ABHPC Prevention Pathways Monthly Bulletin for May 2024

Asian Pacific Heritage Month

Asian American, Native Hawai’ian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month has been celebrated every May since the early 1990s. This year’s theme is Advancing Leaders Through Innovation, which continues the “Advancing Leaders” series that began in 2021. The series celebrates the contributions made by AANHPI to the United States including advancements in the economy, technology, and social and political changes.

California is home to over six million Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, which is 30% of the nation’s Asian American population. According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, only 25% of Asian Americans received mental health services, which is about half the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites. The survey also reported that “eight percent of Asian Americans and 15.7% of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders reported have a substance use disorder, 11% of Asian Americans reported illicit drug use in the past year, and 7% reported unmet treatment needs.” The COVID-19 pandemic led to increased incidences of discrimination against Asian Americans and thus an increased impact on mental health.

Barriers to behavioral health care treatment for AANHPI include language barriers, stigma within AANHPI cultures, a perception of lower need for behavioral health care, and a lack of diversity and cultural humility among healthcare providers. Organizations across the country are dedicated to addressing these challenges. The The Asian American Health Initiative provides tools, technical assistance, education, and resources to folks working in substance use and behavioral health to increase cultural humility in services provision. The Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) aims to impact the health needs of AANHPI through advocacy and other health equity focused initiatives. APAMSA’s Mental Health Initiative aims to break codes of silence about mental health and share resources to support AANHPI. The Asian American/Pacific Islander Nurses Association, Inc. aims to influence health policies for that affect the health of AAPIs and support professional development opportunities for AAPI nurses.

Jewish American Heritage Month

May marks Jewish American Heritage month, a time to acknowledge the contributions of Jewish populations living in the United States as well as the challenges Jewish people have faced throughout history. California is home to over 1.2 million Jewish people, with most of the population residing in Los Angeles.

Several factors put Jewish Americans at risk for mental health diagnoses. Recent generational trauma and antisemitism can cause stress, and Jewish Americans may be hesitant to receive treatment due to stigma in the religion. Jewish males have significantly higher rates of major depression than other religious members. Although other mental health diagnoses and substance use/misuse is not generally higher among Jewish Americans compared to other populations, there is still value to providing resources that tailor mental health and substance use support to these communities.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles offers a variety of resources including The Ezra Network and Aleinu, which are counseling and other services tailored to Jewish individuals and families. Incorporating faith with treatment leverages on protective factors including community and connection with spirituality. The Aleph Institute has a variety of programs to support incarcerated individuals, service members, and their families. They also founded Project 432, a program that supports prevention for incarceration.

To learn more, you can visit the Library of Congress for ideas on how you can honor Jewish American Heritage month this May.

Mental Health Awareness Month

Mental Health Awareness month was established in 1949 with the goal of spreading awareness and education about mental health, policy advocacy, and reducing stigma. In addition to recognizing initiatives from mental health agencies across the nation for Mental Health Awareness month, we’d like to share resources for practices you can do to take care of your mental health.

This year, there is a new theme for each week of Mental Health Awareness month: Week 1 is older adults, Week 2 is children and teens, week 3 is pregnant and postpartum people, week 4 is racial and ethnic minority groups, and week 5 is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual+ communities. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has a toolkit with resources and key messages for each week’s theme. May 7 marked Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day – you can find resources for opening up conversations between teens and their guardians or parents at the American Psychological Association’s Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day page and check out California Health and Human Services’ mental health resources for youth.

For Mental Health Awareness month, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) created the Take the Moment campaign. NAMI has a programs on Mental Health Education for a variety of populations, including specific support resources for service members, veterans, and their families (NAMI Homefront), Black/African Ancestry Communities (NAMI Sharing Hope), Hispanic/Latin American Communities (NAMI Compartiendo Esperanza), and others. NAMI has a toolkit for Mental Health Awareness month that includes social media graphics and fact sheets.

ABHPC held a Community of Practice on Centering Wellness: Mindfulness and Selfcare in Primary Prevention in March. During the session, our consultant M. Alejandra Acuña (PhD., LCSW, PPSC) guided participants through a variety of powerful, calming meditations including a loving kindness meditation (my personal favorite!). You can find recordings the loving kindness and other meditations at University of California Los Angeles Health department’s website.

For additional resources about efforts in California for Mental Health Awareness month, please check out:

Social Drivers of Health Fundamentals: Substance Use/Misuse and Mental Health Prevention Influences Associated with your Neighborhood and Built Environment

Think about the neighborhood you grew up in. What were some of the protective factors present around housing, schools, and walkability? Were there barriers to those protective factors such as lack of transportation or safety? Our neighborhoods and built environment act as a driver of our health outcomes later in life, including substance use and misuse and mental health. Identifying and addressing these factors is one of the goals of Healthy People 2030.

There is a history of environments being built to discriminate against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations even after the passing of anti-segregation laws. This leads to barriers to secure housing and access to healthy foods, and increased exposure to air pollution and risky work environments that expose employees to dangerous chemicals and heat strain. Lack of secure housing is linked with substance use and mental health diagnoses, although there is limited generalizable research.

There are ongoing efforts in California to address the barriers in neighborhood and built environments. Catalyst California uses research and advocacy efforts for change in BIPOC and low-income communities, including their Equity in Community Investments program that empowers residents and equips them with tools for change. The National Health Foundation addresses inequity in the built environments in Los Angeles County through developing safe community spaces such as parks and community gardens and increasing walkability in neighborhoods. The California Department of Health Care Services aims to transform Medi-Cal with new services and streamlined efforts to improve health equity. You can learn more about the Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan Transition here.