Two Bay Area men are tackling what some say is a silent but growing crisis: mental health connected to Asian American men.
NBC Bay Area sat down with them to understand the issues and what they’re doing to help others like them who may be struggling with their emotional well-being.
“The vibrations released something in my heart and on my muscles that ultimately I cried for a very long time,” San Francisco resident Michael Ly said, sharing the emotional release that came from Taiko drumming at an event held by Proud Asian Men, a mental health support group that creates a safe space for Asian men to explore and be vulnerable.
Ly volunteers with Leo Xia, the group’s founder. Xia said he didn’t know anything about mental health but knew something was wrong a couple years out of college.
“I was at a music festival with at that point all my closest friends in the entire world, and all of a sudden I had this crushing feeling of I feel so alone…that’s probably a part of why I started this work, because I I was seeking a sense of belonging,” Xia said.
Searching for that belonging, Xia wrote a Facebook post asking if he should start an Asian men’s support group and if anyone would care. He said it “blew up” with so many offers to help.
“I don’t ask these guys to go somewhere emotionally that I’m not prepared to go to myself,” Xia said.
Xia is not a medical professional but wanted to do something. Since 2019, he holds free bi-weekly support groups for Asian men through Asian Mental Health Project, along with talks and events in Southern California and the Bay Area.
“The experience comes from the sheer amount of stories that I’ve heard,” Xia said. “I’ve probably over this time talked to over 500 Asian men, asking them these very human questions. What do you want? What’s been painful for you? How do you process your masculinity and your culture in our intersecting?”
Ly found Xia’s group through an email he said he was receiving for an entire year until a crisis.
“I was suffering a lot last year…I was really anxious about life,” Ly said. “I was really sad about life.”
Searching for more connection, Ly attended his first Proud Asian Men’s group online and found a purpose. Ly and Xia held the first Bay Area Asian men’s event at Ly’s apartment last November.
Angela Tang is a licensed clinical social worker and CEO of RAMS, a nonprofit mental health agency. She said nationally, across all ethnic communities, one in five adults and one in six youth experience mental health challenges a year.
“The number of people who are actually receiving services for it is only 50% just on average, and when you look at Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander communities, it’s even like lower than 25%,” she said. “What are some of the barriers to that…the stigma around mental health, the fact that we don’t have enough providers that know about our culture.”
Tang said grassroot groups like Proud Asian Men are important because it brings awareness and opens up dialogue.
Xia and Ly said their work will continue – not just for themselves but for others.
“That’s why at Proud Asian Men we believe in building infrastructure for Asian men’s mental health so this can last a long time,” Xia said.
Ly has started a monthly men’s support group in the Haight Ashbury that is open to men of all backgrounds.
“Why I feel this work is so meaningful is that my life has been transformed because of it,” Ly said.
‘Proud Asian Men will hold two upcoming workshops in the Bay Area on Saturday, Oct. 25 and the weekend of Nov. 1. For more information, click here.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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