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Kathleen Wong(Lau) knows the psychological weight of depression. She felt it during her younger years as a college student and again when her brother died during the pandemic. 

“I saw it explode through my entire family,” said the Cal State East Bay’s University Diversity Officer. “It was really, really difficult — to be a caregiver but also to be grieving myself. And that was compounded by being blamed for the pandemic, the anti-Asian hate that was occurring at the same time that we were grieving the loss of my Asian American brother.”

Wong(Lau) learned the hard way to find and get the help she needed, but many others in the Asian American community remain invisible — struggling in silence. According to data from the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, Asian Americans are 60% less likely to utilize mental health services, even though 16.8% of those in the community experience mental illness. And for those who do attempt to seek out mental health services, there can be roadblocks, including language barriers, cultural stigma and navigating the health system. There are similar gaps for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. 

“Suicide is the number one killer of Asian Americans between the ages of 16 and 25 and a top cause of death for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders as well,” said Wong(Lau). “That doesn’t even count the number of people who have attempted suicide or have suicidal ideations. We have an entire generation of folks who are under so much psychological distress that they are thinking of ending their lives, and this is totally invisible as a leading issue for AANHPIs to most school systems, universities, and even to some mental health care providers. 

As a co-PI and project facilitator for the $3.5 million SAMHSA grant-funded ‘Ohana Center of Excellence for AANHPI Behavioral Health, Wong(Lau) is trying to change things through the work of the multi-institutional team she leads. Her work and the work of the ‘Ohana CoE team will be featured at the Mental Health Summit organized by the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She will be one of four featured speakers at the AANHPI Mental Health Summit event at the White House on July 24 at 10:30 a.m. This event — marking National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month — will provide updates from the Biden-Harris Administration on its ongoing work to support the mental health and well-being of underserved communities. Wong will be one of the featured experts, who, along with senior federal officials, will provide insights and resources specific to the mental health needs of AA and NHPI communities.

“We have two challenges,” said Wong. “One is making behavioral health care providers aware and giving them training and resources so that they can provide evidence-based, culturally informed support and services. Second, it’s educating our communities so that we can encourage our children, our colleagues, and other people to seek behavioral health services and to overcome some of the cultural stigma that prevents us from seeking help.”

“It is a very strong equity and systemic framework that guides the work of our ‘Ohana CoE team and has driven it to be recognized across the federal agency we are housed in in Health and Human Services,” said Wong(Lau). 

Wong(Lau) says improving mental health for the AANHPIn community requires us to look at it from every angle. She says the challenges are surmountable as long as we can systematically chip away at it. The event at the White House is an opportunity to get more eyes on a pressing issue across agencies and sectors of the public

“To be able to speak on a stage that is elevated on a subject that some people are not aware of or rarely talk about in terms of treatments and actions is incredibly important,” said Wong(Lau). “And to do it based in the California State University higher education system makes me so happy. I have incredible CSU colleagues on this grant team, and we are partnered with the State of Hawaii’s behavioral health system and Papa Ola Lokahi, a federally funded healthcare center that serves Native Hawaiians. We are innovating on so much” said Wong(Lau). “It is going to take time, and we need everybody’s help. There are not enough robust evidence-based practices for specific ethnic communities and almost no reliable language access resources nationally in AANHPI behavioral health resources and services. But it is doable. Our CoE can help coordinate things to scale and raise the priority so that resources are coordinated towards a focused national effort extended locally.”