This submission has been prepared to inform He Ara Āwhina framework consultation. It summarises Asian Family Services’ view on achieving equitable mental health and wellbeing outcomes for the Asian and ethnic minority populations. The feedback provided is based on over 20 years of experience serving the Asian and ethnic minority population in mental health and addiction to achieve the best wellbeing outcomes. It outlines several critical pieces of information that highlight the systemic barriers faced by Asian and ethnic minority populations to achieve equitable outcomes and suggest several solutions to ensure the He Ara Āwhina framework is inclusive to the Asian and ethnic minority population.

As the Asian Mental Health and Addiction service provider, our responsibility is to authentically represent the Asian population who suffer from mental health and addiction issues in silence, which unfortunately is not well understood by the general population. Many were unable to share their pain and frustration that was buried deep inside, leaving them to feel invisible at the time when their cultural needs were not being met, respected or understood by mental health and addiction services.

Below is the full submission: