Breaking Down Barriers to Mental Health Care for AAAI Youth
Highlights
PHI's Lotus Project breaks down barriers and improves access to mental health care in Asian American and Asian Immigrant (AAAI) communities. During 2022-2023, the program focused on youth advocacy efforts, networking, development of new mental health resources and providing trainings and TA to mental health service providers and staff who work with AAAI children and families affected by traumatic events and stress.
7,000+ people reached during 2022-2023 through the dissemination of mental health awareness messages across different communications channels
870 participants attended online and/or in-person trainings in 2022-2023
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Focus Areas
Health Care & Population Health -
Issues
Mental Health, School-based Efforts -
Expertise
Coalition & Network Building, Outreach & Dissemination, Public Policy Advocacy
In Asian American and Asian Immigrant (AAAI) communities, many barriers exist for community members to be able to access and receive mental health care. Some of these barriers include cultural stigma within families and communities about seeking counseling, lack of culturally rooted mental health providers, language barriers, among others. Young people face even more unique challenges, related to cultural pressures, stigma around mental health and family expectations.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for Asian American youth, ages 15-24, representing the only racial group where suicide is the leading cause for mortality within this age range.
The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges and many AAAI individuals have been exposed to increased violence and harassment which have been linked to increased vulnerability to racial stress, trauma and worsened mental health outcomes. With a rapidly growing population and an increasing need for culturally competent and trauma-informed care and prevention services in AAAI communities, very few agencies and workforce/clinicians are able to provide adequate mental health services for AAAI children.
PHI’s Lotus Project helps to bridge this gap by providing technical assistance to mental health service providers, clinicians, community health workers and school staff who work with AAAI children and families affected by traumatic events and stress.
During 2022-2023, the Lotus Project reached over 7,000 people through the dissemination of mental health awareness messages and conducted a total of four webinars and two in-person workshops on trauma-focused approaches and services for AAAI youth. 870 participants attended the online and/or in-person trainings and 54% (more than half of the participants) indicated that they represent the mental health workforce.
I am grateful that Lotus Project has created space with intentionality and inclusion of voices and insights from providers serving to achieve mental wellness among some of the most marginalized Asian populations. The Lotus Project is a valuable resource to many of us who prioritize serving communities with competence in culture and language while maintaining high quality services.Mory Chhom
Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS)
To be part of the Lotus Project Board, working collectively to address the often-neglected traumas among the Asian American community, has been a privilege. The positive feedback I’ve received about the work of the Lotus team has buoyed and challenged me—I’m proud of [what] we’ve accomplished.Dorothy Chin, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
I have witnessed firsthand the significant difference this project makes in the lives of Asian American and Asian Immigrant children and families, providing providers and clinicians with culturally attuned, trauma-informed care and support. The commitment and positive change fostered by the Lotus Project are truly inspiring.Diana Chu, MA, LMFT, RDT
The Lotus Project aims to reduce immediate distress from AAAI youth’s exposure to traumatic events by providing technical assistance and resources regarding the implementation of culturally competent and evidence-based interventions and promising practices. Multiple advisory boards, including a community advisory board, professional advisory board and youth advocacy network have been key to the project’s success and to improving access to mental health services for AAAI youth.
Key Priorities
During 2022-2023, the Lotus Project and its partners focused on the following priorities:
- Advocacy—The Lotus Project advocated for policy changes to increase cultural competency in providing trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAI children and families. They reached out to local and state governments where a large number of AAAI reside, as well as identify cities, counties, and states with a high incidence of mental health problems and hate incidents targeting Asians due to the pandemic, in order to suggest program implementation and policy changes to improve trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAI.
- Online & In-Person Trainings—Workshops and webinars about trauma-focused approaches and services for use in child mental health clinics, schools, child welfare, and juvenile justice settings, and other service areas were offered through the Lotus Project. These trainings were developed based on wide-scale dissemination and implementation of effective, evidence-based treatment and service approaches in child trauma that are specific to AAAI populations. The project also provides individual consultations to service providers, educators, and other professionals.
- Network Building—The Lotus Project served as a growing network and community of service providers, schoolteachers and counselors, public officers of child welfare and public health departments, behavioral health students, and researchers for trauma-informed care and prevention for AAAI children and families. The project collaborates with network members and organizations to develop and disseminate mental health resources and training material for webinars and workshops.
- Resource Development—Through the project, various resources were developed and distributed for service providers addressing the needs in AAAI communities (e.g., fact sheets, training materials, educational videos, etc.).
- Youth Advocacy Interns—The goal of the Lotus Project Youth Mental Health Blog Project was to provide a platform to amplify AAAI youth voices, stories, and experiences. This project was spearheaded by two Youth Advocacy Interns, who assembled a team of 6 passionate writers to be part of the Youth Mental Health Blog Project. They met on Zoom every week to brainstorm, plan, discuss and write about mental health issues in the AAPI community. With the rise in hate crimes against the AAAI community, the team decided to center their blogs around the theme of anti-Asian hate.
Lotus Project Youth Advocates at the 2023 White House Mental Health Summit
Jessica Louie and Wesley Chen, two high school youth advocacy interns with the Lotus Project, spoke at the White House Summit on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health to shed light on these challenges. The summit was held on July 20, 2023, featuring mental health professionals, federal policymakers, Biden-Harris Administration leaders and community leaders across the nation who came together to advance equity and improve access to behavioral health care for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
Jessica Louie spoke about her lived experiences with anti-Asian hate and discrimination on the first panel discussion of the day, “The Impact of Hate Crimes, Violence, Racism and Microaggressions on Mental Health: Harnessing Collective and Cultural Strengths.” Wesley Chen spoke about his lived experiences with the school mental health system in the second panel discussion, “Beyond Stigma: Expanding Access, Integrating Care." Jessica and Wesley were able to bring an incredibly valuable youth perspective and voice to the summit and to the discussions that took place that day.
The Lotus Project builds on previous programs from the Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Prevention for Asian American and Asian Immigrant Children and Families and brings together various community partners and mental health professionals to improve AAAI youth’s access to trauma-informed care.
The Lotus Project is funded by the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is a collaboration between the Public Health Institute (PHI) and Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS).
This impact story was adapted from The Lotus Project newsletter and project brochure.
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