Abstract
The lack of culturally sensitive mental health resources in the U.S. and the foundational Eurocentric values fail to support members of the Cambodian-American community. Recent interests in holistic practices with Westernized, oversimplified, and appropriated care continue to erode its cultural significance and sacredness, distancing from their origins and true intent. For generations, the Cambodian community has relied on healing practices such as meditation, arts, water blessings, and chanting to promote wellness and strengthen community bonds. It is crucial to acknowledge and preserve these ancestral traditions that help reconnect the community, foster healing, and amplify existing cultural strengths.
Using publication and human-centered design methods, this thesis project deconstructs the contemporary mental health system by challenging Eurocentric values embedded in the mental health system. It follows a reconstruction process that re-centers Cambodian values by integrating traditions, art forms, and spiritual wellness through a curated tool kit for the community that is distributed through an exchange process to create a space for shared learning and support.
The kit explores different areas of Cambodian values: spirituality, artistic expression, and culinary practices. It gives a deeper understanding of significant cultural traditions that could strengthen one’s reconnection to Cambodian roots and ancestry.
Written Description
The U.S. mental health system is frequently evolving, however, AAPI communities including Cambodian-Americans are suspect whether this system works as its foundation are Eurocentric values such as individualism, psychotherapy, and the reliance on psychopharmacology. Although there has been a rise in holistic practices, many practices are oversimplified which strips away the cultural significance and sacredness of the practice. When a practice is westernized and appropriated, we no longer understand its origins and true intent. Cambodian healing practices like meditation, dance, water blessings, and chanting, have been used for many generations for wellness and community interconnectedness. It is crucial to recognize these ancestral traditions that help reconnect the community, foster healing, and amplify existing cultural strengths, that allow us to move beyond external institutions and lead to the pathway to a better mental healthcare system.
It is also important to note the complexities and barriers of the current mental health system. Accessing mental health services can be more challenging for Cambodian-Americans due to a lack of affordability and culturally competent resources. Furthermore, minimizing mental health symptoms is a common issue in the Cambodian community and another reason why many do not pursue mental health services. Struggles are often compared to the brutality of the genocide and are often a way to rationalize the need for support or services. Second-generation Cambodian Americans would often minimize their struggles, comparing their life in the United States to the traumas their parents faced (Orr). There is a need for culturally competent and affordable resources that resonate with the Cambodian community’s lived experiences and values.
By reimagining mental health through a Cambodian-centric lens, how can we cultivate paths to healing and collective well-being within the community?
My thesis is aimed to introduce a healing space using Cambodian cultural frameworks and traditions. It presents a reconstruction of mental health practices for Cambodian-Americans that embodies Cambodian culture, art forms, and values to elevate recovery and resilience.
Plan & Timeline
Various research methods will be applied in this process including visual analysis research, literature review, and interviews that contribute to the content of my design experiments.
Experiment 1: Deconstruct & Reconstruct (Tracing)
A zine that serves as an introduction to the deconstruction and reconstruction process to recenter Cambodian values.
Experiment 2: Recenter (Intervention)
A recipe book that explores cooking as a way of therapy by providing herbal medicine and hot/cold medicine recipes and mindfulness and meditation cards to teach spiritual practices.
Experiment 3: Exchange
The exchange of toolkits to another person. A small blank journal is included where previous owners of the toolkit can write messages such as encouragement and/or their favorite parts of the kit for the next person receiving it.