[Video] Caring for Ourselves, Family and Friends
/Here's the full recording of the very informative webinar:
After the webinar, Positively Filipino asked some follow-up questions that are important for the FilAm community.
Trigger Warning: The discussion below contains content about suicide.
Here are Dr. Jeannie E. Celestial's responses:
What accounts for the high statistic on suicide among Asian youth?
According to Bui and Lau (2024): "We suspect that the recent rise in suicide rates among Asian American and Pacific Islander youths may be attributable to increased racialized stress, anti-immigrant sentiment, and Asian hate; escalating societal pressures on adolescents to achieve; and increased access to firearms." (Source: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821493)
How do we deal with a teenager who is contemplating taking his/her life?
A brief literature search online yielded some of these options:
"If you suspect that a teenager is contemplating suicide, it's crucial to act with care, empathy, and urgency. Here are steps to help deal with the situation:
1. **Listen and Take Them Seriously**: Always take expressions of suicidal thoughts seriously. Listen without judgment, avoid interrupting, and show that you care.
2. **Provide Immediate Support**: Express your concern and let them know that you are there to support them. Use phrases like, “I’m here for you” or “You’re not alone.”
3. **Encourage Professional Help**: Gently suggest speaking to a counselor, therapist, or doctor. Mental health professionals are trained to provide the support and intervention needed.
4. **Remove Access to Harm**: If you believe the teen is in immediate danger, try to limit their access to means of self-harm (such as medication, sharp objects, etc.) while still ensuring they don’t feel trapped.
5. **Involve Trusted Adults**: If you’re not the parent, it’s important to inform a trusted adult who can intervene (parents, guardians, or school counselors).
6. **Don’t Leave Them Alone**: If the teen is at immediate risk, stay with them until they are in a safe environment or help has arrived.
7. **Encourage Open Communication**: Let them know it’s okay to talk about their feelings, and you’re there to listen. Avoid saying things like "it’s not that bad" or "you’ll get over it."
8. **Call a Suicide Prevention Hotline or Emergency Services**: If the situation seems urgent, contact a suicide prevention helpline or emergency services. In many places, helplines are available 24/7 for crisis situations.
9. **Follow-Up**: After the crisis passes, continue to check in on the teen and encourage long-term professional support, such as therapy, to work through underlying issues.
10. **Avoid Blaming or Shaming**: Avoid making them feel guilty for their thoughts. Instead, be compassionate and offer hope for recovery. If you're in a specific country, I can help provide contact information for hotlines or local resources."
What resources are available for Asian Americans/Filipino Americans?
1. If the teen is in imminent danger of serious harm to self or others, call emergency response or bring them to the nearest hospital emergency room.
I found these psychiatric emergency numbers for San Francisco.
From the SF Dept of Public Health website:
S.F. Behavioral Health Plan providers are located throughout San Francisco and many are accessible to public transportation.
Psychiatric Emergency Services: (415) 206-8125
Mobile Crisis Team: (415) 970-4000
Comprehensive Child Crisis: (415) 970-3800
Westside Community Crisis: (415) 355-0311
S.F. Suicide Prevention: (415) 781-0500
**Of note, some families of color have had difficulty when calling the police during psychiatric emergencies. Such as the case with Filipino American Angelo Quinto. His family called 911 when he was having a mental crisis. Police knelt on his neck and he died. Family recently got a settlement. News here: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/us/angelo-quinto-death-police-antioch-settlement/index.html
Thus, mobile crisis teams have emerged to call as alternatives to police. The Quinto family advocated for changes like this.
Other resources:
*The child's medical provider/medical insurance
*Ethnic-specific services in your local area, such as: Filipino Mental Health Initiative-San Francisco, RAMS, Filipino Advocates for Justice, SIPA in Los Angeles, etc. Most non-profit, community-based organizations do not have emergency services but they might have staff who can support and help family navigate the system.
Example: I have called Eddy [co-panelist Eddy M. Gana] at SIPA in the past to help my cousin in Los Angeles navigate the system in SoCal. Eddy was so helpful and really impacted my cousin in a positive way. Often, that "warm hand-off" makes all the difference in the world to destigmatize behavioral health services.
