Yollanda Zhang‘s road to becoming a therapist has been anything but straight. She has been an engineer, a high school teacher, an entrepreneur and a nonprofit founder, all while holding on to a dream she first had as a teenager.
.
This fall, that childhood dream will become a reality when Zhang crosses the stage at Yorkville University‘s Fredericton convocation to receive her Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP) degree – and she’ll mark the occasion as one of just two graduating students chosen to address her fellow graduates.
.
For much of her life, Zhang kept another part of her story largely to herself. After 25 years of living with bipolar disorder in silence, she has recently begun speaking openly about her experience and the role it has played in shaping who she is today.
.
Her story was recently featured in Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre‘s Out of Darkness documentary series, while her essay, Beautifully Unbroken: What Kintsugi Taught Me About Healing, earned a Gold Award from the Digital Health Awards. Her first book, Dear Younger Me: Becoming the Hero I Needed, is also forthcoming from Dundurn Press in May 2027.
.
Along the way, Zhang has also built a community around helping young people find their own confidence and resilience. As the founder of Girl. Strong., a nonprofit that has helped young people build confidence and life skills, she has spent years supporting others – even as she worked toward becoming the therapist she once dreamed of being.
.
We spoke with Zhang about what brought her to Yorkville, what she’s taking with her and the advice she’d give to students just starting out. Here’s what she had to say:
.
What brought you to Yorkville University? Where were you in your life/career when you decided to continue your studies with us?
.
My path to Yorkville was definitely a scenic one! I originally trained as an engineer, then became a high school teacher, entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, mental health advocate, and author. By the time I came to Yorkville, I had also been living with Bipolar I disorder for more than two decades.
.
I had wanted to become a therapist since I was in high school, but for many reasons, I followed other paths. Eventually, after doing a great deal of my own healing and completing Gabor Maté’s year-long Compassionate Inquiry training, I finally felt I had the agency to choose the career I had always wanted.
.
Yorkville felt possible because of its flexibility. Living with bipolar disorder meant I couldn’t predict when I might become unwell, and I needed a program that could accommodate the realities of my life rather than requiring my life to accommodate the program.
.
What made you decide to pursue your Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology?
.
In many ways, becoming a therapist feels less like starting a new career and more like coming home to something I had wanted for a very long time.
.
My own experiences with mental illness, therapy, motherhood, cultural identity, and healing gave me a deep appreciation for what it means to have someone sit beside you during the hardest chapters of your life. Over time, I realized I wanted to offer that kind of space to others.
.
During my Compassionate Inquiry training, I was surrounded by practicing therapists who repeatedly encouraged me to become one myself. Eventually I thought, maybe they’re seeing something I’m finally ready to see too.
.
So, more than 30 years after first imagining this career, I enrolled in the MACP program.
.
.
What is the most important thing you’re taking away from your studies at Yorkville University?
.
Surprisingly, I think the most important thing I’m taking away is community.
.
I didn’t expect to develop such meaningful relationships in a virtual program. My classmates supported me through difficult periods when my bipolar disorder made completing the program feel overwhelming. We shared resources, encouraged each other, and got through what felt like hundreds of DQs and papers together!
.
My professors also became important parts of my journey. Dr. Amanda Evans helped me grow tremendously during practicum, and Dr. Rosanne Nunnery went from being my professor to becoming a mentor and friend. She read the earliest draft of my forthcoming book, Dear Younger Me®: Becoming the Hero I Needed, and eventually wrote its foreword and participated in one of the interviews in the book.
.
Yorkville taught me a great deal about counselling, but it also reminded me that we don’t have to do difficult things alone.
.
What are your plans after graduation, both immediate and long term?
.
Immediately, I’m excited to begin this next chapter as a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) and build my private practice, where I work particularly with high-achieving clients navigating perfectionism, cultural conditioning, intergenerational patterns, and the desire to live and parent differently.
.
I’m also preparing for the publication of my first book, Dear Younger Me®: Becoming the Hero I Needed, with Dundurn Press in May 2027. The book brings together many parts of my life: my lived experience with bipolar disorder, motherhood, cultural identity, trauma, healing, and now my clinical training.
.
Longer term, I hope to continue bringing together psychotherapy, writing, speaking, and mental health advocacy. For the first time in my career, these different parts of my life don’t feel like separate paths anymore. They feel like they’ve converged into one.
.
If you offered one piece of advice to an incoming student, what would that be?
.
Find your people.
.
Graduate school can be demanding, especially when you’re balancing it with work, family, health, and everything else happening in your life. I don’t think I would have made it through Yorkville without the classmates, professors, friends, and family who walked alongside me.
.
So participate in the DQs, even when you’re completely tired of them! Reach out to classmates. Ask your professors questions. Share resources. Let people help you when things are difficult, and be that person for someone else when you can.
.
Your name may be the one that eventually appears on the degree, but there will probably be many people’s fingerprints on it.
