It is not easy to share feelings. It can sometimes be even harder when you live in an Asian household.
However, the absence of these conversations is deterring individuals from seeking help.
Across the world, one in four individuals will experience a mental health issue at any given year. While strides have been made to increase awareness around mental health, such as the Bell Let’s Talk Day campaign, stigma currently prevents 40% of people with anxiety and depression from seeking support.
The stigma runs even deeper in Asian diaspora communities. In the United States, Asian Americans are three times less likely than other racial and ethnic groups to seek out mental health services.
When you are struggling just to get by, the thought of revealing your condition to your family can send you spiralling into a black hole of “what if’s”, stoking a spectrum of shame and fear. These emotions are rooted in the cultural values that we’ve been brought up with, which traditionally discourages the expression of emotions and promotes self-control and stoicism. Ironically, these values conflict with the idea that sharing your feelings outwardly actually promotes personal well-being.
Others tiptoe around the subject because they just don’t know where to start. Perhaps it’s due to ignorance. Or perhaps it’s the lack of language around mental health. Anita Cheung, the founder of In Bed with Betty, talked about how growing up, there was no word for mental illness in her family, other than “crazy”.
While mental health remains a taboo subject at the dinner table, many public personalities from the Asian entertainment industry are breaking the silence. Celebrity chef, David Chang opened up about his struggle with depression on his podcast, following the death of fellow chef, Anthony Bourdain. Actress Oliva Munn has been vocal throughout her acting career about her battles with depression and a rare form of impulse-control disorder that caused her to compulsively pull at her eyelashes.
Last year, BTS, a group known for addressing social issues through their music, empathized with the pressures young people experience in today’s society and urged those affected by mental illness to get help.
These stories send a powerful message: no one is alone in their suffering.
With more of these stories being brought to light, hopefully more conversations about mental health will be sparked everywhere, and not just around the dinner table.
If you or a loved one is dealing with mental health issues, we encourage you to get help. We have put together a list of mental health resources for the Asian community.
LIST OF MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
*Bell Let’s Talk Day is a Canada-wide initiative to create a stigma-free community. Therefore, the majority of the services we have highlighted below are located in Canada. If you reside outside of Canada, we urge you to seek help at your local crisis centre.
CRISIS HELP
If you are in crisis, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency department or contact a local crisis centre (https://suicideprevention.ca/need-help/).
Canada:
Crisis Help Across Canada – Association for Suicide Prevention
https://www.crisisservicescanada.ca/
Call 1.833.456.4566
Text ‘Start’ to 45645
The Colour Project (Launches February 2020)
https://www.thecolourproject.ca/
One-on-one anonymous text-based, stigmatization-free, peer-based support for individuals struggling with mental illness.
SUCCESS Chinese Helpline
https://www.successbc.ca/eng/services/family-youth/counselling-service/
Provides support to Chinese Canadians who experience difficulties due to language and cultural barriers, and fear of social stigma. while demonstrating cultural sensitivity towards diverse values and beliefs.
Cantonese Helpline 604-270-8233
Mandarin HelpLine 604-270-8222
United States:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential suicide prevention hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
24/7 Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Text TALK to 741741
Lifeline Chat
Asian LifeNet Hotline
1-877-990-8585
Available in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Fujianese
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Subtle Asian Mental Health
https://www.facebook.com/groups/354874495069490/?ref=br_rs
A private online community providing an open and safe space for individuals of Asian descent to share their thoughts and feelings.
South Asian Mental Health Alliance
https://www.facebook.com/pg/southasianmentalhealth/about/?ref=page_internal
The South Asian Mental Health Alliance moderates a mental health forum on Reddit.com, which offers a supportive environment for individuals from the South Asian community to discuss mental health, illness and wellness.
CROSS-CULTURAL PROGRAMS
Canada:
Chimo Services
Offers adult crisis and suicide intervention counselling and parent education series; service offered in Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog, Japanese and Korean
Chinese Mental Health Promotion Program
https://www.getsetconnect.ca/more-cmha-programs.html
The Chinese Mental Health Promotion Program improves the lives of individuals in the Chinese community by increasing awareness of mental health issues, promoting wellness through recreational and leisure activities and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness.
Touchstone Family Association
https://www.touchstonefamily.ca/programs-and-services/family-preservation/chinese-support-group
Provides parent education and support with a cultural emphasis. There are opportunities to develop social networking, parenting skills, sharing experiences, promoting friendship, community resources, enhancing family life and relationships.
United States:
Asian Pacific Counseling and Treatment Centers
Provides multi-disciplinary and culturally sensitive services to individuals, mainly in Asian Pacific communities, who are dealing with a wide range of mental health and social problems.
Asian Community Mental Health Services
Provides and advocates for multicultural and multilingual services that empower the most vulnerable members of the community to lead healthy, contributing, and self-sufficient lives.
Phone: 510.869.6000
Email: info@acmhs.org
Asian Mental Health Collective
Asian Mental Health Collective’s mission is to normalize and de-stigmatize mental health within the Asian community by making it available, approachable, and accessible to Asian communities worldwide.
Hamilton Madison House
http://www.hamiltonmadisonhouse.org/
As the leading provider of behavioural health services for New York City’s Asian community, Hamilton Madison House provides a range of community services, primarily those in the Two Bridges/Chinatown area of Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
MULTILINGUAL MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
CAMH: The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/information-in-other-languages
Offers mental health info sheets in multiple languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Tamil, Vietnamese
Kelty Mental Health Resources
A provincial resource centre that provides resources in all areas of mental health and addictions, such as how to support children and youth with mental challenges and different types of therapy. Resources available in Punjabi, Chinese and Korean.
Each Mind Matters
https://emmresourcecenter.org/resources?search_api_fulltext=&field_target_audience%5B25%5D=25
Created by the California Mental Health Service Authority, the website provides prevention and early intervention resources in multiple languages.
