Mental health issues in the Asian American community persist following a rise in hate crimes during the pandemic, researchers and advocates say, but few seek help, and those who do can’t find resources.

Now, lawmakers must intervene, a recent report concludes.

These were among the findings of a report to inform lawmakers published last month by the Rutgers-NYU Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity, a collaboration between the two universities to improve Asian health equity.

“We need to make mental health a priority in our communities,” said advocate Isabel Ching, executive director of Hamilton Madison House, a New York City-based nonprofit that provides resources to low-income Asian Americans. “AAPI may have had bad experiences engaging in mental health services and do not know about case managers and mental health clinicians who speak their language and understand the issues they are dealing with.”

Research since the pandemic found that young adults who saw anti-Asian language experienced more stress and that Asian Americans who experienced discrimination during the pandemic were more likely to have race trauma and PTSD.

And even though the pandemic is over, many Asian communities across the state are still struggling, but stigma stops many from getting help, the report found. When they try to access resources, there are few.

According to Sunanda Gaur, professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center and co-author of the report, many members of the Asian community feel that they can’t seek support because there is pressure to be a “model minority.”

“The model minority in that this is an immigrant group that has come, immigrated, and are successful, and that really speaks to being economically successful,” Gaur said. People then assume that Asians are “doing well in all areas.”

Gaur and her co-authors on the report noted data collected on Asian mental health lumps all members of the community, like Koreans, Indians and Filipinos together, preserving this myth.

Keith Chan, an associate professor of social work at Hunter College in New York City and co-author of the brief, added that this means lawmakers can overlook the Asian community when allocating resources.

“The model minority is used to justify this inadequate access,” Chan said.

So for the Asian Americans who try to seek help, they won’t find it, he added.

Data from the state Office of the Attorney General showed that from 2019 to 2023, anti-Asian bias incidents statewide jumped 260%, from 46 to 166.

“The pandemic, as it did in so many areas of life, just made things worse,” said Amber Reed, president of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey, a statewide resource and advocacy group based in Montclair. “Anyone who already had anxiety or depression felt it all the more acutely seeing the hate crimes against Asian Americans – having to deal with the daily stress of worrying about their safety.”

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According to Reed, when politicians like former president Donald Trump used racist terminology like “kung flu” and the “Chinese virus” to describe the virus hate crimes increased.

“That language really created this sort of atmosphere of permission, where it was just kind of okay to be suspicious of anyone who might look Chinese or Asian,” Reed said.

“It just created this climate of terror among so many.”

Chan said he and his co-authors spent two years speaking to community members for the report, which they shared with federal policymakers and plan to share with state and local lawmakers.

Among other things, the report recommends that funds be directed to train more Asian Americans to become mental health professionals, train current mental health professionals to work with Asian communities, increase mental health education, and research how traditional Asian health practices such as acupuncture could improve mental health outcomes for Asian Americans.

Reed agrees.

“I understand why we’re in this place now, but I hope that there can be investment, certainly from our governments at the state, federal, local levels at addressing some of these issues,” she said.

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Amira Sweilem may be reached at asweilem@njadvancemedia.com.

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