By Taryn Hwang
This summer I had the privilege of representing AAPI Youth Rising at the White House Initiative on AANHPI Mental Health Convening. The experience was inspiring and eye-opening, and it was an honor for us to bring a youth perspective to the discussion. I was struck by the incredible work being done by various organizations around the country, each dedicated to tackling mental health issues in their unique communities.
Immediately following the conference, I traveled to Japan to join my family on a summer trip. Being in a country where I looked similar to the people around me but came from a completely different background provided a powerful lens for me to reflect on culture and identity. I wondered what it was like to be a teenager in Japan. What inspired or frustrated them about their world? I wondered if the mental health crisis we are seeing at home is brewing there as well. What kinds of pressure and stress do they feel? Is there stigma around discussing mental health among their peers or families?
Culture is indeed a beautiful part of us, enriching our lives and contributing to our identities in profound ways. But at times, cultural norms and expectations can also be an added weight and become a barrier to our mental health. In this context, the stories shared in D.C. highlighted the importance of culturally aware interventions and a flexible tailored approach when designing mental health services and programs. Just as data disaggregation on Asian subgroups can reveal varied needs and obstacles, our mental health strategies need to reflect these diverse experiences.
Larke Huang PhD, Director of the Office of Behavioral Health Equity, SAMHSA, spoke about the challenges she encountered in her prior work in my own part of the country San Francisco: “We had a hard time getting people to come into clinical care, and often times they had to really be severely symptomatic. So the stigma issues, the lack of access to services, lack of access to linguistic services, puts major impediments to mental healthcare for this population.”
AYR’s own Ethan Su and Soha Mahapatra shared poignant comments collected from youth around the country:
“The Asian model-minority myth means we have to score 110% to succeed. We have to work harder than everyone. We are expected to be quiet, submissive, accepting, and invisible. When we can’t meet these expectations we feel stress, unworthiness, and anxiety. These, by the way, are feelings we are not supposed to feel at all. These are excuses. In Asian cultures mental illness is taboo and a sign of weakness. We are expected to power through.”
“It’s really difficult to be seen first as different, second as foreign, and third as Asian. Our identities beyond those don’t really matter. We are constantly othered. We feel the need to sacrifice our Asian identities to ‘fit in.’ This conflict is stressful. It leads to more loneliness and anxiety.”
What emerged from these shared stories of challenges and hurdles was in fact a sense of immense hope. As we left the Mental Health Convening, I was energized and inspired by the dedicated warriors working tirelessly at local, state, and federal levels to address mental health within AANHPI communities. With courageous pioneers like WHIAANHPI Executive Director Krystal Ka’ai, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, Deputy Assistant to the President Erika Moritsugu, and all the community champions leading the charge, I’m excited to continue finding ways my peers and I can contribute to this important work. With the new school year starting, I hope we can continue to integrate these discussions into our communities and make sure that all voices, including those of young people, are heard and valued.