‘Asian Initiative in Mental Health’ offers culturally-relevant mental health approach

Calls for mental health supports have heightened as Canada faces a mental health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those in the Asian-Canadian community, an increase in hate crimes has highlighted the need for even more supports.

One place offering culturally-sensitive and relevant supports is a newer program called the Asian Initiative in Mental Health (AIM). The adult outpatient community mental health initiative has been operating for about a decade at the Centre for Mental Health at University Health Network in Toronto.

Dr. Kenneth Fung, the clinical director of AIM says these services are vital for Chinese Canadians, as they’re not only one of the biggest minority populations in Canada, they are also the most underserved.

“We have Ontario Hospital admission data that demonstrates that compared to other ethnic groups, and this might be surprising for a lot of people, the Chinese, even as a group, have even more involuntary hospitalization,” he says.” “In other words, hospitalization against their will. And they have a higher degree of severity of mental illness. And that’s because there are so limited services out there.”

The program is available to individuals residing in the GTA who need services in Cantonese or Mandarin. The program also serves other east Asian groups including Cambodians and Vietnamese as well. Its goal is to enhance the quality of life of these individuals through culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions, offering services such as education, assessment and treatment options.

Dr. Fung says the clinic has seen an increased demand for its services with 250 new individuals seeking help each year. He says there are 4,500 total patients per year.

“This reflects that we need to expand our services and that Chinese-Canadians deserve care. If language and culture is a barrier, it’s important to help improve equitable care for all populations.”

Part of the AIM program also offers treatment options under its Early Intervention in Psychosis program. Dr. Fung says psychosis is a term used to describe a mental health condition where reality is loosened. Patients experiencing this may hallucinate and have delusions which eventually become their perceived reality.

Dr. Fung says if diagnosed early, treatment options of offering medication, therapy and family intervention can manage symptoms which makes a big difference in the patient’s quality of life.

Not getting help early enough could have a dire effect.

“It makes it more challenging to give them treatment,” says Dr. Fung. “There is always hope but the earlier we treat, the better the recovery. Treating them early, to get them back to school and to developing social relationships, all of that is helpful. If you wait for many years, many of the deleterious consequences have occurred.”

Dr. Fung says work at the clinic also helps to tackle the stigma around mental health as it relates to the Chinese-Canadian community.

“In the Asian culture, which is known to be more collectivistic and family-oriented, oftentimes the stigma can be focused on the family,” he says. “It can lead to family members being reluctant to come face-to-face with the difficulty of mental illness. Like all other kinds of illnesses, mental illness deserves our attention, it deserves to be talked about, deserves diagnosis and treatment, and people can recover.”