Mental health is a difficult topic to discuss even in the general public, but even more so in the Hmong community. The subject of mental health carries the burden of being seen as crazy, and unfortunately in the Hmong community—as in many others—any disability is often shunned upon. I hope that in time we learn to understand that mental health is not about losing your mind, but rather about healing it.
Mental health is important to me. Whatever you may be struggling with please know that I am an ally. You are not weak, and you definitely are not crazy. It will take more strength than you knew you ever had to ask for help. You are strong, and you will be well.
(I also struggled with seeking help while being Christian too. My faith is part of my mental health, and it is well. God & I talk all of the time and what I learned is that the power to heal is in His hands, but the choice to be healed is in mine. Check out “Healing Is A Choice” by Stephen Arterburn if you wish to learn about God’s grace in my journey.)
Mental health is important to me. Whatever you may be struggling with please know that I am an ally. You are not weak, and you definitely are not crazy. It will take more strength than you knew you ever had to ask for help. You are strong, and you will be well.
(I also struggled with seeking help while being Christian too. My faith is part of my mental health, and it is well. God & I talk all of the time and what I learned is that the power to heal is in His hands, but the choice to be healed is in mine. Check out “Healing Is A Choice” by Stephen Arterburn if you wish to learn about God’s grace in my journey.)
| Being Hmong,
I know that the pressure we live with of being a good daughter, being a good son, being a good family member can take its toll on us.
I know that being under the microscope of the Hmong community and carrying the weight of our family name can take its toll on us.
I know that finding our identity while straddling two very different and conflicting worlds can take its toll on us.
I know that witnessing toxic behavior and being told that it is culture can take its toll on us.
I know that watching our sons and our brothers sacrifice their careers and their livelihood for familial duty can take its toll on us.
I know that being told our daughters and our sisters will never be as worthy as our sons and our brothers can take its toll on us.
I know that hearing when our daughters and our sisters ask for help because they are in a toxic or violent marriage and then being told to “be patient” or to “work it out” can take its toll on us.
I know that feeling utterly and completely helpless when we hear about sexual violence in our community and to what extent it is covered up can take its toll on us.
But I know the thing that takes a toll on us the most is living in the shadow of our parents’ trauma: the sheer force with which they had to fight for their lives, the families that were literally torn apart, the deaths that they saw, the war that they had to fight in as children and young men—The Secret War that they never received credit for, the escape from their homeland to a strange new land that often times was unwelcoming and unkind. I know that the horrors they do not talk about takes its toll on us.
And, I know that the fear of passing our trauma on to our children takes its toll on us, and I am afraid that we are too late, and that takes its toll on us.
~KNY
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