Christine Catipon is clinical psychologist at the University of California, Irvine Counseling Center. Growing up Filipina, she says that people around her did not want to talk about mental health. Catipon is now working to dismantle barriers that keep people away from this crucial therapy. She shares her Brief But Spectacular take on Asian American mental health.

As wildfires continue to rage in the western United States, we look at how these increasingly common events are affecting the people in the midst of them. Lucy Walker is a documentary filmmaker whose most recent work, "Bring Your Own Brigade," follows residents after the disastrous Camp Fire in California. She offers her Brief But Spectacular take on the power of documentary filmmaking.

As long as he can remember, author Viet Thanh Nguyen has been interested in how stories about his home country of Vietnam are told in America. In his own works, including the Pulitzer-winning novel "The Sympathizer," he centers on the voices of refugees like himself. He offers his Brief But Spectacular take on writing and memory.

Roxane Gay has used writing as a means to untangle and communicate her own trauma since childhood. Now a successful author, professor and mentor to many, she advises young women and aspiring writers on how to harness their voices. Gay shares her Brief But Spectacular take on effective ways of being heard.