Building our voice through digital storytelling

Background Many API communities share history, heritage, oral traditions, and culture through storytelling. Through digital storytelling, APIs shared their untold and hidden stories in overcoming issues impacting their mental health. The stories are now used in anti-stigma trainings and events for API communities. Purpose We developed culturally-specific mental health anti-stigma materials through digital storytelling workshops to increase awareness about mental health and reduce the stigma of mental illness among API communities. Methods Between June and October, we partnered with the Center for Digital Storytelling to conduct digital storytelling workshops with Filipino, Samoan, and Southeast Asian workgroups in San Francisco. Digital storytelling is a media platform that gives everyday individuals a creative way to share their stories using visuals, music and sound, text, and narrative voice. Storytellers were recruited and screened by workgroup leaders and members. We conducted three 3-day workshops that include reflective writing, shared group story circles, group affirmation and feedback, guided script writing, audio recording of storytellers’ voice, video editing, and refining the 3-5 minute films. Bicultural/bilingual community members facilitated the workshops to ensure the cultural sensitivity and relevance of the workshops. Results Fourteen digital stories were produced: 5 each from the Filipino and Southeast Asian workgroups and 4 from the Samoan workgroup. The stories have been used for community anti-stigma presentations and discussions, conferences, and community psychoeducation workshops. The stories have been show more than 50 times and reaching over 1000 individuals. Discussion Together, the stories revealed that API mental health experiences and reflections are as diverse as the people and languages affected by them, even within groups. The hope for the stories was that it would encourage community members to have open and honest dialogue around taboo topics/issues that are difficult to talk about, to explore the impact of stigma and staying silent, and to learn ways to overcome mental health disparities.