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Decolonizing Mental Health Series Looks at Asian American-Related Issues

by The Alliance for Rights and Recovery

NYAPRS Note: This comes courtesy of Carlton Whitmore and the NYC Office of Consumer Affairs.

Decolonizing Mental Health Series logo.jpg

Dear CAFAMH friends and supporters:

To celebrate BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to share with you all Decolonizing Mental Health, a new digital series co-produced by RADA Studios, WORLD Channel, and PBS (see description and links below). The Asian American segment features CAFAMH’s very own Dr. Linh An and Sharyn Luo, LCSW.

The series spotlights the systemic inequality plaguing the mental health industry and how we can de-stigmatize talking about mental health. Also, the films introduce BIPOC mental health professionals who are working to provide treatment and support to communities of color. By focusing its gaze on the transformative work of therapists and community members, it calls for a redressal of the ways in which we define psychiatric illness and health. 

Best,
CAFAMH 

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We continue with our Decolonizing Mental Health series focusing on Asian Americans and the mental healthcare system. With the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic and the lack of how Asian Americans are seen in the mental health system, we feature interviews with AAPI community advocates about breaking down barriers for a more inclusive system that can better serve the AAPI communities.

Anthropologist Linh An calls for a just mental healthcare system that dismantles racism. The language of the American mental healthcare system is English and jargon-heavy, which automatically casts away people who don’t speak the language. This is a violent act of racism which denies immigrant communities the healthcare they deserve. When examining its inherent racism, a culturally competent health care system needs to grow beyond the binaries of Black and white, and serve everyone.  As  Executive Director of Chinese-American Family Alliance for Mental Health, she speaks first-hand of the barriers the AAPI community face.  
Watch the full interview: https://worldchannel.org/special/linh-an-decolonizing-mental-health/

Social worker Sharyn Luo and Linh An also discuss the cultural and societal stigmas that weigh in on Asian American communities and lack of willingness to seek mental health treatment.  In Asian communities, where the family is the core of all societal relations, a completely avoidable stigma pits the family against the healthcare system. Why does a medical emergency allow family members to enter the ER while a mental health emergency singles out the patient? A collective mental health pandemic can only be addressed through solutions that are social and familial. She is also a volunteer with the Chinese-American Family Alliance for Mental Health.
Watch the full interview: https://worldchannel.org/special/linh-an-sharyn-luo-decolonizing-mental-health/

Additionally, we feature community advocates Paul Hoang, LCSW and Kelvin Nguyen as they advocate empathy and care within the Vietnamese community as well as Asian American communities recognize their mental health with a cultural approach . Hoang was also part of our Decolonizing Mental Health practitioners panel event.  You can watch their stories on worldchannel.org’s  Decolonizing Mental Health series and PBS Mysteries of Mental Illness.

About the series: Decolonizing Mental Health dismantles the racism that underscores the mental healthcare industry. By focusing its gaze on the transformative work of therapists and individuals of color, it calls for a redressal of the ways in which we define psychiatric illness and health.  Decolonizing Mental Health is an exclusive WORLD Channel digital series in partnership with PBS Mysteries of Mental Illness. This 20-episode short film series spotlights the systemic inequality plaguing the mental health industry and how we can de-stigmatize talking about mental health. These films, co-produced by RADA Studio, introduce mental health professionals of color who are working to provide treatment and support to communities of color. 

Each week, two to three short films will be released across WORLD Channel’s platforms (worldchannel.org, YouTube ) and the PBS app. WORLD Channel will provide ways to connect with our audience through social media engagement, brand-to-audience conversations, and providing articles, vetted information and resources.  Our films will be packaged and presented across relevant themes (Black Men and Mental Health, Asian Americans and Mental Health, Indigenous Trauma, Latinx and Mental Health, Invisible Populations: Homelessness/Disability, Religion and Mental Health Treatment, Impact of Race and Whiteness on Mental Health Treatment) through social media in conjunction with individual/grouped episodes.

As each theme rolls out, we will send emails and newsletters highlighting these communities. Make sure to subscribe to the WORLD Channel newsletter to get exclusive updates and subscribe to WORLD’s YouTube Channel for streaming notifications.

You can find the series on worldchannel.org, WORLD’s YouTube Channel and on the PBS App and PBS Mystery of Mental Illness site. Watch the full YouTube playlist  and read our synopsis.  
Follow @worldchannel and join the social conversations on the series with #MentalHealthPBS.

Shareable Assets:  We want to share our social toolkit to help you and your organization learn more and encourage you to promote the film series throughout your networks. 

Please reach out to our digital team if you would like to follow up with any questions. 
Eleanor Hong
WORLD Channel | GBH
Director, Audience Development
eleanor_hong@wgbh.org
301.613.6500 Cell  
One Guest Street, Boston, MA 02135

Visit WORLDchannel.org and follow @worldchannel on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on exclusive films. #DiversityMatters