Groundbreaking Chinese mental health website

Groundbreaking Chinese mental health website launched

An innovative website that aims to reduce stigma and discrimination related to mental illness in New Zealand’s Chinese community is launching this week.

The website www.kaixinxingdong.org.nz has been created by the Mental Health Foundation’s Kai Xin Xing Dong (KXXD) project, which is thought to be the first project in a Western country to use culturally appropriate approaches to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness in Chinese communities.

The launch of its bilingual website further extends the reach of the Ministry of Health’s Like Minds, Like Mine programme, of which KXXD is a part, across cultures and across the country.

KXXD, which translates in English to “I have a caring and loving heart towards you and I hope you have a caring and loving heart towards me”, seeks to bring hope to those who experience mental illness through caring attitudes. It provides resources for the general public as well as those designed to support mental health professionals including GPs.

“Our research tells us that friends and family are usually the first point of contact and support for someone experiencing mental illness, and this is no different for the Chinese community”, says Judi Clements, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation.

For this reason the KXXD website is bilingual in Mandarin and English with the English content providing in-sight and context into Chinese beliefs on mental illness.

Research also tells us that in New Zealand our Chinese citizens and residents are involved in all aspects of our society, and that many Chinese are in relationships with non-Chinese, also many of our service providers are not Chinese, but may have Chinese patients or clients.

“We are very excited and proud of the KXXD website,” Judi says. “Not only do we believe it is the first of its kind in a Western country, we also believe the site will contribute significantly to cross-cultural understanding on mental health and wellbeing.”

The website will also act as a platform for two other KXXD projects.

This year, KXXD will advance even further with the publication of its first literature review titled New Zealand Chinese Attitudes to Mental Illness. The review will be translated into Chinese and uploaded to the website’s resource finder.

As well as examining Chinese attitudes to mental health, the report looks at the influence of cultural factors, such as spirituality, traditional health beliefs and socio-political influences on Chinese people. KXXD hopes to develop further resources based on information from the review.

KXXD also aims to launch a newspaper campaign in August to counter stigma and
discrimination in Chinese communities, in conjunction with newspaper partner

The Chinese Herald. This will also feature on the website.
The campaign will invite mental health professionals and Chinese people who experience mental illness to talk about what individuals, families and society can do to support Chinese people who experience mental illness.

ENDS

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