Hello

Having moved between Canada and China during her childhood before settling in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Joyce understands firsthand the complex and unique experiences of migrant students in Canada. This personal background drives her passion for reducing barriers to care and advocating for youths and young adults’ well-being by calling for attention to the unique social determinants of health as newcomers and international students.

 

Joyce deeply believes in the power of community-led healing. She has spent years engaging in and taking on leadership roles in strength-based mental health peer support models, notably leading the program development for FACTS—a North American international student peer support network—and providing ongoing supervision and training for its volunteers in the past few years. At Project Anchor, Joyce is excited to launch a new Peer Mentorship Program specifically tailored for high school international students across Ontario.

 

Inspired by Dr. Jenny Wang’s book Permission to Come Home on Asian-diaspora mental health, Joyce hopes to address the often unacknowledged grief and identity displacement experienced by international students living in between different cultural systems. Through her strategic leadership at Project Anchor, Joyce aims to bridge existing gaps in the system by establishing direct-client programs that mitigate youth isolation, cultivate a deeper sense of belonging and community connection, as well as fostering a space for these youths to be able to celebrate their individual growth and cultivate personal resilience in faces of adversity.