A new health clinic in Flushing has opened to serve the mental health needs of one of the borough's largest ethnic communities.
Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York held a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new Mental Health Clinic Monday. The staff is fluent in Korean and trained to address the stigma that organizers say surrounds mental illness in the Korean community.
The clinic's executive director, Linda Lee, said the goal is to make it easier for many in the Korean community to look for help.
“We saw that there was more of a need for mental health services in our community,” Lee said. “The problem was that there was no place for community members to go where they can speak in Korean to a counselor, either a clinical social worker or psychiatrist, who would understand them in a very culturally competent way.”
The center will include clinical social workers, psychiatrists, and art therapists.