What is it about?

CHATogether is a community theater program tailored for the Asian Americans. The study reported 45+ theater events and leaders viewpoints on their communities' mental health needs, which informs cultural community engagement in psychiatric services.

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Why is it important?

Asian American mental health has low help-seeking rate to mental health services due to various barriers such as structural barriers, stigma, and a lack of understanding of mental health and treatment options. There are dire needs to promote community engagement in healing conversations for Asian Americans. This paper suggests a grass-root approach through interviewing community leaders to identify Asian American mental heath needs, and then to co-construct community theater program to meet such identified needs.

Perspectives

This article took ~3-4 years effort from a team of motivated Asian American trainee co-authors who found their calling in the process of this project. Partnering with the community leaders and learning about their perspectives on people's mental health needs is a humble and eye-opening experience. I hope readers can be inspired and continue their passion in finding creative culturally responsive treatments for Asian Americans, the one meeting the needs that they all deserve.

Eunice Yuen
Yale University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: CHATogether Community-Based Program for Evaluating Asian American and Pacific Islanders’ Mental Health Needs Post-COVID-19, Psychiatric Services, September 2025, American Psychiatric Association,
DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.20250166.
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