'Saving face' a big barrier to seeking help

The Korean Health and Wellbeing Forum is on Saturday 7 August. Photo / APN

Loneliness and depression resulted in a tragic end for a Korean family in May, when a mother and her two daughters were found dead in their Christchurch home and the father in his car just hours before their funerals.

Today, the Korean community will be told at a forum on the North Shore that help is at hand, and where they can turn to if they find themselves in similar situations of despair.

But a bigger challenge for the organisers will be to help members of the community to overcome their fear of losing face.

A Korean advisory group set up by the Mental Health Foundation has found that "loss of face" is a barrier preventing many in the community from reaching out for help.

"The need to save face often results in people disguising negative feelings and behaving in a polite manner no matter what the situation is," the group said.

"A failure to live up to the expectations of others are perceived as a weakness and an embarrassment to the family. This means it is paramount for Korean people to demonstrate their own state as a healthy individual, such as keeping face."

It said mental health services have failed to understand fully the cultural context, such as stigma and discrimination attached to mental illness among Koreans.

"The tragedy in Christchurch ... exemplifies the hardship some Korean families experience," the advisory group said.

Forum organiser Audrey Chung said a bigger challenge will be to convince members of the Korean community that it was okay for them to reach out if they needed help.

The event is supported by the Ethnic Affairs Office, and speakers will include Mental Health Foundation chief executive Judi Clements, the Asian health support leader for the Waitemata District Health Board, Grace Ryu, and Problem Gambling Foundation deputy director Gus Lim.

"We need to get the message across that we are living in a different society and that it is not a sign of weakness or a failure just because someone feels depressed or needs someone to talk to," said Ms Chung, who is also the vice-president of the Auckland Korean Society.

The society has been trying to establish a 24-hour helpline since the Christchurch tragedy, but a stumbling block has been concerns from within the community that the telephone line might be manned by someone they knew.

"Our community is very small and some people feel that if they rang with their personal problems, it could be town gossip the next day," Ms Chung said.

As a result, the society had decided that it would instead promote Language Line - a service provided by the Office of Ethnic Affairs and operating out of a call centre in Australia - until such time as the community changed its mindset.

KOREAN HEALTH AND WELLBEING FORUM
When: Today, 9.30am to 3.15pm.

Where: Fairway Lodge, 7 Argus Place, Glenfield (next to the North Shore Events Centre).