Join us for Taos Puso, the first Filipino centered mental health conference in Vancouver! 

The 1-day conference is both a needs assessment of mental health in the Filipino community and collaborative innovation for new models for of practice for Filipino Youth mental health initiatives. 

The reality facing Filipino Youth is that the intersections between mental health, wellness, and race are at a precipice. Every Year Vancouver Coastal Health completes a Survey on the feeling of belonging. The survey identified that throughout the pandemic there has been an increase in Anti-Asian hate, social isolation, and a lack of sense of belonging. In 2020 39.7% of the Southeast Asian/ Filipino Community reported a weak sense of belonging; in 2021 that number grew to 59.5% (BC Centre for Disease Control SPEAK (Survey on Population Experiences, Actions, and Knowledge), May 2020 and April-May 2021).What this tells community leaders is that during the Pandemic, Filipinos do not feel like they belong. That intersection with current statistics on diminishing mental health among youth highlight that change needs to come, and it needs to come quickly. 

Taos Puso aims to be a community hub for connecting partners and community leaders in youth mental health. The unique lived experiences that participants will bring to the table will be incredibly useful in forming, brainstorming, and focus testing possible interventions in real time. By bringing together the community in common cause, our aim is to stay connected with each other’s work and to stay updated on successful implementation at the grassroots level. We hope that you will be able to join us and we are excited to announce our line up of Key Note speakers.