Supporting National Asian American Mental Health

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Supporting National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day

Preamble

The following resolution was introduced by Senator HIRONO (for herself, Ms. C ANTWELL , Mr. M ARKEY , Mr. P ADILLA , Mr. S CHATZ , and Ms. WARREN ) to support the designation of May 10, 2025, as 'National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day'.

Resolution

RESOLUTION Supporting the designation of May 10, 2025, as ‘‘National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day’’.

  • Whereas the Asian American, Native Hawai‘ian, and Pacific Islander (referred to in this preamble as ‘‘AANHPI’’) community is among the fastest growing population groups in the United States and has made significant economic, cultural, and social contributions;
  • Whereas the AANHPI community is extremely diverse in terms of socioeconomic background, education level, types of employment, languages spoken, cultures of origin, ac-culturation, and migration and colonization status;
  • Whereas AANHPIs have among the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services, and 65.3 percent of the estimated 2,900,000 AANHPIs who meet criteria for a mental health problem do not receive treatment;
  • Whereas, from 2018 to 2023, AANHPI youth ages 10 to 24 years old in the United States were the only racial or ethnic population in this age category whose leading cause of death was suicide;
  • Whereas it is imperative to disaggregate AANHPI population data to get an accurate representation of the depth and breadth of the mental health issues for each subpopulation, so that specific culturally and linguistically appropriate solutions can be developed;
  • Whereas language access continues to be a critical issue, whether due to the limited number of providers with the necessary language skills to provide in-language services or the significant language loss faced by Native Hawai‘ian and Pacific Islander communities due to colonization;
  • Whereas there is a need to significantly increase the number of providers, including paraprofessionals, representing AANHPI communities and provide them with necessary training and ongoing support;
  • Whereas historical discrimination and current racial violence toward AANHPIs increase trauma and stress, underlying precursors to mental health problems;
  • Whereas there is a critical need to raise awareness about, and improve mental health literacy among, the AANHPI community to reduce the stigma associated with mental health services;

Points of Agreement

RESOLUTION Supporting the designation of May 10, 2025, as ‘‘National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day’’.

  1. "Whereas..."
  2. The AANHPI community is among the fastest growing population groups in the United States...
  3. AANHPIs have among the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services...
  4. There is a critical need to raise awareness about, and improve mental health literacy among, the AANHPI community...

Calls to Action

The resolution encourages Federal, State, and local health agencies to adopt laws, policies, and guidance to:

  • Improve help-seeking rates for mental health services for the AANHPI community and other communities of color.

For more information on this bill, visit: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/BILLS-119sres208is