The Mental Health Urgency is Now
Engaging with people online and in-person about AAPI mental health ministry
With more awareness about the need for mental health, especially among people of color and Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, collectively we’re making progress and yet we also have a long way to go. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to make this email update with my recent travels in reverse chronological order.
in Washington DC to engage the Urgency of Now with mental health
On September 7th, we were delighted to attend this standing-room-only packed-out conference, Intersection of Faith, Community and Mental Health: The Urgency of Now, hosted by the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Amidst the many wonderful presentations and panels, we heard a moving keynote from Kay Warren, Co-Founder of Saddleback Church. The recordings from this conference will be posted soon and I’ll link to them at mentalhealth.bible/urgency—a website that I help curate for my work with get.bible.
It was a delight to meet many people there, including Ly Tran of Watershed Initiative, Jin Lee of Catalyst Coalition & Mustard Seed Generation, Isabel Tom—author of The Value of Wrinkles, Jeremy Smith of ChurchandMentalHealth.com (who shared his takeaways), Rev. Terry Kim of Impact Church and the Prodigal Korea documentary, and many others.
After the conference, a small group of us AAPI Christian leaders enjoyed fellowship over dinner, with a couple special guests, where we shared the pre-launch of something called Catalyst Wellness Alliance that will bring together partners and resources for AAPI, faith, and mental health.
in Rockville to connect spiritual growth and emotional health
During a Sunday School session on September 3rd at Chinese Bible Church of Maryland (in Rockville), I gave a talk titled, “What if spiritual growth is impossible without emotional and mental health?” I started with a testimony of my mental health journey and then talked about some of my most recent learnings about emotional health from 3 valuable books that show the vital connection between spiritual and emotional health. (I know the class was streamed on Zoom, and the recording will be made available soon.)
Dr. Anita Phillips—The Garden Within: Where the War with Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins
Peter Scazzero—Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It's Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature
Curtis Chang—The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry Is the Doorway to Your Best Self
in Atlanta to strategize for AAPI mental health
As you may recall from last month’s update, DJ was invited to share his mental health journey at a mental health conference hosted by Atlanta Chinese Christian Church Northwest. He did that; and we’re happy to share that Victoria Cheng will be the co-host for Season 7 of the Erasing Shame podcast! She shared her personal mental health journey at that conference also, for the first time, and she’s ready to share more in the months ahead as we co-create and co-host the next season of Erasing Shame. Thank you, Victoria!
And, thanks to Pastor Jin Lee of Catalyst Coalition for hosting a lunch meeting in Atlanta on August 28th for AAPI church leaders, mental health professionals, nonprofit leaders, people with lived experiences. Thanks for Dr. Stan Sonu for speaking to the mental health challenges in AAPI families and communities; you’d enjoy watching his TEDx talk too.
Churches gather more Asian Americans every week than any other community entity, so we believe this is a most strategic place to bring hope & healing for the many that experience mental health challenges.
Get Out the Prayer for CAMHxMSG project grant
Please pray with us for the grant inquiry we’ve submitted for a 3-year project to launch national and local partnerships for AAPI churches, mental health professionals, researchers, and nonprofits. Please pray for a positive response on October 13th that we will be invited for submitting a full proposal. Listen or watch this conversation with DJ Chuang and Jin Lee to learn more.
doing something in September and every month of the year
September is Suicide Prevention Month and suicide is the Leading Cause of Death among Asian American Young Adults Ages 15-24. It’s reasonable to say that having more awareness, culturally-competent and race-conscious therapists and psychiatric care is not enough. More than half of the battle is stopping stigma and erasing shame; cf. “many people describe stigma as being worse than the condition itself.”
That’s why we do what we do with Christian Asian Mental Health and Erasing Shame. The urgency is now, and we can’t wait for the perfect plan or adequate funding to get started. So we’ve started with no budget, no staff, just a couple of volunteers. Thanks to the dozen of supporters who have donated to help with our travel expenses.
Lord willing, He will provide in His time through His people, and we’ll do more together, far more than we can ask or imagine. Yes?
Want to join us or support us? Please email hello@camh.network or call 949-243-7260. Thank you for reading this update all the way to the end.
— DJ Chuang, Director of Christian Asian Mental Health
Your resources have been helpful to many people I am in contact as well as myself. Looking forward to partnering with you DJ for s7 of Erasing Shame. Thank you too!