Intro to AANHPI Heritage Month 2025
By Jessica Chang, MHC-LP
Wishing a happy AANHPI Heritage Month to my AANHPI communities!
This year, the theme for AANHPI (Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) Heritage Month is “A Legacy of Leadership and Resilience”. While names of AANHPI community members continue to be highlighted as bamboo ceilings are pushed aside and AANHPI faces are being seen in spaces that have historically excluded them, elevating representation that was rarely if ever seen in the past, these names and faces continue to appear alongside tragedy and as targets of xenophobia. “Resilience” can be a glorified way of shifting attention away from the problem and invalidating the experiences that led to the need for resilience. In the realm of AANHPI mental health awareness, it is important to acknowledge what we are up against.
Recent Events
In the week leading up to AANHPI month, Kai-ji Adam Lo, a 30-year old Vancouver resident with a history of mental health illness and mental health-related interactions with authorities drove an SUV through a Filipino community festival in Canada, killing 11 community members ages ranging from 5 to 65 and injuring over a dozen more. In the same week, a separate video had surfaced where a middle school student recorded himself harassing a 5-year-old Chinese boy outside of his house in Loudoun County, Virginia, using ethnic slurs towards the terrified boy. The child is seen holding a blanket and trying to run away from the middle schooler while pleading, “please don’t hurt me!”, “don’t do it!”, and “save me!” as laughter is heard in the background from other student bystanders. Yes, existing as AANHPI is a constant act of strength and resilience - finding one’s way towards embracing and celebrating one’s culture through learning and unlearning while combatting various systems that look to turn our communities against each other and perpetually being told that we do not belong. The intersections of AANHPI identity and mental health are undeniable.
AANHIP Mental Health
According to CDC data (2018-2022), suicide was the leading cause of death among Asian American youth and young adults (ages 15-24) and the second leading cause of death among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Accounting for one-third of the deaths among Asian Americans aged 20-24, this is the only racial group within this age demographic for whom this is true. In 2022, a Trevor Project survey found that 40% of LGBTQ AAPI youths have seriously considered suicide in the past year with higher rates for those who experience racism. Cultural values, mental health stigmas, and pressures to succeed as well as inaccessibility to care all contribute towards these statistics along with frequent experiences with discrimination and rising fears of hate crimes and gun violence following numerous mass shootings of Asian Americans in recent years. Despite these increasing rates, AANHPI communities continue to have the lowest help-seeking rate for mental health services of any racial/ethnic group.
Colonialism and U.S. anti-Asian policies
It is important to recognize the impacts of the history of US colonization, especially in Hawaii, Pasifika nations, and the Philippines, the resettlement of Southeast Asian Americans, and racist policies such as the Japanese American interment during WWII and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Imperialism and US foreign policy layered with cultural factors contribute to cycles of intergenerational trauma and the need to join in community. Amongst communities, anger must be united and reserved for these settler-colonial systems while we hold tenderness towards each other and ourselves.
Conclusion
AANHPI mental health largely goes unnoticed and unattended, creating detrimental effects on these communities and the world at large, as we are all connected. Studies have shown that having a support network as well as queer-affirming spaces acts as buffers against attempted suicide. Imagining and realizing community continues to be of utmost importance, and mental health practitioners must continue to do better at addressing the needs of AANHPI youth and adults and finding solutions to barriers preventing AANHPI communities from seeking and accessing mental health care. Marginalized community members deserve care from clinicians who practice cultural humility and continue to expand one’s understanding of different cultures and are active in gaining awareness of one’s own cultural biases and assumptions.
A list of mental health resources for the Native Hawaiian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander community can be found here: https://www.vibrant.org/supporting-aanhpi-mental-health/.
Resources:
The Facts About Asian American Mental Health and Suicide Rates. Newport Institute (2022).
Beyond the Surface: Understanding Mental Health Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Youth. The Asian American Foundation (2024).
UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Research Report (2024). Piecing the Puzzle of AANHPI Mental Health: A Community Analysis of Mental Health Experiences of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in California.
Chen, K. (2024). Understanding Culture to Address Mental Health in the AANHPI Community. Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
Markle, L. (2021). A Resource for Asian Americans: Understanding Settler Colonialism. Cut Fruit Collective.
Bellamy-Walker, T. (2022). 40% of AAPI LGBTQ youths have considered suicide in the last year, report says. NBC News.