This deeply personal memoir is a story of healing, written like a riveting thriller with plot twists and cliffhangers, You are invited to vicariously walk along on the healing journey with author Kyoung Mi Choi and her Umma (the Korean word for mom). From South Korea, married to a woman from the Netherlands while living and working in the United States, the story spans three generations and three continents. As a professor of counselor education, Choi grounds the healing process in her professional experience. This book captures the beauty and challenges of intergenerational and intercultural relationships.
BOOK DETAILS
Genre: memoirs
Language: English
Pages: 204
Price: $15.55
In The Child Behind the Bushes, author Kyoung Mi Choi leads readers on a healing journey that spans three generations and three continents. It begins when Umma, Choi’s mother, shares family secrets during their mother-daughter trip to Jeju Island, a sparkling coastal enclave just off the Korean mainland. Her mother’s revelations – at first about Choi’s maternal grandmother – open a window onto a past that Choi could never have imagined. Her grandmother’s life swung wildly between poverty and privilege, Japanese colonization and the Korean War, and an impressive legal victory that stunningly ended in business bankruptcy. The details helped Choi understand her grandmother’s baffling silence and revealed a new side to her grandmother – that of a courageous, strong, and hopeful young woman coping in the only way she knew how.
But the secrets don’t end there. Soon, Choi and her mother are shocked by what they learn about each other. Opening up little by little, they ultimately replace feelings of disconnection and loneliness with deeper love and a surprising new joy. Newfound forgiveness and liberation also transform their relationships with significant others.
Now a professor at an American university who teaches counseling to master’s students, Choi was startled to find her professional research colliding uncannily with her own family’s story, offering herself and her mother a gentle path out of intergenerational trauma. Their experience is an invitation to millions worldwide who could similarly find freedom from unconsciously bequeathed trauma.
About The Author
Kyoung Mi Choi is a first-generation Korean-American counselor educator. She is a Professor at San José State University in California and a Program Specialist at the AANHPI 'Ohana Center of Excellence, which is funded by a federal grant from SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration). The team, based in Hawaii and California, aims to create culturally sustainable resources for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander mental and behavioral wellness. Additionally, the Ohana Center trains facilitators to support local mental health providers, educators, and community organizations working closely with AANHPI communities. It's inspiring to witness the expansion of this work nationwide.
Her research interests focus on culturally empowering counseling approaches, mindfulness-based counseling interventions and programs, social connectedness among third culture kids and cross-cultural kids, international student adjustment and academic success, and advocacy for LGBTQ college students.
Choi has been recognized as an International Fellow in the National Board of Certified Counselors and as a recipient of the NASFA Diversity Impact Program. She’s also been a Public Voices Fellow and regularly contributes to Psychology Today. California Assembly Member Ash Kalra recognized Choi's work with the 2022 Leader in Community Advocacy award for her vision and leadership in creating the Queer Educator and Counselor Network.
She has served on the board of directors for Families in Global Transitions and as a member of editorial boards for various journals, including the Journal of Counseling and Development, Journal of College Student Development, and Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling. She earned her Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Syracuse University and has been teaching counseling and higher education courses for over a decade.