The research has shown:

Understanding Asians’ wellbeing and mental health are pivotal for Asian mental health and wellbeing service providers to formulate targeted solutions, services, and strategies;

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Asian communities living in New Zealand have experienced tremendous difficulties and challenges, which have led to stress, anxiety, and other mental health and social wellbeing issues. Asian Family Services (AFS) is an NGO service provider for Asians who have been affected by mental health issues and gambling harm. Our frontline clinicians working with diverse Asian communities have seen how high stress, anxiety, and isolation resulting from the pandemic, are taking a toll on Asians’ mental health;

Furthermore, AFS is witnessing more diverse family distress, mental health, and social care needs of our Asian clients. For instance, The Asian Helpline, AFS’s telephone counselling service offered in seven Asian languages, recorded a 150% surge in the number of calls, whilst mental health counselling sessions for our Asian clients saw a 138% surge from May to July 2020;

For almost two decades, no new research systematically taps into Asians’ wellbeing and mental health in New Zealand. The last nationwide Asian mental health research was carried out in 2002;

The purpose of this project is to explore Asians’ mental wellbeing, their help-seeking behaviours around mental health, as well as correlate social and cultural issues, especially in the latter stages of COVID-19, and investigate how the pandemic has impacted Asians’ mental wellbeing.