Jeanie Y. Chang is the author of the new book How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life: Powerful Lessons on Belongingness, Healing, and Mental Health. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a mental health speaker, and an executive coach.
Q: What inspired you to write How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life, which focuses on mental health and Korean drama?
A: My social media community inspired me – specifically my Instagram community.
Since I started Noona’s Noonchi in January 2021, I’ve heard countless stories online as well as in person in workshops and sessions about how K-Dramas have changed their lives for the better, especially when my account and my talks center on how K-Dramas can benefit your well-being.
As folks opened more and more, many shared about how they felt lonely or alone in their love for K-Dramas and desired a community. I also felt as a licensed clinician that I wanted to combine my research with all the heartwarming stories I had been hearing and put it together in a book.
I also want to make my work using K-Dramas to promote more conversations around mental health credible. Writing a book was a great way to validate my work as well my community. I also want my book to help my global community and beyond better understand mental health.
At the end of the day, my book is about mental health. K-Dramas are a tool I use to explain mental health, mental illness and its symptoms, as well as how to navigate through it all.
Q: The writer Marie Myung-Ok Lee said of the book, “Whether you are newly curious or an ardent fan, How K-Dramas Can Transform Your Life is an unforgettable read as well as an invaluable guide to practical strategies into how to use K-Dramas for enjoyment, relaxation, and happiness.” What do you think of that description?
A: I LOVE the description. I couldn’t be more honored that she made the time to read it. I got to know Marie last October 2023 when she attended my K-Drama wellness tour around South Korea.
The tours also started thanks to the global community and interest in visiting the K-Drama sites in South Korea that folks fell in love with by watching. They also felt emotionally connected to South Korea thanks to their connection to mental health.
I got to watch my followers like Marie be transformed in their own way and I absolutely loved getting to hear her story as well.
Q: How did you research the book, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?
A: My research is based on my own experience with therapy, coaching clients, as well as from my in-person and online workshops as a corporate/organizational speaker on mental health where I weave in K-Drama clips.
What surprised me the most was how much my community fell in love with Korean culture itself. Hence, why I started a tour company in Seoul, South Korea, to host tours of my home country.
I am still SO surprised as to how much K-Drama (and K-Pop fans) viewers want to absorb everything they can about Korean culture and are curious about what they watch in K-Dramas in what I feel is a positive way.
Some have told they me they purchase books on Korean history as well as research on their own because they wanted to learn more about my culture! Wow is what I think!
Also, people have started to learn the Korean language, some even sharing with me that they have reached a level of intermediate, etc., and that still surprises me.
It’s mainly because of how I grew up (in the ‘80s) where no one knew or honestly was interested in the Korean culture. I had grown up feeling like a foreigner and sometimes folks made fun of my culture.
Look at where we are today. This is what surprises me the most. Not only did I write a book about Korean dramas, but also started hosting K-Drama tours around South Korea and all my tours have sold out so far!
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?
A: I want readers to feel happy, content, and at peace after reading my book. I am more focused on how folks feel after reading my book. I want them to be more HOPEFUL than ever about their life knowing that mental health is an everyday, every moment thing!
I want them to say – oh, so it is okay to feel depressed sometimes, anxious sometimes, and then search for the K-Drama examples I provide and watch examples that will validate their experiences and make them feel that it’s okay to NOT be okay.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am busy gearing up to head back to South Korea to host my remaining tours for 2024. I have three tours left and they’re sold out.
I am also busy working on new workshop content and social media content as well as expanding my tour and wellness company in South Korea. The company is taking more of my time than expected due to the demand of my K-Drama (and K-Pop) tours!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: At the end of the day, my book is about mental health, not K-Dramas. I am not here to tell you to binge more K-Dramas or watch more K-Dramas. I simply use them as a tool to teach you about mental health and I use them because they’re my method of self-care. However, K-Dramas should never be a replacement for therapy.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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