During her time studying psychology at Dal, Minzhou Sun (BA’12) often served as an informal counsellor to her friends and other international student peers. As a Chinese-Nova Scotian, Sun understands the particular challenges facing Chinese students in North America when discussing mental health issues.

Chinese culture, Sun explains, favours expression of empathy through behaviour instead of words. Terms like “depression” or “anxiety” are still new to Chinese language, which she believes makes it harder for Chinese students to express these concepts to formal counsellors or psychologists.

Chinese students in Canada often face additional mental health risks resulting from isolation, family expectations, and workload. As with most university students, they also risk struggling with romantic, addiction-related, or career-based challenges.

The students Sun counselled during her time at Dal told her they preferred to confide in someone who spoke Mandarin or Cantonese rather than an English-speaking counsellor. In order to address these needs, Sun is partnering with Jinbo Chen, who came to Halifax from China in 2002 for university, to establish a Chinese-language mental health support group in Halifax.

Together, they are working to bring down the linguistic and cultural barriers that may keep Chinese students in Nova Scotia from accessing and benefiting from mental health services.

Read more in “Halifax Chinese language mental health support group starting” on cbc.ca.

Photo credit: CBC News (Shaina Luck)