KCCD & SAMHSA Mental Health Collaborative

KCCD has part­nered  with Sub­stance Abuse and Men­tal Health Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion (SAMHSA) to cre­ate a Com­mu­ni­ty Lead­ers and Inter­faith Part­ner­ship with­in the Kore­an and Asian Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ty in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia. As one of 12 com­mu­ni­ties select­ed by SAMHSA across the Unit­ed States, KCCD is priv­i­leged to con­vene a group of faith-based and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers who will guide and lead an effort to improve access to resources, and infor­ma­tion, as well build our lead­er­ship capac­i­ty in the area of me
ntal health aware­ness, sub­stance abuse and advo­ca­cy.  For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it www.kccd.org.

Grace Welt­man of Com­mu­ni­ties in Motion is facil­i­tat­ing this col­lab­o­ra­tive process in which var­i­ous agen­cies, faith lead­ers, non­prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, men­tal health advo­cates with­in the Asian Ame­ri­anc Com­mu­ni­ty with­in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia are work­ing togeth­er to devel­op a sus­tain­able mod­el to increase resources and advo­ca­cy around men­tal health and awareness.

Data on Asian Americans and its Implications on Mental Health Resources and Advocacy

Con­trary to the mod­el minor­i­ty myth, many Kore­an and Asian Amer­i­cans in South­ern Cal­i­for­nia are suf­fer­ing in silence with men­tal health and sub­stance abuse issues.

• Asian Amer­i­cans are the fastest grow­ing vic­tims of hate crimes.
• Sui­cide rates among Asian Amer­i­can youth and young adults are among the high­est across all eth­nic groups across the Unit­ed States.
• 30% of Asian Amer­i­can girls from 5th to 12th grade report hav­ing symp­toms of depression.
• 17% of boys (5th to 12th grades report they expe­ri­ence phys­i­cal abuse.
• 60% pf Kore­an mar­ried women report being bat­tered by their spouses.
• Most Asians are reluc­tant to report domes­tic violence.
• Asian gangs are the fastest grow­ing street gangs in L.A. Coun­ty with 20,000 members.
• Asian Amer­i­cans have the high­est per­cent­age of juve­nile arrests in L.A. County.