About Us - N.Y. Coalition for Asian American Mental Health

About Us

Our Mission:
To improve the quality of mental health care services available to the Asian American population in the New York City metropolitan area.

Programs and Activities of the Coalition:
As reported in Census 2000, Asians represent more than 10% of the total population in NYC, of which 22% are foreign-born. New York City ranked number one in having the largest Asian population in the U.S., far exceeding Los Angeles and San Francisco; however, while great strides have been made to improve care and access to services, New York still lags behind California and Hawaii in having well-developed inpatient and community mental health programs for their Asian American population.

Because of language and cultural differences, many Asians cannot be properly treated in facilities designed to treat English-speaking patients. Effective treatment and services can only be provided in a culturally appropriate setting and there is a severe shortage of bilingual, bicultural mental health services available for Asians.

Although Asians are widely regarded as a "model minority,at this stereotype does not reflect the many social problems facing the Asian communities in NYC. Within the inner city Asian communities, there are serious gang problems; the rate of school dropouts is rapidly increasing; and children and adolescents are at high risk of being impaired by these and other social problems. Many Asians immigrated as adults suffer from the stress of relocation, adjustment to a completely different language, culture, and economy. Many have to cope with prolonged separation from family members or are confronted inter-generational conflicts between the older and younger generations.

The New York Coalition for Asian American Mental Health (the Coalition) was founded in 1989 by a group of concerned clinicians (including Dr. James Chou, Pamela Yew Schwartz, Angela Ryan, Dr. Foo Chu, Siu Ping Ma and Joanna Law) with Dr. James Chou as the President. Membership of the Coalition is open to anyone who is concerned about the care and services for Asian Americans with mental health needs.

The aims and goals of the Coalition are to advocate for the improvement of mental health services for Asians in New York. Some of the Coalition's milestones and accomplishments included the following:

Bylaws of the Coalition were established and adopted in October 1990 and the following members were elected as Officers in November 1990: Dr. James Chou, President; Dr. Angela Shen Ryan, Vice President; Siu Ping Ma, Treasurer; Pamela Yew Schwartz, Secretary and Joanna Law, Assistant Secretary

In 1990, the Coalition lobbied for the expansion of the Asian mental health services at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

Lobbied for the expansion of services at the Asian Bicultural Clinic at Gouverneur Hospital which services the Chinese and other Asian clients in the Lower Eastside Manhattan and the Chinatown areas to alleviate the long client waiting list for services.

In 1991, presented at a Multi-Cultural Mental Health Conference at Teacher's College, Columbia University.

Dr. James Chou approached the Health and Hospitals Corporation of NYC and the NYS Office of Mental Health to request culturally appropriate inpatient psychiatric and community services for Asians in 1993.

Actively lobbied for the funding and the establishment of an Asian bilingual bicultural psychiatric unit (18-South) at Bellevue Hospital in 1993.

Procured and made available mental health information pamphlets in Chinese for use by health care professionals for patient education purposes.

In 1993, the NY Coalition for Asian American Mental Health, Inc. received its Certificate of Incorporation under Section 402 of the New York Not-For-Profit Corporate Laws.

In 1994, lobbied and supported the passage of a legislative proposal -- bill No. S. 2565 A, which requires the State's Office of Mental Health and other state agencies to design and draft regulations addressing the mental hygiene needs of non-English speakers in New York State such as access to translation and interpreters at health facilities, or other reasonable accommodations.

Held its first annual Dinner on October 19, 1995. At this meeting, Dr. James Chou was also recognized and received a service award from the Coalition for his outstanding commitment and contribution to the Asian American community.

In February 1996, Dr. James Chou submitted to letter to Governor George Pataki highlighting the need for better culturally competent care for Asian Americans at City and State hospitals. In July 1996, the Coalition worked with the NY Lawyers for Public Interests to advocate for better access to appropriate mental health services for the Asian Americans.

A position letter was sent to the NYS Office of Mental Health - Manhattan Psychiatric Center. Meetings were held with Manhattan Psychiatric Center executives, and the Deputy Commissioner from OMH in November 1996 to discuss the possibility of establishing an Asian Inpatient Unit at Manhattan Psychiatric Center.

Through on going dialogue with the NYS Office of Mental Health, in November 1997, the development of two Asian inpatient units, one at South Beach and one at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center was proposed.

