Author: South Asian Mental Health Alliance

New video! Please go to our YouTube channel to watch this talk, in which Vishal courageously shares his personal story of suffering from depression and anxiety, surviving thoughts of suicide, dealing with the stigma around mental health, and building a tool-kit for recovery and on going health maintenance. This moving talk was given at SAMHAA (South Asian Mental Health Alliance) Community Summit in Surrey, BC, Canada.

Video link: https://youtu.be/7-Z4t4770Jw

Shoutout to mental health ambassador Vishal for the inspirational message and for his ongoing support of SAMHAA, and@jacquilekambo for the final editing. We are honoured to have Jacquile, a talented young film maker, on the team. This video and many of those to be published were filmed by our friend Jenni Rempel who passed away last year and we dedicate them in her memory. 💙

For more information on SAMHAA:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/southasianmentalhealth

Twitter: 
http://twitter.com/southasianmh

Reddit:
http://reddit.com/r/mentalhealth 
Facebook:
http://facebook.com/southasianmentalhealth

One of our goals for this year is to publish all of the great content from our conferences, workshops, and from the amazing mental health advocates in the South Asian community. 

Check out the first of these videos on our YouTube channel: Karen Aujla sharing her personal experience with Bipolar Disorder at the South Asian Mental Health Alliance Community Summit in Surrey, BC. https://youtu.be/G8pVRbpyV88 (link also in our bio). Shoutout to mental health ambassador @26kare for the inspirational message and for her ongoing support of SAMHAA, and@jacquilekambo for the final editing. We are honoured to have Jacquile, a talented young film maker, on the team. This video and many of those to be published were filmed by our friend Jenni Rempel who passed away last year and we dedicate them in her memory. 💙

Had the opportunity last week to record a new interview on The Harpreet Singh show about youth mental health and some tips for parents. The episode will be out soon on JoyTV 10.

Upcoming interviews will include discussion on:
– health system navigation
– language & mental health terminology
– holistic health and self advocacy

Thank you Prime Asia TV for inviting SAMHAA director Kulpreet Singh to speak on #mentalhealth in the #southasiancommunity. To view the full interview, check out Prime Asia TV’s Facebook page or YouTube channel. 
Look out for many more interviews, podcasts, workshops, and talks in the future. 
Passionate about mental health advocacy and interested in joining our team? Email us at info@samhaa.org.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to talk about student mentalhealth at SFU in SurreyBC.

Thank you to @ssaubc @sfussa for hosting.

Thank you to Sarah and Anjneet @anjneetpanesar from @movingforwardfamilies for sharing resources and information about your agency.

Thank you to Anisha @anishakarora, Assistant Registrar at @SFUSurrey, for speaking about on campus student counseling and support services.

Thank you to Geoffrey @gc.chingg, Founder of Youth Mental Health Association @ymh_association for sharing info about your organization.

Thank you to filmmaker and SAMHAA team member Jacquile @jacquilekambo for filming – some clips from the talk will be up on our YouTube channel soon.

Thank you to all the organizing volunteers, speakers, agencies and attendees of the “Struggles of Youth” mental health forum last night in Abbotsford, discussing the link between mental health and gang violence. Together, we can fight stigma, create awareness and prevent youth in our communities from going down a destructive path.

Gurdwara Sahib Kalgidhar Darbar Community Awareness Team 
Abbotsford Community Services

Kulpreet Singh, South Asian Mental Health Alliance

Sgt. Jag Khosa, Gang Intervention officer for Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, Organized Crime Agency of BC

Navneet K Bains, Counsellor, Moving Forward Family Services

After finishing training workshops over two years in the “Strength in Unity” study to combat mental health stigma amongst Asian men, participants engaged in the following activities, in order of frequency:
· Community building and engagement (775)
· Self care (709)
· Community advocacy (671)
· Knowledge seeking (664)
· Enhanced relationships and social networks (524)
· Personal advocacy (250)
· Policy advocacy (4)

What are your takeaways from this? Do any of the numbers surprise, encourage or concern you?

Strength in Unity is a community-based research project to build capacity among youth and men from Asian Communities in Canada, and mobilize them to become Community Mental Health Ambassadors. They will raise awareness about mental illness, available supports and services and encourage communities to take up anti-stigma initiatives. The study was funded by Movember Foundation and SFU Faculty of Health Sciences.

Today, the results of the study are being presented at the Men’s Mental Health Summit in downtown Vancouver. Sukhdeep Jassar, former chair of SAMHAA’s board of directors, was also a past member of the Vancouver site research team. 
For more information about the study, please visit www.strength-in-unity.com

Hi everyone!
Check us out in the January/February 2017 issue of Desi Today Magazine, in which we talk about mental health #advocacy in the South Asian community and how to combat stigma through education.