A Community Ecology Approach to Cultural Competence in Mental Health Service Delivery: The Case of Asian Americans

Using Asian Americans as a case example, a community ecology approach is proposed to address a gap in our understanding of cultural competence as a systems/societal level construct. A community ecology approach to cultural competence rests on three assumptions: (1) individual psychological distress is construed as embedded in, and intimately tied to, collective experience; (2) social justice is understood as integral to psychological wellness; and (3) formal mental health services are viewed as a primary, but not exclusive, source of care that can help address the mental health needs of a community. To examine these ideas, the paper is divided into two sections: (1) an examination of a community ecology approach to conceptualizing distress, wellness, and mental health service delivery, and (2) an exploration of the implications of a community ecology approach for providing culturally competent mental health interventions for individuals and for communities.