South Asian Youth and Empowerment Towards Accessing Services

Abstract

South-Asian youth are navigating through various socio-cultural factors such as familial obligations, abuse, pressures of academic achievement among other typical adolescent struggles. This dichotomous balance of the collectivist versus individualist culture can contribute to implications to their mental health. Professionals within educational institutions often function as the beginning point for South-Asian youth to reach out for support regarding mental health. However, there is a large gap for educators being provided with appropriate culturally informed practices within training programs. The aim of this capstone project is to dissect the values of South-Asian culture and inform educators with this research to integrate more culturally informed approaches within their practice. Through an ecological framework, an outline of a workshop that informs educators about the South-Asian demographic with strategies that empower South-Asian youth to seek out mental-health resources is provided. Cultural stigma can impede help-seeking behaviours; professionals within educational institutions can provide preventative and early intervention strategies to support South-Asian youth towards dismantling the fear of seeking support for one’s own mental-health.