May 10 - APA Mental Health Day: Frames of Mind Exhibit

In honor of Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day and May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS) is proudly partnering with Kearny Street Workshop to hold a photography exhibit titled “Frames of Mind”. This exhibit features the work of Asian American and Pacific Islanders who participated in a 7-class workshop series, telling stories about mental health through photography.

Here are the Frames of Mind exhibit details:
      Frames of Mind exhibit: May 10-13, 2016 (please check the Center’s website for gallery hours)
      FREE Public Reception: May 10, 2016 (4:00pm to 7:00pm)
      International Hotel Manilatown Center
      868 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA 94108

About Mental Health Conditions:

• About one in five Americans in a given year are impacted by mental health conditions regardless of gender, age, race, religion and socioeconomic status. (NIMH) 
• Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders appear to have extremely low utilization of mental health services relative to other U.S. populations. (NAMI) This may be due to the substantial stigma that exists and cultural & linguistic isolation of the community, family and individual.
• The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States. Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, and suicide. (NAMI)
•  Treatments for mental health conditions today are highly effective and individuals who receive treatment have significant reduction of symptoms and improved quality of life.

Many factors contribute to mental health concerns such as biological, life experiences (e.g. trauma, immigration, housing instability), and family history of mental health conditions. When someone starts to experience the early warning signs of mental illness, knowing the risks factors and symptoms will help. Often times, family and friends are the first to support a person through these early stages. Asking for help is never a sign of weakness and wellness & recovery is always possible.

The press release is below (right-click and select any option to "Open").

Mental Health and Wellness in May 2015

In honor of Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day and May being Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, on May 10, RAMS was pleased to partner with the Richmond District Neighborhood Center (RDNC) to hold a Family Wellness Fair focusing on fun activities and games to involve the whole family, and encourage conversation & awareness of mental health & wellness.  As this day also fell on Mother's Day this year, RAMS and RDNC staff & volunteers facilitated interactive and engaging activities focusing on togetherness, family interaction, and of course honoring and celebrating Mom on this special day.

Additionally, during the month of May, RAMS is pleased to be engaged in a series of mental health activities:

  -- RAMS Deputy Chief & Director of Clinical Services Christina Shea, LMFT, and API Mental Health Collaborative Program Coordinator Natalie T. Ah Soon, MPH, co-presented at the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA) Spring Conference on May 7 in Concord.  Their workshop was titled "Lost in Translation: How Cultures and Languages Describe their Own Health", and described how culturally competent treatment is beyond just the language, how culture explains physical and emotional pain, and how it can only be understood within the cultural context. "Globalizing mental illness" can only lead to misunderstanding, miscommunication, and mistreatment, and Asian Pacific Islander communities in San Francisco attempt to support API communities in understanding and communicating about their pain, and hopefully lead to healing. 

  -- RAMS co-sponsored the 3rd Annual Asian Pacific Islander Health Forum, Northern California’s health education forum focusing on the Asian and Pacific Islander Communities, on May 7. The goals were to inform professionals about the most relevant challenges facing the Asian/Pacific Islander population in Sonoma County, to enhance access and quality of health services for the Asian/Pacific Islander community, and to facilitate networking among healthcare and other service providers.

  -- RAMS co-sponsored the annual Richmond Community Health Festival on May 2nd.

RAMS will also be participating in the upcoming NAMIWalk event taking place in San Francisco on Saturday, May 30.  The 5k walk will be held in Lindley Meadow in Golden Gate Park.  Check-in starts at 8:30am; Walk time starts at 10:00am.  Please click HERE to register, donate, or join & raise funds, or see more details about the event.  We hope you join us at the Walk!

RAMS participates in NIMH and SAMHSA webinar & roundtable discussion

RAMS participated, as a primary discussant, in the invitational roundtable discussion & webinar event on, “Practice-Based Research and Implementation: Developing a Framework for Collaboration to Reduce Mental Health Disparities” on September 25, 2014. The Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Office of Behavioral Health Equity in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) were the hosts and sponsoring entities for this webinar event & discussion.

