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Asian Media Access

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Midwest Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Mental Health Forum

Date

August 30, 2023 from 9:00am – 12:00pm (Noon)

Location

Virtual: Recording LINK

Admission

FREE

Event Slides

Accessing it Here

Event Details

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are an integral part of the American cultural mosaic, encompassing a wide range of diversity. AAPI communities consist of approximately 50 ethnic groups speaking over 100 languages, with connections to Chinese, Filipino, Hmong,  Indian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. along with Hawaiian, and other Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries.  During the pandemic, AAPI community has suffered double crisis – the COVID-19 and Anti-Asian Hate, which severely impacted on members’ mental wellness.

Because COVID-19 was unknown to the public until the outbreak in Wuhan, China, some Americans feel justified in spreading xenophobic messages that blames Asian-identifying people for this deadly virus.  Such anti-Asian racism that AAPIs face was only escalating, as national leadership continues to use the term like: “Chinese Virus” such xenophobic language against Asians.  Racist actions ranging from using xenophobic and racial slurs, to refusing customer service, to outright physical attacks have also increased substantially.

Unfortunately, AAPIs have the lowest help-seeking rate of any racial/ethnic group, with only 23.3% of AAPI adults with a mental illness receiving treatment in 2019. This is due to the many systemic barriers to accessing mental health care and quality treatment. It may also be driven by stigma and lack of culturally relevant and integrated care that addresses mental health in a more holistic way.

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Mental Health Forum intends to paint a broad picture of where AAPIs’ mental wellness landed at the post-COVID era, and shares efforts targeting AAPI youth and seniors.  Come join us for a rich learning and inspired discussion!!!

Event Agenda

Time Speaker Facilitator Title BIO/ Introduction
9am – 9:05am
Asian Health Coalition – Shannon Kim, MPH, Program Manager for “All of Us” Community Engagement
Welcome and Introduction of “All of Us”
All of Us Research Project connects mental health to our physical and emotional wellbeing through research and the needs to develop new interventions/treatments, known as the Precious Medicine.
9:05am – 9:15am
Central Region Partner - Dr. Cora Munoz, Board Chair, Ohio Asian American Health Coalition
Health Forum Introduction
A 10 minutes introduction to the Health Forum
9:15am – 10:15am
Keynote Speaker – Dr. DJ Ida, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association
Ange Hwang, Executive Director, Asian Media Access
Keynote - Current Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Mental Health Status
(45 min presentation and 15 min Q/A)

Dr. DJ Ida is a Denver-based advocate for mental health for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, serves the executive director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and has over forty years of experience working with Asian American/Pacific Islander communities. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology and helped establish numerous organizations, including the Asian American Educational Opportunity Program at the U of Colorado, the Asian Pacific Development Center, a specialty mental health clinic in Denver and the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. She has served on numerous advisory boards including the US Dept HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Advisory Board, Mental Health America, the Annapolis Coalition for Behavioral Health Workforce, the Hogg Foundation and the UC Davis Medical School Center for Eliminating Health Disparities.
10:15am – 11:00am
Dr. Ming Xu, CEO, SeeVIPdoc
Sophia Luo, Program Director, Xilin Association
Workshop #1 - AAPI Youth and their Mental Wellness
AAPIs are burdened with the “model minority” stereotype, a prevalent and misleading assumption that depicts AAPIs as uniformly well-adjusted, attaining more socioeconomic success than other minority groups through strong work ethic, conforming to social norms and excelling academically. The fact is the AAPI community is highly diverse across subgroups in immigration pattern and socioeconomic status. The social and familial pressure created by this deceptive stereotype may prevent many AAPI youth from seeking mental health care. Dr. Hu will bring you the most updated effort in connecting our young people with mental health resources.
11:00am – 11:45am
Txiabneeb Vaj, Executive Director, Hmong Shaman and Herb Center
Umer Jabin, Program Manager, Indo-American Center
Workshop #2 – Reflections from the Fields
(30 min presentation and 15 min Q/A)