What prevents Filipino Americans to embrace mental health issues and seek help?
According to Martinez, Co, Lau, & Brown (2020): "Filipinos across the world have general reluctance and unfavourable attitude towards formal help-seeking despite high rates of psychological distress. They prefer seeking help from close family and friends. Barriers cited by Filipinos living in the Philippines include financial constraints and inaccessibility of services, whereas overseas Filipinos were hampered by immigration status, lack of health insurance, language difficulty, experience of discrimination and lack of acculturation to host culture. Both groups were hindered by self and social stigma attached to mental disorder, and by concern for loss of face, sense of shame, and adherence to Asian values of conformity to norms where mental illness is considered unacceptable. Filipinos are also prevented from seeking help by their sense of resilience and self-reliance, but this is explored only in qualitative studies. They utilize special mental health care only as the last resort or when problems become severe. Other prominent facilitators include perception of distress, influence of social support, financial capacity and previous positive experience in formal help." Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7578164/
Is religion (being Catholic) a factor?
In my observation and lived experience, religion and spirituality can offer strengths and protective factors towards mental health as well as cause distress, tension, and trauma.
Some strengths or protective factors offered by religion or spiritual practice:
- sense of belonging to a community
- regular rituals which provide structure and routine
- music as expression
- singing as healing
- connection to higher power
- fear of going to hell if one dies by suicide is often a concrete barrier to suicide, etc.
Some challenges posed by religion towards mental health:
- telling someone to only pray that God heals them of anxiety, depression, trauma, etc.
- family bullying, disowning, or ostracizing LGBTQ family members
- spiritual abuse or sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy or lay ministers
- telling someone it's wrong to see a therapist or psychiatrist or to take meds, etc.
Other than cultural activities that are available for Filipino Americans wanting to strengthen his/her Filipino identity, what other activities/resources are available (summer camps, leadership programs, etc.)?
Folks should research cultural organizations in their area: Philippine dance, martial arts, cooking, etc. There's so many resources these days on the internet, YouTube, Instagram.
Organizations like Sama Sama Cooperative or Kababayan Kids regularly educate youth on Filipino language and culture. This builds self-esteem and critical consciousness that improved overall health.
How do you get parents involved?
Find other parents who are interested and build community with them.
Do you have support groups for parents who may be overwhelmed with how to protect their children from hate?
Good question. There are two Filipino groups that educate parents:
https://www.raisingancestors.com/
https://www.janetstickmon.com/
Is there a Filipino American Therapists Association?
Opo!
There are a few well-established ones and many new ones starting.
Examples:
Therapinay Directory: https://therapinay.com/
Division on Filipinx Americans: https://www.instagram.com/aapa.dofa/
Filipino Mental Health Initiative-San Francisco: https://www.fmhi-sf.org/
FMHI- San Mateo County: https://www.smchealth.org/filipino-mental-health-initiative
Here are other resources provided by our panelists:
From Angela Tang:
NAAPIMHA's Achieving Whole Health: training provides a creative, interactive and culturally relevant way of improving both health and mental health outcomes for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islander communities. This site also has links to resources organized by state.
AANHPI 'Ohana Center of Excellence: Has webinars and a resource map/directory of agencies (by locality) that serve AANHPI communities
National Alliance on Mental Illness: National organization with local chapters. Offers educational material, helpline, and support groups.
Find a Therapist (working with AANHPI):
https://yellowchaircollective.com/ (Yellow Chair Collective)
https://www.asianmhc.org/ (Asian Mental Health Collective
988 Lifeline: National call/text/chat line for emotional support, crisis, and suicide prevention. This is not Asian American specific however the federal government is working on language interpretation, etc.
From Eddy Gana:
https://translifeline.org/ - crisis lifeline for trans folks
https://nqttcn.com/en/ - LGBTQ+ provider directory
https://www.asianmhc.org/lotus-therapy-fund/ - free 8 therapy sessions
Dr. Hazel Benigno:
https://www.smchealth.org/filipino-mental-health-initiative
For more information regarding FMHI and ways to get involved please visit our website at https://fmhi-smc.org/ and/or email FMHISMC@gmail.com. Connect with us on Instagram: instagram.com/fmhi.smc
