PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Amber Song, Senior Program Coordinator at Asian American Federation
4:24:36
·
140 sec
Amber Song from the Asian American Federation testified about the need for culturally competent mental health crisis response for the Asian community in New York City. She highlighted the limitations of police response to mental health crises and urged for improvements to the B-HEARD program to better serve Asian New Yorkers.
- Recommended equipping B-HEARD teams with linguistic and cultural competencies to serve the Asian community
- Called for investment in organizations providing in-language and culturally competent mental health services to the Asian community
- Emphasized the importance of preventative mental health care and consultation with Asian-serving organizations to improve the B-HEARD program
Amber Song
4:24:36
Susan?
4:24:37
Okay.
4:24:38
Hi there.
4:24:39
Thank you to the committee chairs and members of the committee for the opportunity to provide testimony.
4:24:44
I'm Amber Song.
4:24:45
I'm program senior program coordinator at the Asian American Federation, where we represent the collective voices of over 70 member nonprofits that serve 1,500,000 Asian New Yorkers.
4:24:58
Winnersario, a Bangladesh teenager in Queens, was in a mental health crisis and called the police.
4:25:03
We all know what happened next.
4:25:04
Within minutes, he was dead shot by the NYPD.
4:25:08
The recent tragedies of Wyn, Victoria Lee in New Jersey, and countless others, show that police shouldn't be the only ones to respond to crises.
4:25:15
Instead, it's better for mental health workers and someone from the community to respond, which is why we applaud be heard, but we found that it hasn't targeted the Asian community.
4:25:25
So how can we better meet these needs?
4:25:28
We urge the city council as well as members of the relevant committees and city agencies to consider the following recommendations.
4:25:35
1, to equip be hard teams with the linguistic and cultural competencies to serve the Asian community through translated information in common Asian languages and staff who understand Asian cultures and speak Asian languages.
4:25:49
And 2, invest in organizations that provide in language and culturally competent services to the Asian community.
4:25:56
Our mental health partners provide in language mental health care in culturally appropriate ways, and they receive referrals from mainstream agencies and hospital systems that put a strain on our partners already limited capacities since they do this work with no dedicated mental health funding.
4:26:11
The city should provide funding to these organizations to provide preventative mental health care before mental health issues turn into emergencies, and the city should consult with them to make sure the be heard program meets the Asian community's cultural needs because these organizations are trusted among the community.
4:26:27
We at the AAF will continue to do our part through advocacy research and programming.
4:26:32
We lead the Asian American mental health roundtable, a group of 12 Asian lead Asian serving organizations, some of who are testifying here with me today.
4:26:40
And together, we work together to tackle challenges, find solutions, and share resources to improve access to culturally competent mental health services for Asian Americans.
4:26:49
We look forward to working with the city as it creates innovative solutions to address and support New Yorkers experiencing mental health crises.
4:26:56
Thank you.
