Ellen Ahn has seen first-hand the shame and stigma associated with mental illness in the Korean American community.
But during a series of group drumming sessions, she saw inhibitions and fears melt away as patients and family members stood side by side beating the living daylights out of Korean Nanta drums, said Ahn, executive director of Korean Community Services in Buena Park.
“There’s something about art in general and drumming in particular, that is so fun and allows for expression of emotion,” she said. “It was a communal experience and a safe and positive way to talk about mental illness.”
The drumming sessions were part of a series of art workshops held across various ethnic communities in Orange County with the goal of reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness. The series will culminate in the Multi-Ethnic Arts and Family Festival in Anaheim Sunday.
The art therapy workshops and the festival feature participants from different ethnic groups including Vietnamese, Arab, Persian, Korean, Latino and Chinese – all communities where the stigma of mental illness runs deep, often preventing those affected and their families from seeking help and resources, said Sylvia Kim, executive director of Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies, which is running the program this year.
The art therapy program uses art forms familiar to each ethnic group to get past inhibitions about mental illness, Kim said. One Latino group chose Migajon, a Mexican practice of molding bread to create art, while another selected drama and dance. The Persian group expressed through poetry; the Chinese group chose flower arranging.
“Art has this unique ability to speak to people’s emotions and bring them together,” she said.
Sunday’s festival will not only bring the different ethnic groups and their work together, but also display the program to the public, heightening the level of awareness about mental health issues, Kim said.
Aaron Park, 24, of Garden Grove, said art therapy has been effective in his case. He suffered from depression so severe that he couldn’t leave his house, Park said.
“Art opens up your heart, deals with your emotions and makes you face your demons,” he said.
Park said in the Korean community mental illness is seen as a sign of weakness.
“It took me a while to seek help because of that,” he said. “But I’m glad I did because they gave me the support and encouragement I needed to get better.”
This is the third year for this program. Similar workshops were held in 2011 and 2013. The Orange County Health Care Agency, which is funding the program, hopes to keep it ongoing, said Mark Lawrenz, division manager for prevention and intervention in behavioral health.
“Our hope is to reach out to underserved communities to educate them about mental health stigma,” he said. “We’ve found that many people in these communities keep their illness a secret, live in isolation and experience prolonged suffering because of stigma.”
Art therapy is a non-threatening way for patients and their family members to talk about this sensitive subject, Lawrenz said.
“It’s a way for individuals to find themselves through their abilities and not their disabilities,” he said. “Art is also a much more gentle, positive and inspiring way to present this information to the general public.”
The health agency continues to organize art therapy programs for mainstream communities as well, Lawrenz said. “It’s important to remember that stigma attached to mental illness is an issue in all communities, not just ethnic communities,” he said.
But the problem is more pronounced in ethnic communities because of their cultural backgrounds, said Tricia Nguyen, executive director of the Vietnamese Community of Orange County. In the Vietnamese community, for example, many believe mental illnesses occur because of something they may have done wrong in a previous life.
“It’s been a long and hard battle for us to get members of the Vietnamese community to even talk about mental health issues,” she said. “Programs like these are helping us make a dent.”
The art therapy program is unique because you can see the results right away, Nguyen said. “Patients tell us they feel happier, they can sleep better,” she said. “We see the difference it makes right before our eyes.”
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com