As stated by Vadala, “shamanism is a “universal singularity” or a religious form that can emerge and successfully gain a foothold in a given society when the religious system and social order are compatible with individual small-scale religious leadership. Such systems must require highly flexible social actors, like shamans, who can aid individuals (patients) and lead groups (apprentices and members of a community) in spiritual matters.”

(Vadala, 2019).

What is Shamanism?

Shamanism is a form of holistic healing that can be highly diverse; also, it is a spiritual practice found in cultures across the world from ancient times up to the present day. Shamanism is known for its holistic forms of religion, healing, and medicine. It combines the use of supernatural spiritual involvement and the usage of natural remedies. The Hmong community is one of the better-known groups that practice Shamanism. There are many responsibilities for the Shamans as chosen healers; also, they understand and know natural remedies. Sometimes, a shaman must negotiate with the spirit for a patient’s soul or well-being. Most traditional Hmong families or individuals might use shamans in combination with American or modern medicine. Additionally, shamans’ practices are adaptable and practical. These practices coexisted over millennia with government systems, organized religious traditions, and distinct cultures (Lawson,2016). 

“Because it is not an organized religion as such, but rather a spiritual practice, Shamanism cuts across all faiths and creeds, reaching deep levels of ancestral memory. As a primal belief system, which precedes established religion, it has its own symbolism and cosmology, inhabited by beings, gods, and totems, who display similar characteristics. However, they appear in various forms, depending upon their places of origin.” ~John Matthews, The Celtic Shaman.

(Lawson,2016)

What is a shaman?

The definition of a shaman according to famed American psychologist and consciousness pioneer Stanley Krippner, shamans are “community-assigned magico-religious professionals who deliberately alter their consciousness in order to obtain information from the ‘spirit world.’ They use this knowledge and power to help and to heal members of their community, as well as the community as a whole” (Lawson,2016). Moreover, Krippner describes shamans as the first physicians, diagnosticians, psychotherapists, religious functionaries, magicians, performing artists, and storytellers (Lawson,2016). Based on the study in shamanistic cultures, all adults are responsible for their relationships with spiritual energies, including those of their ancestors, own personal helping spirits, the creator force, and their home environments, such as animals, plant life, and geography. Nevertheless, the shamans have increased the facility for traveling in non-ordinary realms and using their spirit relationships to create changes. These changes will manifest in the physical world to heal individuals and the community (Lawson,2016). Therefore, the cultural healers’ Hmong shamans can help the community recover from the pandemic through their knowledge and spiritual power.

Hmong Shaman and Herb Center (HSHC) has provided accessible shaman and herbal healing to Hmong families in the Twin Cities area since 2019. HSHC provides a unique healing space and direct services to clients. Also, they work to support Hmong families and try to make changes in the broader systems. Moreover, HSHC has the mission to increase access to mental health support for Hmong families so that they may recover their lives from mental illnesses. To achieve HSHC goals, they do the following activities: outreach, education, training, deep practitioner development, and community partnerships at the intersection of healing and racial justice. HSHC offers substance use disorder services, coordinates with physical health care and social services, and provides integrated mental health.

Furthermore, HSHC is a designated organization to serve individuals of all ages regardless of their ability to pay and where they live. HSHC has the vision of empowering the Hmong community with holistic practices through Herbal medicine and Shamanism. Also, they help people to take charge of their wellness and health.

References

Vadala, J. (2019). Cross-culturally exploring the concept of shamanism. Human relations area files. https://hraf.yale.edu/cross-culturally-exploring-the-concept-of-shamanism/

Lawson, K. (2016).Shamanism. Taking charge of your health & wellbeing.

Is everything fully known? So many times, we are thinking about what type of questions to ask. Asking the right questions can help us clarify our confusion and better understand our understanding. Questioning is a surprisingly powerful tool that enables us to learn and exchange information and ideas. It also fuels performance and innovation improvement. Asking questions appropriately and considering the individual’s ethnic/racial background is paramount. Different cultures have distinct viewpoints, and the tone and how the questions are asked make a difference. Therefore, researching before interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds can help to ask good questions and increase people’s cultural intelligence.