Many Southeast Asian refugees compare the similarity of COVID-19 experience to their refugee escaping experience, especially, the tightening up of supplies, and hostile toward strangers, etc. We have observed tremendous needs to better analyze such traumatic moments for our elderlies reliving the refugee experience, and the needs of cultural/linguistic appropriated professional help to support them. Our Panel consists of diverse field experts, in order to provide you with a holistic approach how we all can better support our AAPI mental wellness after the pandemic.
Nishita Conjeevaram, Senior Program Manager on the Behavioral Health, Asian Health Coalition
11:45am – Noon
Central Region Partner: Dr. Sugie Park
Closing Remark
Summarizing key points, expressing gratitude, and providing a concluding thought.
Dr. Alok Sarwal, Colorado Alliance for Health Equity and Practice (CAHEP)

Meet the Organizers

Asian Media Access is a community-based organization dedicated to using community organizing, multimedia, and technology for social betterment, especially in Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities with high concentrations of immigrants and refugees. The mission of Asian Media Access is to “connect the disconnected.” To reach AMA, please visit www.amamedia.org, and like our Facebook page, “Asian Media Access”.

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Dr. Cora Munoz is a Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor at Capital University. She is an author, academic scholar, and consultant, national and international speaker, Fulbright Scholar, diversity trainer, health advocate and a community worker. Her clinical specialty is Psychiatric Mental Health and Transcultural Nursing with expertise in Cultural Competence, Education and Teaching Nursing.

She completed her masters in nursing education at Columbia University, Teachers College in New York City with post masters courses in Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing and her doctoral degree in Counselor Education with minor in Nursing at the Ohio State University.

She is currently the President of the Ohio Asian American Health Coalition. She has served for many years as the Governor appointed commissioner and served as Vice-Chair of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. She is also a member of the Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council to the Governor where she has served as Chairperson of the Health committee. She is currently the President of the Asian Festival Corporation and coordinated Health screenings and Health education for the Asian community. She was the founder of the Phil Nurses Association of Indiana and the Phil Nurses Association of Central Ohio in which she is a current board member in good standing. She has served as Vice-president for Culture of the Philippine American Society of Central Ohio and also served as board member of this organization.

Dr. Munoz has received numerous accolades and awards as an outstanding nurse educator and community leader. She has received three Fulbright scholarships for the specialist program. She continues to teach Transcultural Nursing and provides trainings for cultural competency in health for various health disciplines. She is also a certified trainer for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards and a national trainer for Mental Health First Aid certified by the National Behavioral Health Council .

Dr. Munoz is currently an adjunct professor at Capital University and Mt. Carmel College of Nursing in Columbus, Ohio.

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DRDjIda

Dr. DJ Ida is a Denver-based advocate for mental health for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, serves the executive director of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and has over forty years of experience working with Asian American/Pacific Islander communities.  She received her doctorate in clinical psychology and helped establish numerous organizations, including the Asian American Educational Opportunity Program at the U of Colorado, the Asian Pacific Development Center, a specialty mental health clinic in Denver and the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. She has served on numerous advisory boards including the US Dept HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Advisory Board, Mental Health America, the Annapolis Coalition for Behavioral Health Workforce, the Hogg Foundation and the UC Davis Medical School Center for Eliminating Health Disparities. 

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Ange Hwang has been the Executive Director of Asian Media Access since 1992. For the past 30 years, Ange has worked to bring in more understanding about different communication patterns among diverse groups and how to design public health information targeting the specific ethnic community to eliminate health disparities through communication. 