In 1998, Kin Wah Lee was elected President of the Coalition; Dr. Pamela Yew Schwartz, Vice President; Stuart Linder, Treasurer.

At its March 19, 1998 annual dinner meeting, the opening of the two inpatient Asian units (South Beach Psychiatric Center and Creedmoor Psychiatric Center) was announced by Linda Rosenberg, Deputy Commissioner of the NYS Office of Mental Health.

On October 20, 1999, at its annual dinner meeting, Dr. Neal Cohen, Commissioner, NYC Department of Health, as the key note speaker addressing "Issues in Developing Culturally Competent Minority Programs"

On March 31 to April 1, 2000, cosponsored a two-day long educational symposium on "Effective Clinical Practice with Asians and Asian Americans" with the Shirley M. Ehrenkranz School of Social Work, and the Asian Pacific American Studies Institute of the New York University at the Farkas Hall Auditorium, Mew York University School of Medicine.

On April 11, 2001, at its annual dinner, special service award recognition was given to the Asian Bridger Program at South Beach Psychiatric Center and to Susan Chan, CSW Associate Executive Director at Hamilton Madison House in recognition of many years of dedicated service and contributions to the Asian American mental health community.

At this annual dinner, the Commissioner of the NYS Office of Mental Health, James Stone also announced the approval of a grant for the Coalition to host a conference on cultural competence mental health for Asian Americans.

On June 27, 2001, cosponsored a program, "Managing Stress in The Chinese Immigrant Community" at Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Auditorium in Chinatown.

Immediately, post 9-11, members of the Coalition translated informational materials regarding stress and PTSD into Chinese and Korean for distribution.

Commissioned the inclusion of a mental health segment in the production of the "Tributes and Remembrance" (9-11 WTC Event) documentary produced by Renata Huang for the Asian American Federation of New York.

October 18 - 19, 2001, supported by a grant from the NYS Office of Mental Health, the Coalition cosponsored the "Barriers and Opportunities: Expanding Culturally Competent Mental Health Services for Asian Americans Conference" with South Beach Psychiatric Center and Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Center at the Covenant House.

Acted as a clearinghouse for the filtering and dissemination of information regarding available resources and funding for program expansion or initiatives for agencies which service the Asian communities. In October 2001, an Asian American Behavioral Service Directory for Metropolitan New York was published and distributed by the Coalition.

On November 3, 2001, representing the Coalition, Kin Wah Lee co-presented a workshop on cultural competence at the NAMI-NYS Annual Conference in Tarrytown, NY

Cosponsored the Community Health Forum at the City Hall Senior Center on March 21, 2002.

On April 4, 2002, the Chinese Mei Society, a Chinese cultural club at New York University hosted and produced an annual culture/fashion show called Yuan, at the Puck Building, NYC. Proceed from ticket sales to the show was donated to the Coalition.

On April 11, 2002, representing the Coalition, Kin Wah Lee along with the Executive Director, Giselle Stolper, of the Mental Health Association; Executive Director - Evelyn Roberts of NAMINYC Metro; Frank Solano from the Association of Hispanic Mental health Professionals, Dr. McQuiston from the American Association of Community Psychiatrists and Dr. Ballard, a psychiatrist from Bellevue met with Dr. Benjamin Chu, Dr. Van Dunn, and Joyce Wale of the NYC Health Hospital Corporation.

The purpose of this meeting was to address a concern regarding reports that, in order to reduce cost, HHC is considering adopting drug formulary policies which would restrict access to psychiatric medications by making only one atypical antipsychotic medication and only one SSRI available for the treating physicians. At the meeting, the group was told that HHC had already reconsidered the plan and agreed that it was not a good idea after all.

Sponsored an educational program on "Bipolar Disorder and Psychiatric Issues in Treating Asian Patients" on Tuesday, May 14, 2002 at Mr. Tang Restaurant. Speakers were: Blanca Vasquez, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurology, Director, Clinical Trials, New York University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and James C-Y Chou, M.D., Director of Bipolar Research Bellevue Hospital.

Coalition website www.asianmentalhealth.com was established in 2001 which permitted online posting of employment announcements, special events and an online behavioral services directory. The Coalition has also informally handled many inquiries for information and requests for referral for services which came through the website.

