Friday, May 17, 2024
5/17/2024
Lead by Asian Media Access, in collaboration with Coalition PHUN (Positively Healthy U Network), Project HEALINGS engages Asian American communities in MN to prepare and train Asian American students, Hmong charter school teachers, first aid staff, and Asian parents on how to appropriately and safely respond to children and youth experiencing mental health issues, particularly individuals with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and/or Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED). Through approaches that integrate Evidence-Based Practices with biculturalism (“Bicultural Healthy Living”), Project HEALINGS specifically targets Asian Minnesotans with efforts to raise awareness about and de-stigmatize mental illness in children and youth by reaching out to adults in their lives. Surveys show that Asian American youth often struggle with symptoms of anxiety and depression, suffer from suicide ideation and self-harm, and may be impacted by various stressors such as bullying, families’ high expectations, and lack of reliable adult presence, hence our belief that community adults must build connections with youth while demonstrating knowledge of mental health struggles and treatment resources. Project HEALINGS has three major goals: GOAL #1: Train individuals from Asian student clubs, Hmong charter schools (staff, teachers, nurses, emergency services personnel, security guards and families) in MN, to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, particularly serious mental illness (SMI) and serious emotional disturbances (SED), with a special focus on how to respond to and de-escalate crisis situations in safe and culturally-appropriate ways. GOAL #2: Educate Asian American Minnesotans about resources that are available in the community with a bicultural healthy living approach, in order to better see CULTURE as an asset to decrease identity crises and intergenerational conflicts, to improve communication within Asian families to lower the incidences of SMI and SED, to reduce cultural stigma and discrimination, and to enhance wellness/resilience with linguistically-appropriate approaches. GOAL #3: Create a strong Network with Asian mental health agencies, and mainstream primary care providers to refer individuals with the signs of mental illness to appropriate services. To meet them, Project HEALINGS will offer mental health awareness trainings, establish linkages between Asian communities and mental health providers, ensure a diverse output of awareness-raising materials to reach Limited English Proficiency (LEP) individuals, build a state-wide Asian American Mental Health Network, in order to engage MN Asian communities at a variety of levels. We plan to serve a total of 26,100 individuals over the course of five years.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
