AAPI mental health matters
After the global COVID-19 pandemic, communities emerged from seclusion to enjoy once-loved activities.
But for San Francisco's Asian American community, many continued to stay home.
They weren't fearing a disease. Instead, they worried about continued reports of anti-Asian violence. These individuals were part of a nationwide community experiencing threats. Across the country, pandemic-related isolation, anti-Asian rhetoric and abuse – along with mass shootings that claimed Asian victims in Atlanta and California – have exacerbated the mental health challenges faced by Asian Americans in the last several years. Meanwhile, studies suggest Asian Americans are least likely to seek mental health services, partly because of the cultural stigma surrounding seeking such help.
That’s one reason the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington made mental health and wellbeing the theme of its second annual Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month festival, which happens every May.