Mental Health for All report
This summary highlights coalition findings from multilingual surveys, focus groups, interviews, and community engagement with Slavic and Eastern European communities. The report should be read as a foundation for deeper engagement rather than a definitive community-wide study.
Key findings
Participants commonly turn to family, friends, churches, meditation, self-help, and providers abroad. These supports are valuable, but they can leave people without professional help when stress comes from the same close networks.
LCSNW participants showed an overwhelming preference for providers who speak their language and understand Slavic and Eastern European experiences, including trauma, migration, and post-Soviet stigma.
More than half of insured respondents reported at least partial understanding of coverage, yet 70% of participants with listed insurance had never used mental health services in the U.S. or in their home countries.
The report identifies stereotypes around weakness, instability, religious concerns, and "real men do not cry" expectations as barriers that can reduce help-seeking.
What the numbers show
Coverage literacy is necessary, but the report suggests stigma, language access, trust, and system navigation still prevent care utilization.
Agency findings
Collected 106 survey responses, 10 focus groups, and 8 interviews. Participants reported strong preference for individual therapy and providers who speak Russian or Ukrainian, while also identifying stigma and interpreter concerns.
70% use non-professional ways to care for mental health.Gathered feedback from 104 immigrants and refugees across nine countries. Findings emphasized language barriers, long waits for care, medication concerns, faith-community trust, and the need for navigators.
Community members requested culturally specific navigation.Received 159 responses in six languages. Most participants rated their well-being positively, but those who reported barriers cited time, language, and cultural sensitivity.
42.3% chose individual therapy as the most effective service.Focused on domestic violence prevention, consent, non-violent communication, safety, and mental health education. Stigma around sexuality, consent, abuse, and mental health remained a barrier to attendance.
40% cited shame as a reason for limited sexual health knowledge.Coalition-wide patterns
The aggregate findings point to two large arrival patterns: established immigrants who arrived before or during 2013, and recent arrivals connected to 2022 migration. The report notes that future work should deepen analysis across age, gender, country of origin, and immigration history.
Strategic priorities
Expand cultural-awareness training for clinicians and mental-health-specific training for interpreters so care is accurate, confidential, and trauma-informed.
Place navigators in community organizations and clinics to explain insurance, billing, referrals, emergency care, and appointment scheduling.
Continue multilingual education, provider panels, faith-community engagement, support groups, and short-term topic-specific groups in Russian and Ukrainian.
Conclusion
The coalition continues to meet bi-weekly, seek funding, offer community support groups, provide insurance guidance, connect families to mental health resources, convene culturally specific providers, and support the providers who carry their own trauma while serving the community.