From Stigma to Support: Bringing Mental Health Groups to Chinese American Health Workers 

By Liz Friedman, CEO & Co-Founder of GPS Group Peer Support 

Community health centers that serve Chinese and other immigrant communities sit at a powerful intersection of cultural identity, stigma, and care. The staff who work in these settings, like medical assistants, social workers, behavioral health clinicians, financial services staff, and others, are often members of the very communities they serve. They carry both the emotional weight of their roles and the cultural meanings attached to mental health, stress, and vulnerability.

During a recent conversation with leaders at a Chinese-serving community health center, one theme surfaced repeatedly: Support groups are deeply needed, but cultural and linguistic factors shape whether people will participate, how open they feel, and what “support” even means.

Why Stigma Still Matters

Even after years of national conversation surrounding mental health, stigma remains a real barrier, especially in immigrant and first-generation communities. As one leader put it, “People don’t necessarily talk about their stress. Or they may, but it comes out in different ways.” Emotional pain often presents through physical symptoms, silence, or overwork. Naming what hurts can feel exposing, inappropriate, or even disloyal.

For health workers who come from these communities, the stigma is doubled. Not only are they carrying their own stress, but they are also trying to help patients who are also navigating fear, immigration pressures, and cultural expectations. Without spaces to process what they carry, burnout becomes almost inevitable.

Support groups, when designed thoughtfully, break this silence, not by forcing disclosure, but by normalizing it. When one staff member says, “Yes, this has affected me,” it opens the door for others. As another leader noted, sometimes participation needs a little “peer encouragement.” Once a few people say yes, others can imagine saying yes too.

The Language of the Heart

One of the most striking insights I’ve had from various conversations is the importance of language. Staff members in these community health settings are usually bilingual and may feel comfortable in English during work, but when it comes to expressing emotion or sharing personal experiences, English may not be the language their feelings live in.

Some staff might find a support group in English accessible and grounding. Others may only feel safe or fully understood in Mandarin or Cantonese. Still others, especially American-born Chinese staff, may feel more comfortable in English but want bilingual facilitators who understand the cultural context behind their words.

A one-size-fits-all model doesn’t work here, and won’t provide the same results. For some staff, the right fit might look like holding the main session in English while offering breakout rooms in Mandarin and Cantonese. For others, it could mean co-facilitation by bilingual or bicultural leaders, or even bringing in live interpretation when that feels more accessible. What matters most is not perfection, it is recognition. When a program acknowledges the cultural and emotional language of its participants, it becomes a place where people feel they belong. This is where GPS excels. 

Carrying Communities While Carrying Stress

Health workers at immigrant-serving centers shoulder enormous emotional burdens. They are helping families facing trauma, fear of immigration enforcement actions, poverty, housing and food insecurity, medical system mistrust, and cultural stigma surrounding mental health. They are doing all of this while also navigating their own stories and identities.

As one leader I spoke with shared, “People don’t talk about their stress, but it doesn’t go away. It comes out somewhere.”

Support groups offer a structured, safe, culturally attuned space to release what is otherwise absorbed silently. They are not therapy. They are not clinical diagnoses. They are a place for connection, for sitting with others who understand the cultural nuance, the unspoken expectations, and the emotional toll of serving one’s own community.

A Culture Shift, Not an Add-On

Introducing support groups into an immigrant-serving healthcare setting requires more than scheduling sessions. It requires a cultural shift within the organization. Leadership must endorse the groups, not as a wellness perk but as essential infrastructure. Staff need to know that attending is supported, encouraged, and built into the rhythms of work.

Without leadership buy-in, participation drops off. With leadership engagement, groups become part of the culture. And when staff feel the value of group support themselves, they are better able to bring that model to patients, expanding access to care in culturally rooted, relational ways.

Through the MASStrong initiative, Massachusetts is already investing in group-based support and facilitator training for healthcare workers across the state. The next step is bringing this kind of structured, trauma-informed, curriculum-based group care directly into immigrant-serving health centers, adapting MASStrong’s tools, trainings, and resources in partnership with Chinese and other immigrant communities. When public investment meets community wisdom, programs like MASStrong can help build sustainable, culturally grounded group supports that truly belong to the people they are meant to serve.

Bring MASStrong To Your Organization

GPS’s MASStrong program offers free GPS trainings, support groups, curriculums, and toolkits for Massachusetts medical, behavioral health, and community care workers and organizations. Eligible organizations can also apply for GPS partnership support and grants up to $10,000.