Mental Health Needs of Russian-speaking and Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian Communities in California

The California Mental Health Services Act Multicultural Coalition (CMMC), a statewide collaborative of community leaders working to enhance mental health services for ethnic and cultural minority communities through advocacy, research, and leadership, recently embarked on efforts to explore the mental health needs of groups who have not been the focus of previous study. The CMMC is in the process of conducting a series of community based participatory research studies with several emerging communities in California.  The proposed presentation will provide background regarding the policy underpinnings of the CMMC’s efforts as well as a review of the most recent qualitative study, its goals, methods, and findings.  This study examined the mental health concerns and community resources of the Russian-speaking and Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian communities in California.  The findings illustrate common themes in the experiences of California immigrants.  For Russian-speaking and Middle Eastern/Southwest Asian communities, themes of within group diversity, acculturation, and social determinants of mental health were emphasized.  The challenges of adjusting to new cultures and the family conflict this can create as well as the difficulty establishing financial stability as an immigrant were cross-cutting themes.  Most notably, across communities, key informants emphasized the importance of increasing the availability of linguistically and culturally appropriate services for these communities. The results suggest that moving forward, it will be critical to improve access to care with a multi-pronged approach: addressing stigma, increasing diversity in the mental health workforce, and offering linguistically and culturally appropriate services that are affordable.