The state Department of Health will receive nearly $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to establish an Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, according to a DOH news release.

The center will advance behavioral health equity for AA and NHPI communities by promoting culturally and linguistically appropriate behavioral health practices and establishing a committee to identify emerging issues.

The grant is a key step in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to eliminate health disparities affecting these communities, said Krystal Ka‘ai in a SAMHSA press release. Ka‘ai is executive director of the White House Initiative on AAs and NHPIs.

“This new center will provide access to culturally and linguistically appropriate behavioral health services that are essential as our communities continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic and anti- Asian violence,” she said.

This year’s grant money will include nearly $700,000. The center will offer training and consultation services for practitioners on topics regarding unconscious bias and hate toward AAs and NHPIs and their effect on mental health. It also will develop practices to improve engagement and retention of AA and NHPI behavioral health professionals.

Other Centers of Excellence that SAMHSA has established include the Center of Excellence on LGBTQ+ Behavioral Equity and the African American Behavioral Health Center of Excellence.

Recovering from mental health and substance use disorders requires culturally responsive care, said Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon in the SAMHSA news release. Rittmon is the Department of Health and Human Service’s assistant secretary for mental health and substance use and the leader of SAMHSA.

“This Center of Excellence will instruct provider organizations on how to better serve members of the AA and NHPI communities across the nation,” she said.

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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.