Information is like a river; in the river of ideas, relationships, and news constantly changing, people need to adapt accordingly. As stated by Peavey (1997), “Dipping into the river one day brings up different perspectives than the next day because the river has moved on with one more day of experience and thinking” (Peavey, 1997). As a result, individuals who would like to know and learn new things must ask questions to stay up to date with their knowledge.

What is Strategic Questioning? 

Strategic questioning is the answer that can make a difference because it is a powerful tool for social and personal development and change. Strategic questioning helps individuals to discover their ideas and strategies for change. It involves a particular type of questioning and listening, and this type of questioning individuals can use to help co-workers, friends, their neighbors, and people in the surrounding. Strategic questioning looks for solutions to any problem because it opens another point of view, invokes exceptional creativity, considers new information and possibilities, and forges new strategies for resolving challenges.

Questioning empowers ownership of the new information that will stay with the individual. As Peavey (1997) noted, “Learning how to ask strategic questions is a path of transforming this passive and fearful inquiry into the world into a dynamic exploration of the information around us and the solutions we need. We can “make up” answers to almost any problem” (Peavey, 1997). For example, asking a simple question like what country you are from helps generate basic ideas and information about the individual.

Good questions have a purpose, sincere intent, genuine interest in learning new things, and creating curiosity. Following are some examples of questions that can help increase cultural intelligence.

• What are your thoughts about this method?”
• “When have you…? And how did it turn out?”
• “In your culture, how do people do this?”
• “What is it like to…? (Pascual, 2022).

Creating the right mindset and being open, sincere, and genuinely interested in what the other person is saying is essential. It is important to include words such as “normally,” “typically,” and “usually” when asking about different cultures. For example, “What’s your general approach to handling conflict?” “How do you usually like to collaborate?”Moreover, listen actively. Summarize or restate what the other person said and bake some of their words into the questions. Also, embrace the silence, giving them additional personal time to think and craft their answers (Pascual, 2022). Many people are willing to share more information if you wait for them to finish talking.

References

Peavey, F. (1997). Strategic questioning. In V. Hutchinson (Eds.), An approach to creating personal and social change.

Pascual, P. (2022, August 2). Asking better questions: Cross-cultural communication. Talaera. https://blog.talaera.com/asking-better-questions

Mental health is essential at every single stage of our life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. It incorporates psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Also, our mental health plays a vital role in our life because it helps us determine how to manage stress, make choices, and connect with others. Mental health impacts how we feel, act, and think. Throughout our life, we experience mood, behavior, and considering changes, which could be affected by family history of mental problems, life experiences, and biological factors. Resilience means the outcome and the process of successfully overcoming and adapting to strenuous and challenging life experiences. It protects us from several mental conditions like anxiety and depression. Furthermore, Resilience can help to offset factors that increase the risk of mental health conditions. Therefore, building Resilience helps us to adapt and confront stressful situations in our lives. 

“Our mental health is something that impacts our eating and sleeping habits and has a lot to do with our physical health as well. It is important to address our mental health needs, or oftentimes we will feel the impact of it in other areas of our health as well”(Bisma, 2021).

(Bisma, 2021)

Mental is a massive issue for Asian Americans in the United States. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted, around one in five adults experience at least one type of mental health condition every year. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health estimated that 60 percent of Asian individuals were less likely to have received mental health treatment than non-Hispanic whites in 2018. Therefore, making mental health awareness is a priority. 

As noted by Mayo clinic staff “Resilience means being able to adapt to life’s misfortunes and setbacks. Test your resilience level and get tips to build your own resilience” (Mayo Clinic, 2022).

(Mayo clinic, 2022)

Regrettably, there is a significant stigma related to mental health; however, it is vital to recognize and acknowledge that without good mental health, people can not overcome barriers and function productively. To perform well in our daily routine, mental health is the key that helps us to make decisions accurately. Having a state of well-being helps individuals realize their abilities, and it can help them cope with everyday stress, work productively and fruitfully, and contribute to the community.