The objective of this webinar was to enhance understanding of the development of behavioral health services collaboration approaches that accelerate the dissemination of research-based mental health treatments into communities. There was a focus on the importance of utilizing practice based data to identify trends in mental health care disparities for members of the racial and ethnic minority groups and rural populations as collaborations are developed. The event was an opportunity to learn from researchers, practitioners, community providers and leaders on how best to develop research-practice partnerships to increase access to and the availability of culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services. The conversations was to set the stage for thinking about ways to align efforts underway in NIMH and SAMHSA to address disparities in mental health outcomes across diverse populations.

 In an effort to generate conversations that will lead to an action plan, RAMS was invited to share our experiences, ideas, and solutions on implementing mental health services & treatment that have helped to reduce mental health disparities, challenges faced in implementing mental health services & treatment to reducing mental health disparities, and ways that those challenges could become opportunities to address mental health disparities.

RAMS is grateful for the generous invitation to present and have the opportunity to share what we have done and are working on with the wider healthcare audience & community-at-large.

Check out SAMHSA's 2015-2018 Strategic Plan, a new strategic plan outlining six Strategic Initiatives focused on leading change to better meet the behavioral health care needs of individuals, communities, and service providers.  The document in its entirety can be downloaded HERE.

Join us at NAMIWalks!

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization working at the national, state, & local levels to raise awareness and provide essential and free education, advocacy and support group programs. Every year, the local NAMI affiliates in the Bay Area work together to create the AnnualNAMIWalk SF Bay Area to raise awareness for mental illness and raise funds to underwrite and support much-needed free local programs.

To view flyer, right-click and select any option to "Open":

RAMS is pleased to participate in the Annual NAMIWalk SF Bay Area on Saturday, May 31, 2014 to show support and raise awareness about mental health issues.  Check out the 2014 NAMIWalk SF Bay Area page for more details about this event!

Please see www.namiwalks.org for more information about this great cause.

Introducing the Asian & Pacific Islander Mental Health Collaborative

RAMS gallops into the Year of the Horse with a brand NEW project: Asian & Pacific Islander Mental Health Collaborative!

The project is RAMS’ inaugural venture into community health promotion programs. Through RAMS’ collaborative partnership with the Samoan Community Development Center, Filipino-American Development Foundation/Bayanihan Community Center, and Vietnamese Youth Development Center, our goal is to reduce the stigma of mental health among Samoans, Filipinos, and Southeast Asians (Cambodian, Laotian, & Vietnamese) in San Francisco by delivering culturally and linguistically competent mental health prevention and early intervention activities across the lifespan in community settings.

Check out our website page HERE for more details.

Image credit: artwork by Ryan Gucayane, designed for CRDP, API-SPW

Teaming Up For Mental Health

On July 18, Entertainment & Media Communication Institute of the Entertainment Industries Council (eic), in collaboration with National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and KTVU as well as other media and community partners, sponsored the “Picture This: Mental Health in the San Francisco Bay Area” forum, held in Oakland, California.  The focus of the gathering was to bring the media, entertainment industry, and mental health community together to talk about media portrayals of mental health and related issues.  Kavoos Bassiri (RAMS CEO) and Christine Tam, LCSW (RAMS Director of Peer Counseling Services) were invited to participate in this forum.  The forum’s goal is to work together (media and mental health community) in partnership in order to have positive, accurate, diverse, respectful & personal stories of mental health be portrayed in the media.  Representatives from the media, entertainment industry, state & local community partners, mental health professionals, and consumer advocates held roundtable work groups and engaged in discussions to come up with action items on which they plan to work together to promote mental health and stories on mental/behavioral health in the media.  In moving forward, there are plans to publish findings and recommendations from this forum to inform other media outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally on changing social perception on mental/behavioral health and related issues. 

You can check out RAMS CEO being interviewed by KTVU's Dave Clark:



Click HERE if you are unable to view the video above.

Click HERE to view video clips from the forum and interviews with other organizations and representatives, and follow @MediaTEAMup on Twitter and visit TeamUp online!

