PhD student Lily Chen speaks at White House AANHPI Mental Health Convening
August 6, 2024
On July 24, Lily Chen, a second-year PhD student and Royster Fellow at the UNC School of Nursing, participated in the White House AANHPI Mental Health Convening. The event brought together key representatives from the White House, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Health & Human Services, and community leaders to discuss the challenges Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) face in accessing mental health care.
Notable attendees included Erika Moritsugu, Deputy Assistant to the President and AA and NHPI Senior Liaison, White House Chief of Staff; Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health; and Larke Huang, Director of the Office of Behavioral Health Equity at SAMHSA. The convening covered crucial issues such as strategies to combat AANHPI hate, access to the 988 mental health crisis hotline, data disaggregation to improve comprehensive care, development of a behavioral health workforce tailored to AANHPI communities, and language justice in mental health care.
During a panel discussion, community leaders like Soha Mahapatra and Ethan Su from AAPI Youth Rising spoke about the mental health challenges faced by AANHPI youth, particularly the pressures stemming from the model minority myth. In response, Lily Chen, serving as the Executive Director of the UCA WAVES Youth Mental Health Collaborative, emphasized the essential role of parents in supporting youth mental health. She highlighted the barriers posed by a lack of mental health awareness and stigma among older Chinese immigrants. Lily advocated for parental education and stressed the importance of involving community voices in developing solutions, with the phrase “Nothing About Us Without Us.” She also called for increased investment in building research capacity within community organizations, citing UCA WAVES’ efforts in using research to support community education and programs.
Listen to Lily’s remarks here.