Building resilience enables people to understand and underpins our individual and collective abilities. It allows us to build relationships and shape our world, which is essential to socio-economic, personal, and community development. Moreover, building resilience varies from person to person, and factors that help us to strengthen our resilience include our emotional, social, and individual skills. Positive social interactions, decent work, community cohesion, safe neighborhood, and quality of education are significant to build strong resilience and good mental health.

References

Bisma, A. ( 2021). The importance of mental health. Talkspace.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. (2021). Mental and behavioral health- Asian Americans. https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=54

Mayo Clinic. (2022). Resilience: Build skills to endure hardship.

What is biculturalism? 

Biculturalism was derived from the acculturation literature. Also, it primarily has focused on cultural behaviors, such as media preferences, choice of friends, language use, and the like. Individuals who speak the language of their receiving cultural context and the language of their heritage culture are considered to be bicultural. Also, these individuals read magazines and watch television programs from both cultural backgrounds and have friends from both the heritage and receiving country. For example, a Chinese American may speak ‘Chinglish,’ and they might eat hamburgers with traditional Chinese vegetables. Also, they might mingle in social groups that have American and Chinese friends (Schwartz & Unger, 2010). Biculturalism goes beyond cultural behaviors and includes identifications, values, and cultural practices. It also means that the individual connects to other diverse cultures surrounding them and maintains the connection with their root culture.

Furthermore, biculturalism refers to proficiency and comfort with the culture of the region or country where an individual settled and the person’s heritage culture. For example, this concept applies not only to immigrants who come from other countries but also to children of immigrants who are born and raised in the receiving society. This concept is likely to apply to immigrants children because they are deeply embedded in the heritage culture at home with their families. Moreover, this concept might apply to people living in ethnic enclaves where the heritage culture is maintained over generations and to individuals from visible minority groups. These minority groups may be identified as distinct from the majority of ethnic groups even though their families have been in the receiving society for multiple generations (Schwartz & Unger, 2010). Being a bicultural person has several healthy living benefits.

Biculturalism gives a person various values of healthy living. For instance, the person can enjoy both cultures, which means that the person behaves consistently with two cultural contexts and holds values from receiving cultural streams and identifying with two cultures. For example, as Hmong Americans, rather than just ‘Hmong’ or just ‘American,’ they may also intermix with their traditional Asian values. According to Schwartz & Unger, “The person might also feel an allegiance both to the United States and to China, as well as to the local Chinese community. She might feel Chinese compared to her American peers and feel American compared to her Chinese peers, but she can function effectively in both cultural contexts” (Schwartz & Unger, 2010). The bicultural healthy living concept evolved from biculturalism. This concept supports living healthier within two cultures in which people have adapted to live their lives. 

The followings are the several benefits offered by bicultural healthy living:

• Through bicultural healthy living, an individual gets an attitude that supports a broader understanding of multiple levels of cultural identity. Also, there is potential to transcend religious, ethnic, and individual cultural differences that enrich diverse life experiences.

• It promotes a more profound knowledge of universal values like respect, dignity, equality, justice, freedom, protection, pluralism, and kindness.

• It encourages cognitive skills to think creatively, critically, and systematically. These include adopting a multicultural perspective that acknowledges distinct perspectives and an open mind to see and analyze issues from various angles.

• It allows people to understand and support from an array of perspectives because an asset-based approach helps identify the skills and cultural implications of diverse life experiences.

• It emphasizes a group of non-cognitive skills, such as social skills. Social skills include communication skills, networking aptitudes, and interacting with people from different backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, and origins. Moreover, it stresses the importance of resiliency, conflict resolution, and communication skills.

• It highlights a group of behavioral capacities that allow individuals to act collaboratively and responsibly. This permits us to find cross-cultural solutions and strive for the collective good.

