Paja Lee Donnelly

Hidden Suffering Paja Lee Donnelly

The book is based on interviews with seven Korean American caregiver's painful shared experiences of having mentally ill adult children. Multiple in-depth tape-recorded interviews in Korean and translated into English. They often had great difficulties utilizing existing mental health services. Language problems, unfamiliarity with Western mental health system impose difficulties in accessing resources, creating further stress and confusion. In result of this interviews, the author established non-profit multi-disciplinary professional Korean American Behavioral Health Association (KABHA) in 2001, consisting of bilingual Korean American (KA) Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychiatric Social Workers and Nurse Practitioners to promote the behavioral health of Korean American (KA) Community in the NY Tri-State area to reduce social stigma and family shame associated with mental illness. The KABHA has been actively advocating via media, workshops and collaboration with various community organizations.