Create a national training initiative to raise awareness of mental health among asian americans, native hawaiians and pacific islanders to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness - the national…

Create a national training initiative to raise awareness of mental health among asian americans, native hawaiians and pacific islanders to recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness - the national asian american mental health pacific islander mental health association and change matrix will implement the mental health awareness for aapis by using the best practices curricula mental health first aid (mhfa), achieving whole health (AWH), and question persuade and refer (QPR) to help raise awareness around mental health, prevent suicide and improve selfcare among asian americans and pacific islanders through its evelyn LEE center of excellence (the center). Project goals are to 1) build capacity to improve mental health of aanhpis; 2) increase ability to recognize signs and symptoms of mental disorder, particularly serious mental illness, and/or serious emotional disturbances; 3) increase linkages with community organizations working with aanhpis; and 4) educate the community on mental health resources. The center will create a national advisory committee (AC) comprised of leading experts on aanhpi mental health representing diversity in ethnicity, experience and geographical location. The center will focus on the geographical areas with the highest concentration of aanhpis: new york city, the SAN francisco BAY area, the greater LOS angeles area, and hawaii. IT will provide training to two populations: 1) healthcare clinic members of the association of asian pacific community health organizations (aapcho) a collaboration of 33 aanhpi serving healthcare clinics around the country and 2) the general aanhpi population in these regions including parents and caregivers of children and youth with SED. Working with aapcho will help develop integrated models of care as aanhpis often enter the service delivery system through their healthcare providers. Training the general population will reach those who may be isolated due to language and cultural barriers and therefore not access any services. The center will strengthen local capacity by providing resources to certify a mhfa trainer for each of the four geographical locations and resources to access QPR, a virtual training provided online. AWH will be taught by the center which will also provide oversight to all the training efforts. Data collected across sites will help develop a comprehensive national plan to improve mental health outcomes for aanhpis and make recommendations to samhsa and other stakeholders. Aanhpis have the fastest growth rate of any major racial/ ethnic group, yet are the least likely to seek mental health services. They are a very diverse group of american born, immigrants, refugees and indigenous people. They represent 20 countries 66% are foreign born and 35% are considered limited english proficient. A one size fits all approach is not effective and adds to the health disparities. Suicide is the 8TH leading cause of death among aanhpis compared to 11TH for the general population. Aapi women have the highest suicide rate among any ethnic group between the ages 65 and 84. Cambodian refugees continue to report high prevalence rates for ptsd (62%) and major depression (51%). Serious mental illness rose from 2.9% to 5.6% in aapi ages 18-25 and major depressive episodes increased from 10% to 13.6% in aapi youth 12-17, 8.9% to 10.1% in young adults 18-25, and 3.2% to 5% in the 26-49 age range.