References

Schwartz, S. J., & Unger, J. B. (2010). Biculturalism and context: What is biculturalism, and when is it adaptive?: Commentary on Mistry and Wu. Human development, 53(1), 26. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840244/

Why are Asian Americans less likely to seek and utilize mental health services? Also, have you ever wondered why some people have more difficulties accessing particular services, such as mental health, despite knowing that mental health is paramount for one’s well-being?

Poor mental health is a big problem. Based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data, approximately 37 percent of Asian American adults, around 7.7 million people, reported poor mental health status in 2017 (Maxwell & Kwon, 2018). The National Alliance for Mental Health illness (NAMI) found that an estimated 77 percent of Asian Americans with mood disorders struggled to talk about their mental condition compared to their white counterparts, who were around 69 percent (Galleti, 2022). Mental health is a problem that needs to be solved.

Why is there a such racial disparity in accessing health care?

Several barriers prevent Asian Americans from seeking such a service. Most often, there is a misconception that Asian Americans do not need mental health services. Moreover, the rising healthcare cost prevents so many people from accessing the care they need. Besides this, discrimination, stigma, language barriers, and insufficient cultural competency and diversity within the mental health field make the problem more complex (Maxwell & Kwon, 2018). These factors contribute to people not accessing healthcare services.

Stigma is one of the principal barriers that prevent Asian Americans from seeking mental health services. According to a professor from UC Berkeley’s School of Social Welfare, there is some Asian cultures believe that mental issues are the outcome of a person’s past life wrongdoings. Therefore, this belief leads people to accept mental health disease as a hardship they must endure instead of seeking professional help and treatment (Galleti, 2022). Stigma is such a most significant barrier because it creates shame about not only mental issue but also promote a lack of awareness around resources that are available. Furthermore, racial stereotypes make it harder for people to seek professional help. 

Additionally, the “model minority myth” is another hurdle that blocks Asian Americans from seeking help for mental well-being because it creates the illusion that the community does not have any problems. This also pressures people to hide their mental problems and not reach out for help (Galleti, 2022). Moreover, there are many people who feel that they must succeed and push themselves to fulfill the needs of their family members back home.

As stated by Maxwell and Kwon in the article, “The model minority myth can prevent disabled APAs [Asian Pacific Americans] from asking for help, accessing appropriate services and accommodations, and self-identifying as a person with a disability. It is critical that the disability rights movement is aware of the model minority myth and addresses it in its programs and practices.” (Maxwell & Kwon, 2018). 

There are various ways that can contribute to improving access to mental health services in Asian American communities.

Provide affordable access to mental health services: Using national survey data from the CDC, the Center for American Progress stated that one in three Asian Americans diagnosed with depression could not use doctor services due to its cost. Therefore, improving access to healthcare can help our community to seek health services.

Remove language and stigmatic barriers to mental health services: An estimate of 35 percent of Asian Americans have limited English proficiency, and about 77 percent speak in their native language (non-English speaking) at home. Therefore, those foreign-born Asian Americans would benefit from services that provide better language accessibility in mental health services.

Promote cultural competency and diversity among mental health staff: The bias and cultural incompetency across healthcare professionals pose more barriers for Asian Americans while seeking mental health services. Asian Americans noted that they experience discrimination while visiting health clinics or doctors. Based on the study, the experience for Asian American immigrants is even worse because one in six reported discrimination (Maxwell & Kwon, 2018).As a result, providing a culturally diverse health staff might satisfy the needs of our community.

Taking care of our mental health is important because it will help us function well and perform our responsibility. 

References

Maxwell, C., & Kwon, L. (2018, October 10). Four ways to access to mental health services in Asian American communities. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/4-ways-improve-access-mental-health-services-asian-american-communities/#:~:text=Asian%20Americans%20are%20more%20likely,further%20exacerbate%20this%20critical%20issue

Galleti, G. (2022, February 2). How the mental health system fails Asian Americans — and how to help. California Health Report. Solutions for health equity. https://www.calhealthreport.org/2022/02/02/heres-why-many-asian-americans-dont-get-mental-health-care-and-how-to-help/

Have you ever wondered why there are Anti-Asian hate crimes continuously rising nationwide?

