stigma – ACAM 320B student submissions

August 1, 2024August 1, 2024

Depression & Suicide

“[K]eep it in the family”

Creators:
Reeva Bhandal ਰੀਵਾ (she/hers)
Tracy Ngo 吴雯娜 (she/hers)

It is not a secret that Asian diaspora face particular challenges when it comes to mental health, particularly dealing with depression and suicide – both from within their cultures, and outside their cultures. From outside their cultures, they have to deal with a lot of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. Within their cultures, there is also a lot of conservatism and misunderstanding about mental health that prevents effective usage of mental health support. These complex problems require multi-faceted solutions – solutions that can greatly benefit from enough State-level financial support. In this letter to their Member of Parliament, Reeva and Tracy lay out the problems in detail, followed by impressively in-depth and well-researched solutions that they request from the government. Are there any other solutions not on the list that you’d like to see – whether from the government or from Asian diasporic communities?

April 30, 2022May 5, 2022

Dear Hon. David Eby

Cultural competence is an essential asset for healthcare providers

Author:
Elisha Fu 傅羽佳

When your community is faced with a problem, it can be hard to know how to even begin to address and tackle it. Leveraging her own experiences, Elisha decided to take on the issue of the underutilization of mental health support services among Asian Canadian communities with this draft letter to her Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), the Honourable David Eby. In this letter, Elisha discusses the scope of the problem at hand, and the devastating impact it can have on Asian disapora in Canada. Through her research, she proposes several important recommendations that the government should consider to ensure that there is sufficient culturally safe mental health resources that Asian diasporic communities can feel comfortable accessing. If you are faced with a similar problem affecting your community, what would you say to your MLA or Member of Parliament?

Click on the following to reveal the paper (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)

May 14, 2021April 30, 2022

A Life Coloured by Expectations

Hidden Behind Colours: Art Piece & Reflection on the Impact of Cultural Identity on Mental Health

Artist:
Nichole Hui Ping Goh (she/hers)

Humans, being a social species, all live while subject to societal expectations; but the extent to which people are constrained in society by expectations are often indicative of their marginalization. This combination of repressive expectations, constraints, and marginalization can have strong negative impact on one’s mental health. Through her art piece, Goh uses different panels to speak to the multifaceted nature of the pressures that society places onto nonya/nyonya, an identity that places Goh (and others like her) at the intersection of Malaysian and Peranakan identities. Between societal pressures, family pressures, and internalized pressures, Goh’s piece speaks to the pervasive and all-encompassing nature of repressive societal expectations, and the damage that can do. This leads to a bigger question – how do we break this cycle?

Click on the following to reveal the artwork (Note: PDF viewer not compatible with some mobile platforms; but it is available for download or to view via mobile PDF viewers)