A resolution supporting the designation of May 10, 2023, as "National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day".

III 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. RES. 205 Supporting the designation of May 10, 2023, as ‘‘National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day’’. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 10, 2023 Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. FETTERMAN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. WYDEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions RESOLUTION Supporting the designation of May 10, 2023, as ‘‘National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Mental Health Day’’. Whereas the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, 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 levels, education, employment, languages, cultures of origin, acculturation, migrant sta- tus, and colonization status; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR205.IS SR205 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •SRES 205 IS Whereas, in 2021, 77 percent of the estimated 2,600,000 AANHPI individuals who meet criteria for a mental health problem did not receive treatment; Whereas, in 2021, only 24.5 percent of Asian adults with a mental health problem received mental health services in the past year, and Asian adults have the lowest rates of utilization of mental health services out of any racial pop- ulation; Whereas, from 2018 to 2020, AANHPI youth 10 to 24 years of age were the only racial or ethnic population in this age category whose leading cause of death was suicide; Whereas it is imperative to disaggregate AANHPI population data to get an accurate representation of the depth and breadth of the mental health issues for each subpopula- tion so that specific culturally and linguistically appro- priate solutions can be developed; Whereas language access continues to be a critical issue for AANHPI individuals seeking mental health services, whether due to the limited number of providers with the necessary language skills to provide in-language services or the significant language loss faced by Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities due to colonization; Whereas there is a need to significantly increase the number of providers, including paraprofessionals, representing AANHPI communities and providing them with the nec- essary training and ongoing support; Whereas historical discrimination and current racial violence toward AANHPI individuals increases trauma and stress, underlying precursors to mental health problems; Whereas there is a critical need to raise awareness about and improve mental health literacy among the AANHPI com- VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR205.IS SR205 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •SRES 205 IS munity to reduce the stigma associated with mental health issues; and Whereas May is both National Asian American, Native Ha- waiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, an oppor- tunity to celebrate the vast contributions of this popu- lation to the United States, and National Mental Health Awareness Month, recognizing the importance of mental health to the well-being and health of AANHPI families and communities and connecting the importance of one’s cultural heritage to good mental health: Now, therefore be it Resolved, That the Senate— 1 (1) supports the designation of May 10, 2023, 2 as ‘‘National Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and 3 Pacific Islander Mental Health Day’’; 4 (2) recognizes the importance of mental health 5 to the well-being and health of families and commu- 6 nities; 7 (3) acknowledges the importance of raising 8 awareness about mental health and improving the 9 quality of care for Asian American, Native Hawai- 10 ian, and Pacific Islander communities; 11 (4) recognizes that celebrating cultural and lin- 12 guistic heritage is beneficial to mental health; and 13 (5) encourages Federal, State, and local health 14 agencies to adopt laws, policies, and guidance to im- 15 prove help-seeking rates for mental health services 16 for the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pa- 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR205.IS SR205 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •SRES 205 IS cific Islander community and other communities of 1 color. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 May 11, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\SR205.IS SR205 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB