Chien-Chi Huang has fought to connect local Asian American communities with mental health resources for years. She has organized mental health forums, held social hours designed to promote self-care, and trained to be a mental health peer advocate.
But Huang found that COVID-19, with its crushing isolation and the wave of anti-Asian violence that followed, has sparked a broader conversation about mental health issues, as has a growing number of high-profile Asian Americans speaking out about their own struggles during the pandemic and beyond.
“When the mental health movement started, it usually wouldn’t get a lot of attention except from white people,” said Huang, founder, and director of the Boston-based nonprofit Asian Women for Health, which will host its annual Asian American Mental Health Forum Saturday. But “when you see celebrities that look like you also have these kinds of problems, it normalizes the actions to seek help.”
Several local organizations said increasing demand for services comes with the need for more resources — something they haven’t had access to. Historically, Asian-focused groups of any type have received a tiny percentage of grant funding.
While the stigma surrounding mental health can keep people from seeking help, community groups say there is also a shortage of bilingual and bicultural mental health professionals who understand the issues that first- and second-generation populations face.
Read more at BostonGlobe.com.
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