The answer to this question is not easy to respond. The incident of racial abuse has strongly impacted the Asian community in the United States. Anti-Asian hate is sharply increasing; we can hear in the news, social media platforms, and other online media that people of Asian origin get impacted due to racist behavior toward them. The unpleasant anti-Asian rhetoric was pointed at Japan in 1980; nowadays, China is blamed for the COVID pandemic, societal ills, and global economic turmoil. On the other hand, Asian Americans have been insulted, hated, harmed, and killed because of the wave of hate nationwide. Most often, girls, women, and the elderly have been targeted. We can hear that these types of racial attacks occur on the streets, on public transportation, at work, in shops and parks, and in the worst-case scenario, Asians and Asian Americans are stalked in their apartment buildings and homes (Helen, 2022). Incidents such as the death of Vincent Chin in 1982, the Atlanta spa shootings in 2020 where innocent Asian Americans were killed, and many other cases throughout the country depict the continuous attacks against Asians and Asian Americans.

Based on the national report, anti-Asian hate incidents have been increasing, and there were 42.5% of incidents occurred in 2020, whereas in 2021, they increased by 57.5%. Also, the report stated that the majority of incidents took place in public parks (8.0%), public transit (8.4%), businesses (26.9%), and public streets (31.2%). All ethnic groups, approximately 42.8 percent of Chinese Americans, are the ones who report the most hate incidents, followed by 16.1% Korean, 8.9% P/Filipinx, 8.2% Japanese, and 8.0% Vietnamese Americans. Around 69.8% of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women report more harassment than AAPI men (63.0%). In addition, according to Stop AAPI Hate, verbal harassment accounted for 63%, making up the highest percentage of reported incidents (Yellow Horse et al., 2022). The following are data on the 20 states with largest number of hate incident, national trends of types of discrimination, reasons for discrimination, and sites of discrimination.

Minoru Yamasaki stated that “If Asian people in America don’t learn to stand up for themselves, these injustices will never cease.”

(Helen, 2022).

Vincent Chin’s death is one example of intense anti-Asian hate. He was killed in Detroit, Michigan, in a racially motivated assault by two white men. Vincent Chin arrived in the United States as a child, and C.W. Hing Chin and Lily adopted him. Vincent, a young man full of dreams working two jobs to fulfill his dream, unexpectedly, a week before his wedding, while enjoying a night out with his friends for his bachelor party, encountered the horrific incident of racism that took his life. As Vincent’s killers were released without punishment, it ignited a new civil rights movement. Asian Americans united with a multicultural and multiracial coalition for equal human dignity and justice. The American Citizens for Justice (ACJ) was created to advocate for Asian Americans’ rights. ACJ wants to make Asian Americans visible in political and social policy contexts and domestic and international economics (Helen, 2022).

“Asian Americans, the supposed “good minority,” are not believed to experience racism-even in the face of anti-Asian hate”

(Helen, 2022).

As stated in the national report, in order to stop AAPI hate, states need to invest in community-based efforts to support victims and survivors of hate. For example, offering mental health support, supporting programs for victim and survivor, providing culturally responsive health resources, and language translation access. Moreover, educating people can help to prevent racism. Additionally, this can decrease bullying and harassment in schools and promote solidarity and racial empathy. Stop AAPI Hate is working with educators, policymakers, and experts on the topic to create Asian American framework for states to adopt and follow (Yellow Horse et al., 2022).

Furthermore, creating a statewide framework can help to prevent street harassment. Harassment on the street affects people’s feelings of safety, freedom of movement, and mental health. It is vital to strengthen civil rights protections against hate at businesses.

It is essential to stand up against hate, and the following are the steps that can be helpful.

Support: It is vital to support each other.

Acknowledge: Recognizing that anti-Asian racism occurs; therefore, it is paramount to educate yourself and others.

Oppose and reject: It is essential to stand against hateful languages and policies.

Prepare family members and friends: Discuss buying, name-calling, and racial prejudice with family members and friends. Empowering family members and friends with language and actions to respond.