The National Conference on Mental Health: A Wrap-up

To receive more background information on the National Conference on Mental Health, held at the White House on June 2, 2013, click HERE.

The White House Blog also provided a write-up of significant events at the conference, click HERE to read their post.

Watch President Obama's Opening Remarks at the Conference:

"The brain is a body part too; we just know less about it.  And there should be no shame in discussing or seeking help for treatable illnesses that affect too many people that we love.  We've got to get rid of that embarrassment; we've got to get rid of that stigma."

-President Barack Obama 

RAMS, Inc. was honored to take part in this important conversation and national advocacy on mental health.  We are more than ever committed to this cause and will continue to work with other organizations, healthcare providers, advocates, and consumer groups locally, statewide, and nationally in order to raise awareness, reduce the mental health stigma, and reach out to those with mental health issues in need of support.  We want to insure that mental health is an integral part of healthcare delivery - there is no health without mental health!

The Obama Administration also launched a new online resource MentalHealth.Gov, aimed to provide one-stop access to U.S. government mental health and mental health problems information.  We encourage you to visit this website and share this great resource with others.

RAMS at the White House National Conference on Mental Health

RAMS CEO Kavoos G. Bassiri was an invited attendee to the National Conference on Mental Health, held at the White House on June 3, 2013.  Here are some pictures from the event:

President Barack Obama addresses the guests and the nation:






Panel presentation and discussion facilitated by U.S. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at White House Mental Health Conference:



Kavoos G. Bassiri with former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who was also a chief sponsor of Mental Health Parity Act:


With Dr. Alvin Alvarez, Associate Dean at San Francisco State University and RAMS Board member, and Daphne Kwok, Chair at the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders and Executive Director of Asians and Pacific Islanders with Disabilities of California



Fu Yau Project Summer 2012 Newsletter

Check out the latest Fu Yau Times, a semi-annual newsletter with great articles and tips on parenting and resources for the community. Check it out by clicking HERE.

About the Fu Yau Project:
The Fu Yau Project is one of the many Child, Youth & Family Services offered at RAMS. It is a collaboration of RAMS and Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC) and is located at 720 Sacramento Street, in San Francisco's Chinatown district. This innovative program provides prevention and early intervention mental health services to the childcare community that cares for children, ages 0-5 years old. Services includes the following: On-Site Program and Child Observation; Clinical Consultation with childcare staff and families; On-Site Intervention with individual and groups of children; Parenting Classes and Support Groups; and In-Service Training for the childcare staff relating to child development and mental health related issues. The Fu Yau Project staff includes child psychiatrists, licensed and license-tracked clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists, all of whom reflect the unique language skills and cultural competence needed to provide services for the children, families, and teaching staff of the childcare programs.

Through the Fu Yau Project, RAMS currently provides services at more than 43 childcare centers, 8 family childcare providers, 5 family resource centers, and one after school site, which are located in over nine San Francisco neighborhoods.

30 Years After Vincent Chin

In 1982, Vincent Chin was the victim of a hate crime murder in Detroit. Thirty years later, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders continue to face discrimination and bullying. In light of recent tragedies like the extreme hazing and subsequent death of Pvt. Danny Chen and the continuing effects of 9/11, what can Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders do to stand up against racism and discrimination?

The death of Vincent Chin's death is of great historical significance for our community, and marked a turning point for API involvement and awareness of social justice and equality.  RAMS is proud to be a co-sponsor for this event.  Join us on June 23rd for a live broadcast of a national discussion on hate crimes & bullying, followed by a lively local conversation and Q&A with leaders of local civil rights organizations, moderated by R.J. Lozada from local radio show APEX Express.

Here's the Facebook event page!

What: Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now, a Bay Area Conversation
When: June 23rd, 2012 10:45am - 3:00pm
Where: 9th Street Independent Film Center Theater 145 9th Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Attendees can buy tickets HERE.