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DR. MING XU, MD

Founder and CEO of SeeVIPdoc Health – The first telehealth company in the U.S. with
Chinese-American doctors

Founder and CEO of Sunnyteens Academy – An Children and Adolescent Mental Health Education
Platform

Director of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health – Ascension Healthcare

Top 1% of Most Effective Psychiatrists in the United States

I am Dr. Xu, a board-certified psychiatrist in Illinois. I completed my undergraduate studies at Jiangxi Medical College and earned a Master’s degree in Microbiology. I came to the United States in 1992 to pursue a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics. In 2001, I completed my psychiatry residency training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago 2001 and have been a psychiatrist in the United States for over 20 years.

I am also a consultant for the top 15 pharmaceutical companies in the world. This role has given me an in-depth understanding of cutting-edge psychiatric drugs’ pharmacology and therapeutic mechanisms.

My expertise includes:

  1. I am proficient in selecting the most suitable medication for patients for more effective and
    safe treatment options.
  2. I am also good at psychotherapy.  I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical
    Behavior Therapy (DBT), and psychodynamic approaches to help patients understand and
    address their underlying emotional and behavioral problems, leading to lasting changes and
    improvements.

In recent years, I have treated numerous adolescents with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders. In 2022, I founded SeeVIPdoc Health to provide high-quality mental health services to the Chinese community via SeeVIPdoc Health, addressing psychological concerns and promoting mental well-being.

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SophiaLuo

Sophia Luo was born and raised in China and was nurtured within a family rich with musical training. After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree from RMIT in Australia and Shanghai International Trading College she became Sales & Marketing Manager for Intercontinental Hotel Group Worldwide, after which she immigrated to the US and pursued MBA program studies at DePaul University in 2008.

She worked with the City of Aurora as a Cultural Consultant, collaborated with community service department to organize international culture events, concerts, lectures and music workshops for the city.

Currently she’s the Director of Community Engagement at Xilin Association, the largest Asian community center in the State of Illinois. She is also leading the community health department, mobile team department, which provides comprehensive social services at numerous senior buildings across the State.

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Tzianeng Vang
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Umer Jabin

Umer Jabin is a Public Health Coordinator at the Indo-American Center. He has been working in the public health field for 2+ years, and he is passionate about addressing health disparities in the South Asian community. He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he earned a Bachelor of science in Public Health.

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Nishita is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan and moved to Chicago in July, 2017. She received her B.A. in Spanish and M.P.H in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan. After finishing her undergraduate degree, Nishita moved to Bolivia where she worked with a local non-profit for a year to develop health education workshops for afterschool programs. It was this experience that solidified her passion for public health and working with youth.

After receiving her master’s degree, Nishita worked at Loyola University for 2 years as a Program Coordinator, where she managed academic achievement programs for over 200 high school students in Chicago Public Schools. She gained lots of experience developing and leading professional development trainings for college students that served as mentors in these programs. Nishita was also able to build strong relationships with community partners across Chicago and learn about the different needs of each school and their students.

As the Senior Program Manager of the Behavioral Health Team, Nishita oversees the development and implementation of mental health and substance use prevention and treatment programs targeted towards youth and adults in communities of color. She is also focused on strengthening relationships with our coalition partners and building new relationships to allow our work to reach more communities in Chicago. Nishita is also involved in the Asian Engagement and Recruitment Core (ARC) Medical Student Ambassador Project for the All of Us Research Program. She works closely with medical students and partner community-based organizations across the country to implement various projects that serve the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

In her free time, Nishita enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching University of Michigan football games, checking out new restaurants in the city, and taking singing lessons.

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Dr. Sarwal is the co-founder and current Chief Executive Officer of Colorado Alliance for Health Equity and Practice (CAHEP) and affiliated Family Medicine and Dental Clinics. These groups started operation in 2005 and have thrived into reputable organizations. He has been responsible for strategic planning, executive and operational responsibility for creating and sustaining relevant health care programs that have successfully created services for the vulnerable families. Currently he is on the executive board of Mile-High Health Alliance (organization serving major hospitals and clinics in Denver metro area), Colorado Safety Net Collaborative (serving over 40 community level clinics in Colorado,) and community advisory council of University of Colorado Cancer Center.

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