give back to this community.

And so, I wanted the viewer to almost be forced to be confronted with her story and hear her out too.

- [Nina] For years, Beizar lacked the words to communicate her loneliness and isolation.

Art became her voice, a way to peer back at the viewer, and ask to be recognized.

- Making art is just one part of the larger puzzle of healing and I think for people that are experiencing similar situations as I did, don't ever lose hope.

And really, you're not alone.

There are so many of us that have similar experiences and I hope that these stories are continuing to be shared, again, to break the stigmas, and to let people know that it's okay to seek help.

We all need each other to better the future, really.

- Good morning, everybody.

My name is Bobby and I'm a volunteer here at NICE.

- NICE stands for Nashville International Center for Empowerment.

Empowerment is giving you a tool so that you address your own need.

You address the challenge that you are facing.

- [Nina] Dr. Gatluak Ter Thach, or Gat, as he prefers to be called, is president and CEO of NICE.

Back in 2005, he started the organization with the goal of teaching English to fellow Sudanese.

But he soon found that his community was hungry for more than just language skills.

- They came with different issues, they came with, "I have this family issue, I have immigration issue, I have work issue."

We wanted to address the need that we have in the community.

And that's the foundation of Nashville Center for Empowerment.

- [Nina] Today, education remains a core mission, but their work has grown to include refugee resettlement, employment, health, and immigration services.

- As the more English you learn, you will have better job options.

- What it does for me is to remind me of what I have gone through, what I have received as individual.

'Cause, had not been because of what other people have done for me, I would have not made it to where I am today.

- [Nina] Prior to coming to the United States, Gat and his own family had to flee war in Sudan, but not before he spent years as a child soldier after being conscripted at just six years of age.

(soft gentle music) - We were bombed.

We had seen people die in front of us.

It was not easy, it was not easy.

And that's exactly what I'm seeing now with Afghans who have gone through this.

And that's what is going on now with Ukraine.

So when I see what we do, I see not only myself, I see the community that I have been a part of in it.

So it is actually a way for me to create a hope.

- You spelled it correctly.

- Yeah.

- And to remind people that regardless of what you are going through today, if you are getting the support that we have, if you are working so hard to address your short-term problem, you can tomorrow be able to reverse the challenge you have and even be able to give back to other people.

- What is the verb?

- [Nina] Research shows that giving back not only benefits the recipient, but there's evidence that being kind and helping others can reduce stress while boosting our mood, self-esteem, and happiness.

- Good.

- And mentally, it does really give you a peace and happiness that, "Yes, I am somebody and I have to be valued.

And I can make a difference in other people life."

- [Nina] It's a feeling that Donna Pack knows well.

- All right, and I'll get what we'll write down what you need.

And I will go get.

- [Nina] She's been volunteering with NICE from the very beginning and says the experience has transformed her life.

- Volunteer work has changed me from the inside out.

I think definitely my mind has changed about a lot of things that I thought I knew about, but I didn't know the people involved.

Just meeting different people and serving together, it changes your inside, it changes your soul, it changes your spirit.

On the table and the back, okay?

- [Nina] For Donna, volunteering has become a way of life.

Nearly every day, you can find her working at a local apartment complex that houses a large number of immigrant and refugee families.

- Oh, that's heavy.

Oh, I think this operation serves the immigrant and the refugees in several ways.

One, of course, are the meeting the basic needs: food, clothing, shelter.

We do that.

That's here.

When somebody has an issue with rent, we try to work with management, work with them, teach budget, whatever, to make sure that the housing is taken care of.

Now, again, the Afghans coming with just what they were able to grab.

- [Nina] Shaher Banoo Haidari arrived in Nashville in January of 2022.

Growing up in Afghanistan, she went to school and had dreams of becoming a journalist.

But as the Taliban reclaimed power, her entire future was swept aside.

(gentle soft music) - For a second, I thought that I'm dead 'cause my body get cold.

I couldn't move my legs, my hands, and I thought that it's the end.

The only thing that came to my mind, it was my education.

Like I don't have any future when I couldn't go to a school.

- [Nina] As the shock set in, 19-year-old Banoo couldn't imagine a future under Taliban rule, and she began having suicidal thoughts.

- I don't want a life without education, without happiness.

- [Nina] Fortunately, Banoo's sister worked at the US Embassy.

Although this put her entire family at risk, it also provided a way out of Afghanistan and soon they were on a flight for the US.

- I was happy for myself, for my family, for my sisters, but I was sad for my people that they are in Afghanistan.

They forced to accept the rules that Taliban made for them.

(crowd chattering) (engine revving) - [Nina] Since leaving Afghanistan, Banoo and her family were resettled in Nashville by NICE.

That's where she met Donna.

- She's very good, and she helps a lot of people.

She asked me if I could come and help them for translate, and then I accept that.

So I wanted to help my people who lives here.

- It's that first instance.

- It makes everybody, feels good when they help others, when they give a smile.

- [Nina] While Banoo has made friends and found joy in helping others, she also wishes she had someone to talk to about the trauma she experienced.

- Mentally it hurts us 'cause we pass a lot of bad things, a lot of hard days, even the days that I thought that I'm dead, it happens a lot for me that I thought that.

I just wanted to talk with someone professional.

I think they will give me some information or some good advice for me.

- [Nina] Despite the good that's being done to support immigrants and resettle refugees, Gat admits that more needs to be done to address a deficit in mental health services, particularly for individuals who have suffered the trauma of war as he once did.

- Majority of the people who have come here are affected one way or another mentally.

And this is because of what they have gone through.

They had seen people die in front of them, they had days with nothing to eat, they had seen their children, their youngest, their older people suffer.

And there's nothing they can do.

They worry whether they would be able to make it to United State or to any other part of the world, what would happen to them if they actually made it out?

Now, when they made it, and they arrive here, the expectation is also significantly high.

(crowd chattering) Our global world, as we call it today is connected.

And your problem is my problem.

(crowd chattering) And if there's anything I can do to solve your problem, I will indeed solve also solve my problem.

I think we could be like that practically, I think we can have the better community, the better country and the better world that we want.

(hopeful music) [Nina] To see more episodes of "Next Door Neighbors", visit ndn.wnpt.org.

(bell chiming) - [Announcer] "Next Door Neighbors" is made possible by the support of the Nissan Foundation.

(upbeat music)