向来重视教育、鼓励孩子“出人头地”的华人，培养出比其他族裔更高比例的社会精英，但是基于种种原因和压力，华裔孩子坠入心理疾病的比例越来越高，实在是我们不容忽视的事实。

来自美国疾控中心的调查数据说，美国亚裔高中生中有18.9%的人产生过轻生念头，比白人高中生高出3.4个百分点，15-24岁美国亚裔女性的自杀死亡率比白人女性的高出30%。

偶然从各种渠道传出的消息，诸如，某名校华人孩子不堪忍受压力跳楼身亡，总让为人父母者心悸、痛惜。来到异国他乡忙于立足、养家，面临文化认同和身份转变压力的家长，为了自己，为了孩子，是该掌握一些心理健康知识了。

这个周日，11月15日，美国华人联合会（UCA“亚裔美国青年心理健康倡议（Asian American Youth Mental Health Initiative）”项目，除邀请到熟悉北卡华人社区的3位精神科专家及教授，介绍他们的研究和临床经验外，还从加州、堪萨斯和伊利诺伊，分别请来曾备受精神疾患折磨的两位华二代和一位家属，分享他们在至暗岁日里的感受和重启人生的经过。

早就关注到华人社区心理健康问题的UCA，从2016年开始启动这个项目，3年来组织全美各地的顶尖专家举办两次大会和十几场讲座，交流心理疾病的研究和治疗成果，普及这方面的知识。这次他们和北卡中央大学、临床学者项目联手，由北卡华联、华人头条、北卡华协、美国华裔精神健康联盟协助，举办这次网络讲座，希望与南北卡同胞一起探讨华人孩子的心理健康话题，并藉此搭建一个纾解心理压力、解除疾病痛苦的交流平台。

主讲嘉宾：

Serena Lin 林恂博士，临床心理学家，纽约大学石溪分校校牧，长期服务和帮助华人面对心理健康问题。

论坛嘉宾：

彭一玲(Elaine Peng)女士，美国华裔精神健康联盟负责人，因家庭遭遇心理疾病导致的悲剧后，致力改善患者康复环境，普及精神健康知识，对抗污名化。

Jackson Chiu，医学博士，精神科医师，北卡州立大学学生咨询中心主任

和天尧（Tim He），青年代表，硕士研究生在读

蔡心怡（Alice Cai），青年代表，高中12年级学生

两人都有罹患心理疾病经历，将向家长和同龄人分享他们的感受和走出泥潭的经验。

Serena Lin 林恂博士

讲座主持：

陈健（Lily Chen）女士，UCA“亚裔美国青年心理健康倡议”项目负责人、RWJF临床学者研究员，北卡中央大学讲师

林宝华（Pao-Hwa Lin）博士，杜克大学医学院副教授

时间：

11月15日 周日 美东时间下午3:00

Zoom链接：

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RvHYXMbsS7Wof2yEZ6XFTg

在本次讲座中，主讲嘉宾和论坛嘉宾将回答下列问题：

1.精神疾病有哪些预兆?

What are some of the warning signs of mental illness?

2.没有药物治疗人们能克服精神疾病吗?

Can people get over mental illness without medication?

3.如果我认识的人出现精神障碍症状，我该怎么办？

What should I do if someone I know appears to have the symptoms of a mental disorder？

4.文化在我们对待心理健康的方式中扮演着重要的角色吗?

Does culture play a big part in how we approach mental health?

5.我如何教育我的父母为什么心理健康很重要?

How can I educate my parents on why mental health is important?

更多问题，请扫描海报上的二维码注册，或扫码加入下面的微信群提问，以便讲座嘉宾和主持人解答。

Breaking Silences in the Model Minority

A national intervention to increase mental health awareness and decrease stigma in Asian immigrant families

For the past four years, UCA has worked with Chinese American community with thousands of community members. One of the most urgent issues expressed by parents and community members is youth mental health. This concern is validated by observed students experiences and behaviors.

