Asian Family Services commissioned the mental health and well-being report. Photo: 123RF
Asian people in Christchurch are missing out on mental health support because of language and cultural barriers, as part of a "silent crisis" of worsening national statistics, community leaders say.
A mental health and well-being report commissioned by Asian Family Services published in July found that 57 percent of respondents were at risk of depression, which was a 12 percent increase on the figure reported in 2021.
Asian Family Services chief executive Kelly Feng said 69 percent of Korean respondents and 63 percent of Indians showed signs of depression, while life satisfaction among all Asians had fallen by 11 percent since 2021.
"These findings point to a silent crisis," she said.
"Asian communities are navigating mental health challenges, discrimination, disconnection, often without adequate support. We urgently need culturally responsive interventions in schools, workplaces and healthcare settings."
Kelly Feng Photo: RNZ / Yiting Lin
Asian Community Transformation Trust founder Allen Hou said people's struggles were compounded by a lack of bilingual mental health professionals in Christchurch.
Canterbury's Asian population had grown by 30 percent since 2018, but support services lagged behind other regions, he said.
"Even if people have that knowledge and want to access help, that's when they face the common challenges we know of language and culture - 'I can't speak my heart language to describe my issues and my emotions and therefore I can't engage and utilise this service fully'," he said.
Hou estimated there were only a handful of mental health professionals in Christchurch who spoke Asian languages.
"We're doing our best to advocate for the community about the needs and encourage them to consider that as a career path even for their children. We try to meet with counselling students who are Asians and just encourage them in this space," he said.
Allen Hou from Asian Community Transformation Trust. Photo: RNZ / Anna Sargent
Hou founded the Christchurch-based charitable trust in 2021. The group works with organisations, schools and GP practices to help bridge service gaps.
"Since we started we heard continuously from organisations in Christchurch that service people, council and other spaces that they've never come across an organisation like us. It makes us think we're onto something that no-one has been trying to meet in Christchurch," Hou said.
Hou said stigma and shame around poor mental health remained strong in some Asian cultures.
While Christchurch recorded the highest life satisfaction of any city in the report, Feng said it also reported higher than average barriers to accessing mental health services, echoing Hou's experience on the ground.
Feng said calls to Asian Family Services' Asian Helpline had tripled since Covid-19, rising from about 3000 annually to about 10,000.
The organisation's report was based on an online survey of 1016 Asian adults in May, funded by the Ethnic Communities Development Fund, which is administered by the Ministry for Ethnic Communities.
The report was the third of its kind, with earlier versions published in 2020 and 2021.
Feng said discrimination remained a significant problem, with more than one in five people experiencing race-based bias.
"Only 56.5 percent Asians felt like they were accepted by the community. It's really challenging for people feeling like they are just not part of the society," she said.
Hou, who immigrated from Taiwan to New Zealand aged 11 in 1998, said moving countries was often stressful.
"At my age the main struggle was language, the sense of being able to make friends and understanding what was happening at schools. For my parents it's different things like medical systems, for example in Taiwan where we're from we just go to hospital, but in New Zealand you have to find a GP and everything goes from there," he said.
University of Auckland social and community health senior lecturer Dr Vartika Sharma said 75 percent of ethnic minority communities in New Zealand were born overseas.
"They might've come from countries where mental health is still quite stigmatised so they don't have the vocabulary to talk about mental health. That all becomes quite challenging in terms of acknowledging it's a problem in the first place," she said.
Sharma said a lack of high-quality data on the mental health of Asian and Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African women and girls in New Zealand also made it harder to design effective services.
"It's a point of worry because it's a population that's expected to grow, and we don't want them to be invisible," she said.
Stats NZ projections show Asians will make up about 26 percent of New Zealand's population by 2043, up from 16 percent in 2018.
Where to get help:
- Need to Talk? Free call or text 1737 any time to speak to a trained counsellor, for any reason
- Lifeline: 0800 543 354 or text HELP to 4357
- Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 / 0508 TAUTOKO. This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends
- Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 or text 4202
- Samaritans: 0800 726 666
- Youthline: 0800 376 633 or text 234 or email talk@youthline.co.nz
- What's Up: 0800 WHATSUP / 0800 9428 787. This is free counselling for 5 to 19-year-olds
- Asian Family Services: 0800 862 342 or text 832. Languages spoken: Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Hindi, and English.
- Rural Support Trust Helpline: 0800 787 254
- Healthline: 0800 611 116
- Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
- OUTLine: 0800 688 5463
- Aoake te Rā bereaved by suicide service: or call 0800 000 053
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
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