About Us
Kai Xin Xing Dong is a public education programme aimed at reducing the stigma and discrimination faced by Chinese people who experience mental illness. The project is funded by the Ministry of Health and guided by the Kai Xin Xing Dong Advisory Group.
We know from extensive research that mental illness is common and can affect any one of us regardless of age, culture, gender, background or experience. It affects ordinary people - our fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, friends, lovers and next-door neighbours. That is why we need to stop ourselves and others from discriminating against people with experience with mental illness. We discriminate when we narrow our view of their value and potential.
This project provides us an opportunity to raise mental health awareness in the Chinese community and to counter stigma and discrimination.
We called the project Kai Xin Xing Dong because we want everyone to have a happy and healthy life, and an open heart to treat people with respect. Remember, if we have open and caring hearts towards others, they will have open and caring hearts towards us. In this way Kai Xin Xing Dong will bring us together and strengthen our community.
What our name means
Kai means ‘open', Xin means ‘heart' - but put these two words together, Kai Xin, and you get ‘happy'!
Xing Dong means ‘action', so Kai Xin Xing Dong means ‘happy action, with an open heart'.
The Kai Xin Xing Dong slogan is: "I have a loving and caring heart toward others and hope you have a loving and caring hearts towards me, too."
There is hope by opening our hearts, together we can build better Chinese communities in New Zealand, especially for those who have been affected by mental illness.
MHF: Kai Xin Xing Dong provider
As the Kai Xin Xing Dong provider, the Mental Health Foundation is responsible for providing a variety of regional services. These include newspaper advertising campaigns, communications, resource development, research and education and training in the Auckland Region.
The website not only enhances this work by having all its resources easily accessible in both English and Mandarin and in one place, it extends the reach of our work beyond the Waitemata.
Building resources
The Kai Xin Xing Dong project is steadily building its resources to share information about reducing stigma and discrimination related to mental illness. In turn, we hope those who have visited our website will inform others about the importance of our goal.
Resources for health professionals
Kai Xin Xing Dong resources are mostly used by the general public, but you can also find resources designed to support professionals, such as GPs or mental health professionals. Such resources include Chinese Attitudes Toward Mental Health, a literature review that is especially useful when working with Chinese people who experience mental illness. You can also find organisations that support Chinese people who experience mental illness, free psycho-education workshops for friends and families, and consumer peer support groups and helplines.
Our history
Kai Xin Xing Dong grew out of a 2006 Like Minds, Like Mine media campaign aimed at assisting Chinese communities understand what the Like Minds programme had to offer.
Established in 1996, Like Minds was a huge success and a world-leading national strategy to counter stigma and discrimination. But in those days, it wasn't well known in Chinese communities, due to the language barrier.
By 2005, Like Minds had identified the need for a more culturally meaningful way to bring the message into Chinese communities, hence the idea for a Like Minds media project was born. So, in 2006, the very first phrase of Kai Xin Xing Dong began.
The project focused on gathering information and providing resources to support Chinese communities to understand mental illness, and to encourage Chinese people with experience of mental illness to seek help and support through mental health services and community networks.
All this was largely achieved through a Chinese newspaper media campaign, and the providers were encouraged by the positive feedback from Chinese communities.
More culturally appropriate
In 2007, the second phrase of the project focused on developing more culturally appropriate information resources and further promoted stories and articles through Chinese media networks.
In addition to providing information for Chinese people with experience of mental illness, KXXD also included information to help families, friends and wider community networks to help them understand mental illness and their role in supporting people with experience of mental illness.
To do this, the providers extended their reach beyond the Chinese Herald newspapers to a series of talk shows on Chinese BBC FM90.6. They also developed a new brochure, connected with the Chinese community and ran Speaking Your Mind training workshops for people who experienced mental illness. This gave them the chance to present their stories and information to the wider Chinese Community.
Showcasing real stories
By 2008, the project grew once again - it was able to provide real stories to help people gain insight into the experience and recovery of people who were or had been mentally unwell.
Kai Xin Xing Dong providers recognised the need to make a real connection with Chinese communities through support from Asian mental health community leaders, presenting at churches and Chinese groups, and running workshops with Chinese support groups to further educate Chinese communities on how to counter stigma and discrimination.
In 2009, KXXD advanced its campaign with this new website, the production of the very first literature review New Zealand Chinese Attitudes to Mental Illness, and by further developing new resources and stories to educate and inform.