SCHEDULE

• 10:45am - DOORS OPEN
• 11:15am - 12:00pm BROADCAST of live Google Hangout "Vincent Chin 30: Standing Up Then and Now" from speakers across the US including Moderator Phil Yu (Angry Asian Man), Congresswoman Judy Chu (LA) - and speaking on location in San Francisco, Zahra Billoo (CAIR - SF, Executive Director)
• 12:00pm - 1:00pm FILM SCREENING: "Vincent Who?". Food and light refreshments available in the lobby.
• 1:00pm - 3:00pm LIVE DISCUSSION and Q&A Featuring Bay Area Civil Rights Leaders on Hate Crimes and Bullying Moderated by R.J. Lozada, contributor to APEX Express, a weekly magazine-style radio show on KPFA featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. Speakers: Vincent Pan (Chinese for Affirmative Action, Executive Director), Ling Woo Liu (Korematsu Institute, Executive Director), Zahra Billoo (Council on American-Islamic Relations - SFBA, Executive Director), Angela Chan (Asian Law Caucus, Staff Attorney in Criminal Justice Reform Program)

Presented by
Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (SF Bay)
Center for Asian American Media

Co-sponsors (current as of 6/18/12): Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) Asian Law Caucus (ALC) Korematsu Institute Council on American-Islamic Relations SF (CAIR-SFBA) APEX Express KPFA 94.1 on Thursdays from 7-8pm Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC) Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA - NC) Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Silicon Valley (APABA-SV) San Francisco La Raza Lawyers Association (SFLRLA) Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) Richmond Area Multi Services (RAMS)

Tickets will be sold for the duration of the event, depending on seating or standing room capacity. There will be a live stream of the event and a viewing area from the lobby. Proceeds will help meet the costs of production for the event.

Honoring Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day on May 10th

SAN FRANCISCO – Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc. (RAMS) is proudly joining many others in the community to honor “Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day” on May 10^th, as first established in 2010 by the State of California and the City & County of San Francisco, to recognize the importance of raising awareness about mental health and promote mental wellness in the Asian Pacific American community.

Approximately 25% of Americans in a given year are impacted by mental health conditions regardless of gender, age, race, religion and socioeconomic status, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  Asian & Pacific Islanders (A&PIs) specifically make up one of the fastest growing ethnic communities in the United States, yet they have the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services among ethnic populations, which may be due to the substantial stigma that exists (since many individuals and families remain in denial or silence about their situation) as well as cultural & linguistic isolation of the community, family, and individual.  A&PI girls have the highest rate of depressive symptoms of any racial/ethnic or gender groups, according to a study released by the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI, February 2011).  A&PI women ages 15-24 have also been shown to have a higher rate of suicide than Caucasians, African Americans and Latinos in that age group (Center for Disease Control and Prevention/National Center for Health Statistics).  According to another study, A&PI college students report higher levels of depressive symptoms than white students (NAMI 2011).  These disparities indicate the critical need to raise awareness & talk about mental health, de-stigmatize seeking help, and increase access to & support culturally competent services for the Asian American & Pacific Islander community.

In the honoring of Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day in 2012, RAMS is pleased to be collaborating with the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), and its partner interTrend Communications, in their national Friends DO Make a Difference campaign.  This creative and collaborative outreach effort will provide and distribute messages that focus on the importance and power of being a friend for someone facing mental health challenges. This project grew out of the successful What A Difference A Friend Makes campaign, created by the US Department of Health and Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  With the support and encouragement of SAMHSA, this project has tailored the message, art work and approach of the SAMHSA campaign to make it relevant to Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) students.  RAMS will focus on outreach to the youth population and help to pilot this project among high school students in San Francisco.   

Please join us at a special event on this day.

WHEN: Thursday, May 10th from 9:30am to 10:30am

WHERE: George Washington High School, 600 32^nd Ave, San Francisco

WHAT: Join public officials, school district representatives, Bay Area local & national leaders, community advocates, stakeholder organizations/institutions, educators, and youth who will gather to recognize Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day and learn about the Friends DO Make a Difference campaign

HOSTS:

Richmond Area Multi-Services, Inc.