On July 25, 2002, a "Therapy for Therapists" day was held.

On October 8, 2002, Kin Wah Lee representing the Coalition presented a testimony re "Culturally Competent Care for People with Mental Illness in New York City" before the Council of the City of New York Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, and Disability Services, at City Hall.

The Coalition assisted in the planning and was a cosponsor of the Mayoral Conference on Alzheimer's Disease held at the Brooklyn Marriott on October 22, 2002.

In 2002, one of the Coalition cofounder, Dr. Foo Chu, dedicated $20,000 from his estate to the Coalition. Utilizing this fund, a scholarship to support graduate students conducting research which may benefit and enhance the understanding of Asian American mental health issues has been established in Dr. Foo Chu's memory.

In December 2002, Mr. Peter Yee, Associate Director of Hamilton Madison House was elected President of the NY Coalition for Asian American Mental Health. Mr. Tien Chen, Vice President (Hun Jun Luu, Acting Vice President); Tracy Luo, Secretary and Marcia Goldstein, Treasurer.

The Coalition along with the Student Alliance for Multicultural and Mental Health Issues (SAMMI) sponsored an all-day conference entitled, Beyond Cultural Competence: Challenges and Opportunities for Asian American Mental Health at the Fordham University Law School on October 20, 2003. Speakers discussed topics ranging from Priorities for Asian American mental health to a National training curriculum in Cultural Competency to Coping with Interracial Relationships, among many others.

In the beginning of 2004, Peter Yee of Hamilton-Madison House was elected as President of the Coalition, Tracy Luo of the Mental Health Association of NYC as the Vice President, and Stuart Linder of the Manhattan Psychiatric Center as the Treasurer. Each officer's term is 2 years.

In 2004, on October 1st & 2nd, held Overcoming Stigma in Asian American Health, its first national conference along with Hamilton-Madison House and the Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, where almost 300 people attended. It was held at the New York Academy of Medicine. Besides having speakers from the Coalition, Hamilton-Madison House, and NYU School of Medicine, there were panel presenters and speakers from:

Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, Johns Hopkins University, UC San Francisco School of Medicine, UC Davis, the NY City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene, NY City Health and Hospitals Corporation, American Association of Community Psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association, Oregon Health Sciences University

San Francisco General Hospital, Kean University, the NJ Asian American Association for Human Services, Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Northwestern University, Mental Health Association of NYC, Columbia University School of Social Work, and Gouverneur Healthcare Services

In 2005, on October 21st and 22nd, held its national conference, Break the Silence: Assessment and Prevention of Suicide Among Asian Americans, co-sponsored by the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA). It was held at the New York University School of Medicine and was attended by more than 330 people. The rate of suicide is significantly higher in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community than it is for the rest of the country, with suicide being the 8th leading cause of death for the group, versus the 11th leading cause of death for all Americans.

There are refugees who have experienced multiple losses and trauma prior to coming to the United States.

Many new and undocumented aliens find the pain of separation from their families even harder to bear as their isolation and economic hardship are compounded by language barriers.

Adolescents are forced to negotiate two radically different worlds, not feeling comfortable in either, and for some, the pressures to be perfect and uphold the model minority status causes them to perceive any failures as devastating.

Elders can find themselves alone or placed in nursing homes that neither understand their language nor their culture.

Furthermore, the feeling of stigma of shame as well as the dearth of culturally competent mental health services available to these individuals prevent many from seeking appropriate help and as a result, some find the ultimate act of taking their lives an acceptable solution to their plights and anguish.

The goal of the conference was to raise awareness about this important and underaddressed issue, and to bring together leading experts to share information with clinicians on the complex causes of the problem and the particular issues involved in assessment, treatment, and prevention in working with the AAPI community.

Aside from the Coalition and NAAPIMHA, there were panel presenters and speakers from:

Hamilton Madison House, Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, University of Washington, University of Rochester Medical Center, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York State Office of Mental Health, New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation, New York University, Columbia University, Medical and Health Research Association of New York City, Hunter College School of Social Work, South Beach Psychiatric Center, Widener University, Dallas MetroCare Services, Manhattan Psychiatric Center, Asian Counseling & Referral Services (Seattle, WA), Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, and Howard Brown Health Center.