This month, Yale Compassionate Home, Action Together (CHATogether) and United Chinese Americans (UCA) WAVES partnered to put on a webinar "Building Emotional and Relational Health Through Child-Parent Theater”.
Our webinar included an overview of CHATogether, a child-parent skit, and a panel discussion on how to effectively communicate with children when they are going through mental health difficulties. Our panel of experts included Jessica Ouyang MD, Sen Xu MD, Janie Cao, MD, MPH, and Szu-Hui Lee, PhD, ABPP. Key points included the following:
- Dr. Jessica Ouyang advised parents to make sure they are in a good mental and emotional state before engaging with their children. For example, parents should assess whether they are calm enough to listen before asking about their child’s mental health.
- Dr. Sen Xu shared that mental illnesses have physiological and biological causes, and that treatments, including therapy and medications, have been shown to improve symptoms. He also talked briefly about how mental health providers assess safety risk for suicide.
- Dr. Janie Cao reminded us about the power of validation, or 认可 (rèn kě) in Chinese. She describes validation as not necessitating agreement but rather as an acknowledgment that what someone is feeling can be their reality.
- Finally, Dr. Szu-Hui Lee addressed how parents can respond to bullying, which begins with “listening to understand” rather than listening to tell your own story or opinion. She recommends that parents partner with their child to figure out next steps in addressing bullying, rather than go on their own mission to problem-solve and further alienate their child in the process.
A total of
198 people from across the U.S. registered for the webinar. Of these,
79% stated that they had immigrated to the U.S. as adults, and 60% stated that they spoke predominantly Chinese at home.
During the webinar, participants were asked in a poll how they felt about mental health conversations with their child/parents. At the beginning of the event,
69% stated that they felt
stressed, frustrated, anxious, and overwhelmed. After seeing a skit during which the parent and child used healthy communication skills,
79% of participants stated they felt
fulfilled, calm, and satisfied.
As these results would suggest, we hope that the event helped participants feel more comfortable to have mental health conversations!