National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), a non-profit organization with the mission to promote the mental health and well being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

George Washington High School, a four-year comprehensive San Francisco public high school dedicated to the philosophy that every student entering its halls has the right to an education to maximize his/her potential

Click HERE to view & download the press release.

Email info@ramsinc.org for more information.

The establishment of Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day was an effort spearheaded by RAMS along with California State Senator Leland Y. Yee, Ph.D. and San Francisco Board of Supervisor (District 1) Eric Mar.  It was overwhelmingly supported by many major associations and community coalitions.  Since May is already established nationally as the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and as Mental Health Awareness Month, institution of this day in the month of May more closely aligns both awareness efforts. 

California Reducing Disparities Project

RAMS, Inc., as a member organization of the Asian Pacific Islander Strategic Planning Workgroup (API-SPW) for the California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP), is pleased to announce release of the draft report for public review & comment, from 04/06 to 4/26. Pacific Clinics, under the directorship of Dr. C. Rocco Cheng, served as the lead organization for the Asian & Pacific Islander Strategic Planning Workgroup, and Community Health for Asian Americans (CHAA), under the leadership of Ms. Beatrice Lee, served as the Bay Area regional lead agency.

The California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP) is a key statewide policy initiative funded by the California Department of Mental Health (DMH) as means to improve access, quality of care, and increase positive outcomes for racial, ethnic, and cultural communities. Launched in 2009, this two-year statewide Prevention and Early Intervention effort utilizes $3 million in Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) state administrative funding.

The CRDP is focused on five populations to which each will encompass its own Strategic Planning Workgroup (SPW):
•African Americans
•Asian/Pacific Islanders
•Latinos
•Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, Questioning (LGBTQ)
•Native Americans

•To view the detailed roster, please download HERE.

These Strategic Planning Workgroups (SPW) is comprised of community leaders, mental health providers, consumers and family members – all of whom work together to identify new service delivery approaches defined by multicultural communities for multicultural communities using community -defined evidence. Their goal is to develop population-specific reports (strategic plan) that will form the basis of a statewide comprehensive strategic plan to identify new approaches toward reducing disparities.

To view the CRDP Fact Sheet, please click HERE.

Funded by MHSA through the Office of Multicultural Services at the California Department of Mental Health, the API-SPW was formed to address mental health service disparities in the Asian Pacific Islander community by identifying unmet needs and collecting community-defined strategies in response to these needs. The API-SPW consisted of 55 members representing various Asian Pacific Islander communities in California, including community representatives, community organizers, community service providers, consumer advocates, and mental health service providers who have years of experience and expertise serving the API community in urban, suburban, and rural areas. In addition, the API-SPW sought inputs directly from community members through conducting twenty-three focus groups and interviews across the state.

Based on the contributions from the 55 members and 198 focus group participants, the API-SPW proceeded to define core competencies and selection criteria for promising programs relevant to the API community, making this report a true grass-root effort to address mental health service disparities from a community perspective. The spirit of such an effort is reflected in the API report, as it closely documents the information and feedbacks gathered from the API community in the last two years.

About API-SPW:
For information, please download HERE for the API Strategic Planning Workgroup organizational structure.

For more information on the API-SPW, click on the following links for the CRDP and the API strategy & the draft of the report. For comments, please email to crdp@pacificclinics.org by no later than April 26, 2012.

Save the date: May 14 & 15 Preparing for Healthcare Reform

May is API Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month!
SAVE THE DATE for May 14-15, 2012: Preparing Our Agencies and Staff for the Next Round of Healthcare Reform
Cost: no charge

Monday May 14th
Noon – 4:00
Target audience: Open to all but focusing on administrators – no limit on numbers
Content: policies, Medicaid expansion in California, Accountable Care Organizations, getting ready for the future

Tuesday May 15th
9:00 – 4:00
Target audience: providers and consumers – limited to first 50
Content: Preparing for integrated care, addressing common health problems in behavioral health settings, model AANHPI integrated care programs, looking to the future

Location: Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A (between Buchanan and Marina Blvd), San Francisco, CA 94123

Registration Required: please use the following link to register
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MDNBQRY

For information call NAAPIMHA at 303-298-7910

Directions to site: http://www.fortmason.org/aboutus/visitor-information/directions
Registration and agenda: Go to http://naapimha.org/preparing-for-health-care-reform/

View the flyer by clicking on the image below to enlarge (right-click and select any options to "Open").