Due to cultural expectations, identity issues, low health literacy about mental health, stigma against mental health, and social isolation, Chinese/Asian American youth are suffering “silently” with mental illness and emotional stress. Insufficient support from families and their community, as well as lack of available Chinese speaking mental health professionals, further contributes to the problem According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) & Prevention (2016), in general, Asian Americans report fewer mental health concerns compared to White Americans

• 18.9 percent of Asian American high school students report considering suicide, versus 15.5 percent of white high school students.
• 10.8 percent of Asian American high school students report having attempted suicide, versus 6.2 percent of white high school students.
• Asian American high school females are twice as likely (15 percent) to have attempted suicide than their male peers (7 percent)
• Suicide death rates are 30 percent higher for 15-24 year old Asian American females than they are for white females (5.3 versus 4.0)

In order to meet the urgent needs of our community, United Chinese Americans (UCA), a national coalition of Chinese Americans dedicated to civic engagement, youth development, and heritage-sharing (www.ucsusa.org), has worked with its chapters to address mental health issues facing the community. UCA has taken a leap of faith to tackle this issue with very limited resources and funding, collaborating with its Illinois chapter (il.ucausa.org) and community partners to organize 12 youth mental conferences in Chicago (2), Minnesota (1), Wisconsin (2), Ohio (3), Nevada(1), San Francisco (1), and at the 2016 and 2018 Chinese American Conventions (2) in Washington, DC.

This past summer, UCA organized three very impactful mental health webinars, and co-organized the most recent one in September.

---

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

We also are building a Chinese American mental health network with other organizations and individuals including Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Center for Cross-Cultural Student Emotional Wellness, also affiliated with Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry; the Pacific, Education, Advocacy, Research, Learning (PEARL) Institute of New York, affiliated with New York University’s (NYU) Silver School of Social Work; National Alliance of Mental Illness NAMI North Carolina Chapter; and mental health discussion groups with on social media, including WeChat, an app-based platform popular among Chinese Americans. We also support many community organizations in their efforts to educate our community about youth mental health.

In November, 2019, UCA started to lead the process for the Clinical Scholar Leadership Development Program from Robert Woods Johnson Foundation RWJF. UCA is proud to announce that our Clinical Scholar team was chosen as one of the eight teams nationwide as the 2020 Clinical Scholar Cohort.

RWJF is the nation’s  largest healthcare  philanthropy with the commitment to continue working passionately toward improved health and health care for everyone in America. Clinical Scholars is a national leadership program for experienced health care providers advancing health equity supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

OUR GUIDING PRINCIPLES:“The inspired vision of our founder, General Robert Wood Johnson II, was to improve health and healthcare in America, especially for those most in need. Energized by our legacy of taking on challenging issues, we are dedicated to building a Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being.

We take seriously our responsibilities, and we pledge to work in ways that reflect our values:

• We seek bold and lasting change rooted in the best available evidence, analysis, and science, openly debated.
• We treat everyone with fairness and respect.
• We act as good stewards of private resources, using them to advance the public’s interest with a focus on helping the most vulnerable.
• We cultivate diversity, inclusion, and collaboration.
• We speak out as leaders for what we believe.

We are privileged to do this work. We are proud of our successes and accomplishments, and we believe our best achievements lie ahead.”

UCA MHI to Participate in RWJF Clinical Scholars Program

Click to Read news release

Short Project Summary

Our project, “A national intervention to increase mental health awareness and decrease stigma in Asian immigrant families” tackles the problem of mental health and suicide in Chinese immigrant families. Although Asian American youth are often stereotyped as a uniformly well-educated and successful “model minority,” they are at high risk of depression and suicide. Parents often want to help, but face barriers including communication and language challenges, lack of awareness, and stigma of mental health issues and treatment. Our team will develop and disseminate culturally tailored, evidence-informed, and scalable programs and tools focused on mental health awareness, stigma reduction, and help-seeking that decrease suicide risk and directly empower Asian immigrant families to live their healthiest lives. Strategies at the individual level will focus on stigmatization and education. Strategies at the family level will focus on improving parenting skills and practices, including parent-child communication. Community-level strategies will focus on building national networks and resources, including a national provider directory, in partnership with school districts and community organizations throughout the country. While the primary focus of the current project is Chinese immigrant families, we anticipate that the programs, tools, and models developed can be adapted for other Asian and minority communities.

Team Members

• Lily Chen, Nurse, Project Director, United Chinese Americans UCA & North Carolina Central University 
• Weiyang Xie, Psychologist, United Chinese Americans UCA & University of Notre Dame 
• Justin Chen, Physician, Project co-director, Massachusetts General Hospital  
• Juliana Chen, Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital 

More information on the foundation websites https://clinicalscholarsnli.org/

Contact Person Information

Name: (Lily) Jian Chen, RN, MA, CNE
Title: Senior Advisor
Organization: United Chinese Americans (UCA)
Email: lily.chen@ucausa.org

UCA Houston July Webinar: Dealing with bullying, hate crimes, and discrimination

Webinar on July 28, 2020, organized by UCA Houston and Global Federation of Chinese Business Women in Southern USA, with a video recording on UCA Youtube Channel.

