More than one in five people in the U.S. live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Many suffer in silence due to stigma and shame, fighting the battle alone. The mental health care system can be difficult to navigate—particularly for immigrants who may not speak English or have access to a translator.
But there are Greensboro mental health professionals who want people to know that they aren’t alone.
The Montagnard Association of North Carolina and the Karenni Community of Winston-Salem are hosting a screening of Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health, a documentary that follows people and the families as they struggle with mental health issues. After the film, Dr. Christian Chan, an assistant professor with UNC Greensboro’s Department of Counseling and Educational Development, and Lynley SanGeorge, a licensed clinical social worker and founder of SanGeorge Counseling, will facilitate a conversation. The panel will include local mental health professionals with Mundeke Gospel Mission and Strong Minds, Strong Communities, as well as UNCG and NC A&T State University graduate students.
Along with the secrecy and stigma surrounding mental health, one of the biggest challenges for people can be finding mental health providers who represent different cultural and ethnic identities, said Chan.
“I’m always struck by the gap in the providers who represent who we are,” Chan said. “Because there’s cultural and linguistic components that make counseling, therapy, and mental health services really meaningful.”
Liana Adrong is the executive director of the Montagnard Association of NC. She’s also a social worker.
“Having people who look like me that can provide services is really hard,” she said. “Finding someone who is bilingual is very hard.”
Referring clients to therapy sessions has been challenging, Adrong said.
“I’ve been in that room where I was the interpreter,” she said.
That’s where their partner, Strong Minds, Strong Communities comes in. It’s a free UNCG program that helps English, Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, or Chinese speakers access one-on-one psychoeducational skills sessions and referrals to local resources.
“They have been amazing,” Adrong said, especially in today’s political climate, where federal funding cuts are affecting mental health organizations.
“I feel like we’re all personally affected by what’s happening right now,” he said, “When I think about how much I’m seeing the investment in the government militarizing the entire system and basically saying, ‘We’re going to invest in ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and we’re going to use that as a legitimate tactic to attack community members,’ I just think a lot about our community members…that are getting vastly affected by what’s happening.”
That makes it all the more important for people to have access to providers they can trust.
“It’s scary now…talking about your mental health to someone that you don’t know that you can trust entirely because of the environment that we’ve created in the U.S.,” Chan said, “My worry is that many of our community members are not going to be able to get the care that they need. That’s my greatest fear.”
Adrong hopes the film will act as a conduit for community and create a safe space where people feel like they can open up. Even if people aren’t ready to share their struggles, Adrong and Chan want attendees to know that just getting out can make a big difference in their mental health.
“We don’t have to label it,” Adrong said.
Maybe the person wants to join them for a soccer game, or a yoga or dance class.
“Anything that gets the individual out of the house where they have so much going on in their head,” she said.
Chan hopes attendees will walk away with courage and hope.
“We’re instilling courage in our communities to say, ‘It’s okay for us to talk about mental health,’” he said. “It’s okay for us to talk about this with each other, in our communities, and for people to feel like they can share their stories around mental health, even in our own families, because I see that sometimes, that is where we heal.”
And he wants people to know that making even a small change, like sharing their experience, can make a world of difference.
“There’s hope in the way that our communities keep growing around mental health, and it’s not just that the end of our stories are only based in stigma,” Chan said, “Our communities are what give us hope in healing.”
The “Silent War” event takes place on Saturday, April 25, at 4:30 p.m. in UNCG’s Curry Building in room 225, 1109 Spring Garden St., #349.