Integrated Care for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Communities: A Blueprint for Action

RAMS is excited to be able to share with our community the official copy of the Integrated Care for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders Communities: A Blueprint for Action: Consensus Statement and Recommendations.  This document truly represents a group effort, which RAMS was delighted to be a part of, and the Blueprint reflects years of dedication by so many individuals & organizations who have given to improving the quality of care for our communities.  The document was published, in January 2012, by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, and authored by DJ Ida, Ph.D., Janet SooHoo, MSW, and Teresa Chapa, Ph.D., MPA.  It was an honor for RAMS to be invited to participate in this process.  In addition, several staff from RAMS assisted & volunteered at the expert consensus meeting & summit that was held in San Francisco, hosted by National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association.  Please feel free to distribute this document so we can all build on the recommendations, educate stakeholders/providers/decision makers, and take action!

Click HERE to read the document online.

Fu Yau Project Winter Newsletter

Check out the latest Fu Yau Times, a semi-annual newsletter with great articles and tips on parenting and resources for the community. Check it out by clicking HERE.

About the Fu Yau Project:

The Fu Yau Project is one of the many Child, Youth & Family Services offered at RAMS. It is a collaboration of RAMS and Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC) and is located at 720 Sacramento Street, in San Francisco's Chinatown district. This innovative program provides prevention and early intervention mental health services to the childcare community that cares for children, ages 0-5 years old. Services includes the following: On-Site Program and Child Observation; Clinical Consultation with childcare staff and families; On-Site Intervention with individual and groups of children; Parenting Classes and Support Groups; and In-Service Training for the childcare staff relating to child development and mental health related issues. The Fu Yau Project staff includes child psychiatrists, licensed and license-tracked clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists, all of whom reflect the unique language skills and cultural competence needed to provide services for the children, families, and teaching staff of the childcare programs.

Through the Fu Yau Project, RAMS currently provides services at more than 43 childcare centers, eight family childcare providers, five family resource centers, and one after school site, which are located in over nine San Francisco neighborhoods.

U.S. Office of Minority Health invites RAMS CEO to first-ever Roundtable Discussion

Kavoos G. Bassiri, RAMS President & CEO, was invited by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health (OMH) to participate in OMH’s first-ever roundtable discussion on addressing health and behavioral health needs through integrated care for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders titled, Integrated Care for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Communities: A Blueprint for Action.

OMH and its partner, the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), hosted a two-day meeting (8/15-8/16, 2011) with the goal to bring together a diverse group of health and behavioral health professional and key stakeholders to examine the role of integrated care as a formidable method of care delivery for AANHPI populations, and to formulate recommendations and next steps.  To achieve this goal, OMH and NAAPHIMA, listened to leaders in the field, learned about new and emerging practices, and together formulated recommendations and consensus statements that would be utilized to lay the groundwork for how to approach integrated care for AANHPI populations in the U.S.

Among the participants also included Dr. Alvin Alvarez and Dr. Jean Lau Chin, who serve on the RAMS Board of Directors and the Board's Advisory Council, respectively.  They were invited separately, on their own, for their community involvement and expertise.

RAMS is thankful to OMH and NAAPIMHA to have had the opportunity to be part of this process!

New Resources on AAPI Mental Health Released by NAMI

RAMS is excited to share the recent multi-lingual fact sheets on mental illness issues among the Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, released by National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). This was the result of Listening Session (which we blogged about in November 2010), where RAMS President & CEO Kavoos G. Bassiri joined 20 other participants to discuss the unique needs of the AAPI community.