As immigrants and minorities in the United States, Chinese Americans may be subject often to prejudice and discrimination. Children may face bullies at school. Women often encounter such situations in workplaces and professional life.

The rising anti-Chinese sentiment and increased incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes have been of great concern to our community recently. The situation has exacerbated during the COVID pandemic and in the 2020 election season when political tactics such as blame game, racial hate, xenophobia, and international conflicts are being deployed in full swing to distract voters and instigate tension. Unfortunately, the Chinese community is caught in between the racial attacks and deteriorating US-China relationship, and is suffering as a scapegoat and bargain chip amid the national crises and global conflicts.

Racist remarks used by some US officials, with labels such as “Chinese virus” and “Kung Flu,” along with broad-stroke accusation under the name of national security and intellectual property theft have further inflamed hostility and incite mistrust towards the Chinese American community. 

According to a US-based coalition, hate crimes and other racist incidents have surged to more than 2,000 reported cases since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conceivably, there have been far more unreported cases occurring everywhere in the country and affecting many, many families.  

To help the Asian community, especially women and students, address these issues and learn how to deal with the situation, UCA Houston has teamed up with the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women (GFCBW) in Southern USA and hosted a webinar on Tuesday, July 28, at 7:30 PM – 9 PM, entitled, “Dealing with bullying, hate crimes, and discriminations during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Panelists of the webinar include Dr. Helen Shih, a member of UCA Houston and Alice Hsiao, a member of GFCBW Southern USA. Dr. Helen Shih, an expert in holistic health, has spent many years on scientific studies and professional development. As a UCA board member, Dr. Helen Shih leads the organization’s efforts in Houston. She has also been an advocate and community organizer committed to the social progress, civic engagement, and social-emotional wellbeing of the Asian community.

Alice Hsiao, AIHCP Certified, Nutritional Science, B.S., M.A., is a spiritual counselor. She is an active member of GFCBW Southern USA and the Houston Chinese community. She helps individuals and families deal with mental-spiritual issues related to bullying, discrimination, abuse, and social and domestic violence. She is also a certified floral designer at the Houston Floral Art Institute, where she uses floral arrangements to relieve mental stress and promote healing and trauma release.

Ms. Nancy Chen and Ms. Dawn Lin, the leadership of GFCBW Southern USA, moderated the webinar along with Professor Steven Pei, former chairman of UCA, who provided technical guidance. The webinar focused on the harm of bullying, hate crimes, and discrimination, as well as effective ways to deal with them. Bullying can lead to mental health issues such as depression and self-harm among Chinese youth. Mental health has been recognized as an important aspect of community wellbeing, especially among the youth as the second generation of Chinese families. The webinar also made connections with the conflicts arising from different cultural traditions and with the civil rights concerns.  

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Houston Chinese community has organized numerous relief efforts and humanitarian events. When Asian businesses were impacted and anti-Asian sentiment was on the rise, the community organized the “Asian Americans Salute Frontline Heroes” (AASFH) events with a great impact. Both UCA Houston and GFCBW Southern USA played key roles in these activities. 

UCA Houston also organized important events including the “Vincent and Lily Chin Award Ceremony” and the “From Vincent Chin to George Floyd” webinar at the end of June, commemorating two heroes who rescued an Asian family, victims of a March 2020 hate crime in Midland Texas.

UCA, a leading national organization for the welfare and civil rights of Chinese immigrants, has been actively engaged in pandemic relief efforts and in promoting the social status of Chinese Americans. During May,  the Asian American Heritage Month, UCA organized a nationwide donation drive to deliver free Chinese meals to frontline workers and needy families in a “Food of Love” campaign. Recently, UCA has filed an amicus brief to join Harvard University and MIT in their lawsuit to stop the execution by the Trump administration in its ill-conceived visa restriction policy on international students.

Founded in Taiwan in 1994,  GFCBW has helped women compete and succeed in the business world by providing training, networking, and marketing opportunities.  Today, with 74 branches worldwide, GFCBW is the only international association that was started from Taiwan for Chinese women in business (http://gfcbw.org). The Southern USA chapter, the first chapter of GFCBW, has been established in Houston for 35 years. The chapter is not only a platform for business activities to serve overseas Chinese, but also a nonprofit organization to promote community welfare. It has actively contributed to Houston relief efforts during the pandemic, including donating PPE supplies and meals. For more information,  please visit http://gfcbw-houston.org.