PUBLIC EVENT: AAPI Perspectives on Mental Health Care

Facebook Livestream Recording (Edited video links forthcoming)

What are the unique contexts, needs, & challenges in AAPI mental health support? How do ethnic, religious, & communal identities factor into the sense of well-being in AAPI communities?

Our first speaker, Venerable De Hong from the Engaged Buddhist Alliance, will discuss how intergenerational trauma affects mental health in the AAPI community. The second speaker, local mental health advocate Ms. Jaime Yan Faurot, will share her experiences overcoming mental health issues in Marin County. Finally, Ms. Mai McGuire-Tran, a Mental Health Clinical Specialist from Contra Costa County Behavioral Health, will present her hands-on experiences working with the Vietnamese population in Contra Costa County.

Bios of the Speakers

Venerable De Hong is a Ph.D in Buddhist Studies (2015) from the University of the West, where he is currently an adjunct professor. He is one of the co-founders of the Engaged Buddhist Alliance and has volunteered in several state prisons in California, teaching mindfulness meditation and Buddhist psychology since 2013. Ven. De Hong has been a Buddhist monk since 2006 in the Vietnamese and Chinese Pure Land Tradition. He was also ordained in the Burmese’s Theravada Tradition of the Mahasi Lineage in 2014. 

As an AAPI and Mental Health Advocate who wears many hats, Ms. Jaime Yan Faurot has made significant contributions to the Marin community through her volunteer work and leadership roles in various programs and county initiatives such as the MHSA Advisory Committee and Recovery Change Team. The core of her work is promoting cultural humility and meeting people where they are. In 2021, Ms. Yan Faurot received a Commendation from the Board of Supervisors, Marin County, for her volunteer role as a BIPOC Peer and Community Advocate. She also was awarded in the Celebrating the Uncelebrated Ceremony for her service from the Behavioral Health and Recovery Services (BHRS) Team, Marin County in 2019. 

Ms. Mai McGuire-Tran is a bilingual and bicultural Mental Health Clinical Specialist, working with the Vietnamese population in Contra Costa County for 15 years serving 4 generations in the Vietnamese Community. Ms. McGuire-Tran dedicates her heart and effort in serving the Vietnamese community who experience and encounter with mental health issues within themselves and their loved ones. As an immigrant from Vietnam herself, Ms. McGuire-Tran combines her own life experiences and professional knowledge to assist her clients to recognize early signs of mental health in themselves and their family members.