This new series of NAMI fact sheets are now available in English, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese with the following titles:

• Mental Health Issues among Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities
• Mental Health Issues among Asian American and Pacific Islander Children and Youth
• Asian American and Pacific Islander Mental Health: A Guide on How to Get Support for Your Loved One
• Recovery for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Living with Mental Illness

Also, a special “thanks” went out to Dr. Jei Africa, RAMS, and NAMI New Jersey's Chinese American Mental Health Outreach Program for their contributions to the development of these new resources.

Visit www.nami.org/aapi to access these new informational resources focused on mental health recovery and support of AAPI adults and youth with specific consideration of cultural factors. Materials were released in honor of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month 2011.

Fu Yau Project Summer Newsletter

Check out the latest Fu Yau Times, a semi-annual newsletter with great articles and tips on parenting and resources for the community. Check it out by clicking HERE.

About the Fu Yau Project:
The Fu Yau Project is one of the many Child, Youth & Family Services offered at RAMS. It is a collaboration of RAMS and Chinatown Child Development Center (CCDC) and is located at 720 Sacramento Street, in San Francisco's Chinatown district. This innovative program provides prevention and early intervention mental health services to the childcare community that cares for children, ages 0-5 years old. Services includes the following: On-Site Program and Child Observation; Clinical Consultation with childcare staff and families; On-Site Intervention with individual and groups of children; Parenting Classes and Support Groups; and In-Service Training for the childcare staff relating to child development and mental health related issues. The Fu Yau Project staff includes child psychiatrists, licensed and license-tracked clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists, all of whom reflect the unique language skills and cultural competence needed to provide services for the children, families, and teaching staff of the childcare programs.

Through the Fu Yau Project, RAMS currently provides services at more than 44 childcare centers, 12 family childcare providers, four family resource centers, and one after school site, which are located in over nine San Francisco neighborhoods.

House Leader Nancy Pelosi meets with API Budget Coalitions

Press Release from Chinatown Community Development Center

SAN FRANCISCO (May 27, 2011) – Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi and over 40 community-based leaders from the Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) Budget Coalitions (which includes RAMS) met to discuss federal budget priorities for API low-income families, youth and seniors. Representatives from the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Laotian and Samoan American communities from across San Francisco attended. Leader Pelosi declared her strong support for the three federal budget priorities articulated by the group: the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG), Social Security Supplemental Income program (SSI), and Medicare.

Following a presentation by Patsy Tito, Executive Director of the Samoan Community Development Center, on the importance of CDBG funding to API communities, Rep. Pelosi acknowledged that the CDBG program must be protected because it forms the underyling foundation for critical local programs.  This is particularly true in San Francisco. CDBG funds nearly every API serving non-profit in the city of San Francisco. These services range from affordable housing to senior, youth, and family support programs.

Leader Pelosi also supported the priority to defend SSI from Republican attempts to raid and deplete the program. Anni Chung, Executive Director of Self-Help for the Elderly, presented on behalf of the community groups, and pointed out that for many API seniors, over 90% of their income comes from SSI.

Leader Pelosi finally urged API community leaders to oppose the current Republican attempt to privatize portions of Medicare after Kent Woo, Executive Director of the NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, presented.
 

About the Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) Budget Coalitions
The Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) Budget Coalitions is a San Francisco based “coalition of coalitions” formed to coordinate and advocate on government budget policy issues on behalf of vulnerable Asian and Pacific Islander communities. We consist of seven different citywide and neighborhood based Asian and Pacific Islander coalitions focusing on a broad range of issues impacting API’s. Our coalitions and their individual members provide social services and programming on a citywide basis to nearly every vulnerable API community in the City. Collectively, our coalitions include nearly 80 non-overlapping, individual organizations, institutions, and/or agencies.

Peer Leadership & Support

RAMS Peer Specialist Mental Health Certificate Program was invited to present at the Mayor's Disability Council meeting which took place on Friday May 20.  The topics discussed at the meeting were on Mental Health Issues, Peer Leadership, and Peer Support.  Christine Tam, Program Coordinator, gave an overview of the program's history and how it was created, student demographics, the current status of the program, and the successes experienced by the students in the program during their class experience and after graduation.

Christine Tam speaks in front of the Mayor's Disability Council