Mental Health for AAPI individuals

Play Equity to Advance Mental Health (sponsored by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Mental Health access is very limited to the AAPI Community even though there is a large AAPI population in Southern California. Many of the services available and resources are offered are only available in English or Spanish. Navigating the Mental Health system is already difficult for anyone but being a limited English speaker, being an immigrant or not understanding the system of receiving mental health therapy, medication support and other critical services to live a healthy life is a huge barrier for many AAPI individuals. Mental Health support is very foreign to the AAPI community. Also to add all the cultural stigma and barriers that often hinder AAPIs to ask for professional help needs to be lifted through education, outreach and bringing more awareness of the services available to these individuals. Many AAPI individuals seek out for Mental Health help when it's their last option. KFAM would like to make Mental Health support one of their first options.

Mental Health for AAPI individuals is a initiative to bring more awareness around mental health programs and services and to provide free mental health support in therapy, psychoeducation, medication support and other services offered at KFAM to the AAPI community. At KFAM, the mental health services will be free for underserved, immigrant, at-risk and low income individuals who have no where else to go for mental health services.

Los Angeles County has one of the biggest AAPI population in the nation. If Mental Health services are offered to this specific population, to actually serve and provide services in mental health, it will create healthier individuals who will be able to contribute to the community as a whole. These individuals will hold jobs, create jobs, pay taxes, be better parents, happier children, increase civic participation, contribute to the community and maybe even cure a illness or two. When an individual's mental health is strong, healthy and in a good place, anything is possible. KFAM hopes to start in our local southern California community but hope our work would continue through the state and entire nation to help create healthier mental health lives for AAPI individuals.

KFAM has provide mental health services to the community for forty years, since 1983. But we are always limited on how many people we can serve due to funding. We measure our impact on how many therapy sessions are offered, how many clients we serve and how many clients can graduate from our mental health services and live their lives controlling their struggles.