Accountability with consequences: Engaging local, state, and national officials.

Practice: It is essential to practice your own strong defenses and reaction.

Report: It is considered valuable to report racial incidents and alert media authorities. 

References

Yellow Horse, A.J., Jeung, R., & Matriano, R. (2022). Stop AAPI Hate National Report. Stop AAPI Hate. https://stopaapihate.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/22-SAH-NationalReport-3.1.22-v9.pdf

Helen, Z. (2022). The Vincent Chin Legacy Guide: Asian Americans building the movement. Vincent Chin & American Citizens Justice. https://www.vincentchin.org/legacy-guide/english

The COVID pandemic has been disrupted, impacting our lives in various ways. There has been a tremendous effect of COVID in our communities. The type of communication, either high or low context, has played a vital role in people’s COVID vaccination decisions. The communication style can influence how people perceive information among cultures. Communities need to have access to information that is easy to understand because health literacy level of so many people varies. Also, it is paramount to consider the cultural aspects of many communities because all cultures have their own beliefs. Vaccination hesitancy has been one factor that caused high COVID cases.

The decision-making process for vaccination is context-specific and complex. There have been many drivers and barriers that affected people’s vaccination decisions. People’s vaccine decisions might be influenced by their feelings, moral values, belief, and thoughts. The communication method used, how, and who spread the information related to COVID plays a vital role for many communities of color. Communities of color comprehend information that is in their native language more easily. 

“A different language is a different vision of life”. – Federico Fellini

(Milincic, 2020)

High-context communication needs additional information to connect with the context, whereas low-context communication is simple and straightforward. High-context communication makes it more challenging for people to understand the information or messages that they intend to transmit. High-context type of communication method has been used to spread essential information, but it might not achieve the goal due to its content complexity. As we know, when this type of communication is used, it may increase the difficulty of accessing important information related to COVID. Therefore, this causes disparities across communities while grasping valuable information associated with COVID. On the other hand, low context communication works best for people’s understanding due to its simplicity.

Low-Context Communication Examples:

Presenting information in a very scientific and statical way: scientific evidence and statical data indeed support efficacy and safety, and this information makes direct connection with the content. Studies have stated that when information is presented in clear way help to build better understanding .

Using a language that is easy to understand: when information is expressed in a way that is simple, it does not leaves people with confusion and question in mind.

High-Context Communication Examples:

Telling stories: Using stories helps to engage and to convince information that eases individuals’ understanding because the overwhelming scientific evidence and statistical facts are not as compelling as the storytelling strategy. Also, when a story is used to transmit a message, it helps in effectively delivering a message.

Using credible communicators: Communities of color believe when leaders or health workers from their communities transmit information in their language and at the level of their understanding. When most trusted community leaders spread the knowledge, people of that community increasingly accept and trust the information.

Building trust: Studies have shown that trustworthiness acts better than expertise when addressing misinformation.

Connect with people’s values: As we know, vaccination decision is value-based. Connecting with the right people is very influential when we talk about values, and our values help us to make decisions.

The context of communication impacts people’s decisions regarding the COVID vaccine. The vaccine data on the Minnesota Department of Health website provides information about the percentage of race and ethnicity who have been vaccinated. Therefore, choosing the appropriate communication style depending on the audience is vital. As noted above, high context communication needs educational background knowledge to understand the information. However, low context communication is explicitly stated, which makes a better understanding. 

References

COVID-19 Vaccine Data. (n.d.). COVID-19 Updates and Information – State of Minnesota. Retrieved April 28, 2022.

Milincic A. (2020, November 20). Differences in high-context and low-context communication styles. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/differences-high-context-low-context-communication-styles-milincic . Retrieved September 3, 2022

Singleton, K., & Krause, E. (2009). Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 14(3). https://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol142009/No3Sept09/Cultural-and-Linguistic-Barriers-.aspx

UNICEF. (2020). Vaccine Messaging Guide.https://www.unicef.org/media/93661/file/Vaccinemessagingguide.pdf . Retrieved September 3, 2022