Family Support for Healthy Minds (FSHM), formerly called East Bay Chinese Families Alliance for the Mentally Ill, was established in January of 1995 by Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai Bitker and a group of families whose loved ones live with mental illness.

Our organization believes that mental illness is a major issue that cannot be ignored. This disability may strike anybody, regardless of ethnicity, family background, age or financial status. It is estimated that there are over 54 million people who struggle with the effects of a range of mental health disorders in the United States. Depression and anxiety are the most common diagnoses affecting roughly 12 million adults across the country. It is estimated that 7% of Chinese Americans live with clinical depression and many in the psychiatric profession believe that the actual percentage of Chinese Americans who suffer from mental illness may be much higher than this.

Mental illness is more often than not ignored by Chinese families. This is especially true among new immigrant families who may be overwhelmed by the pressures of dealing with culture shock and economic hardship. We have found that Chinese families which have mentally ill relatives have difficulty facing the reality of the seriousness of the problem. They feel ashamed and find it impossible to talk about it. This attitude, caused by a lack of knowledge about the nature and causes of the illness, may lead to delays in obtaining critical medical help and optimal treatments for their loved ones.

Listed below are the most common misunderstandings about mental illness and the factual rebuttals to these erroneous assertions:

FSHM works to promote a better understanding of mental illness in the Chinese American community and offers support for families of those living with this disability. We offer hope and encouragement. We meet on the 3rd Saturday of each month from 10 am to 12 pm in the Church of Oakland located at 241 10th Street in Oakland’s Chinatown. In these meetings, families share the status of their loved ones and exchange information about new medication or treatments. We share resources and help each other to solve problems. We base our suggestions on our collective knowledge about the different recovery stages of mental health clients, current research and the experiences of recovered patients. We especially want to reach out to families who have a loved one who has just recently been diagnosed.

Someone from Asian Community Mental Health Services in Oakland attends each meeting to answer questions and help guide us to solve problems we and our family members are facing. We also invite specialists to speak to our group so that we are continually educating ourselves.

While our main purpose is to provide a supportive group for families to overcome stigma and become educated about how to cope with mental illness, we are expanding the scope or our activities. We applied for non-profit status in order to establish a retail business and this was granted on 7/10/2004. The main goal of this proposed business is to provide opportunities for mental health consumers to practice independent living skills and attain self-sufficiency through internships working in the business sponsored by FSHM.

If you or your relatives or friends are suffering with mentally illness, we invite you to join our organization. We want to help as many as we can by offering help, comfort and information. For more information please contact Mrs. Chiang at (510)-522-0924 (Cantonese) or Mrs. Lieu at (510) 489-3460 (Mandarin).