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| Mental health issues among Asian Americans in NYC public schools highlighted in report |
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NEW YORK – Asian Pacific American students make up over 13% of New York City public school system’s 1.1 million students, yet they are still a highly invisible and overlooked population, according to a recent report by the Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP), a youth leadership program of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF).
"ASAP believes that New York City public schools are unaware of, and neglect the mental health needs of Asian Pacific American students," the report said. "They lack the knowledge of culturally competent strategies in working with Asian Pacific American students and have limited access to appropriate mental health trainings and resources."
CACF is the nation’s only pan-Asian children’s advocacy organization and it aims to improve the health and well-being of Asian Pacific American children and families in New York City. This year’s youth leadership project focused on the issue of mental health resources within the city public schools.
At a community briefing in midtown Manhattan last week, ASAP student leaders shared findings and recommendations for improving mental health resources in the city’s public schools. For the past year, ASAP youth leaders have been researching mental health concerns impacting the APA public high school students in the city.
Citing national surveys and existing reports, ASAP students said that 30% of Asian American girls in grades 5 to 12 reported suffering from depressive symptoms and that 1 out of 2 Asian Americans have difficulty accessing mental health treatment because of language barriers.
The report also cited common causes of mental health problems among Asian Pacific American students, among them: family pressure to succeed, language barriers, outcast and misperception of Asian Pacific Americans, harassment and bullying. APA students are also less likely to mention their mental health concerns to mental health professionals.
"Help-seeking behaviors are complicated by cultural barriers and the stigma of mental health, seeing counseling as taboo," one of the student reporters said.
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