The NAMI NC Annual conference was held in Greensboro, NC on 11/8-9 to celebrate its 40th anniversary! Lily Chen, the founding executive director of UCA WAVES along with Dr. Pao-hwa Lin, a Professor from Duke University Medical Center and one of the UCA WAVES Volunteer Researchers were invited to speak at one of the sessions. 

In their presentation titled Breaking Silences in Mental Health in AAPI Communities, they shared the services and activities that they have dedicated to the AAPI communities, along with the key research findings from a mental health disparity study among Asian Americans in the RTP area. The AAPI communities are underrepresented in both mental health services and research. The audience was very interested in the presentation, and wanted to know more about the next steps that UCA WAVES will be taking. A representative from NAMI Wake County graciously offer to host a screening of our documentary-in-making (Silent War: Asian American Reckonings with Mental Health) in the future. 

Apart from the presentation, UCA WAVES members took the chance to learn from other peer groups. Krystal Zhang, who is interested in expanding the youth peer support group in UCA WAVES, attended two talks on serving at-risk youth and building culturally responsive care respectively. She says these engaging talks reinforce the importance of empathy and respect in delivering mental health services, especially among racial or ethnic minorities. 

In the conference, UCA WAVES has also built connections with some local organizations. They look forward to future collaborations and to promote health equity among AAPI communities together. 

NAMI NC年会于11月8日至9日在北卡罗来纳州格林斯博罗举行，以庆祝其成立40周年！UCA WAVES的创始执行长陈健，杜克医学院教授、UCA WAVES志愿者研究员林宝华应邀在其中一个会议上发表演讲，主题为“打破AAPI社区关于心理健康话题的沉默”。

她们谈到为AAPI社区提供的服务和活动，分享了在北卡州三角区对亚裔美国人群体所做的一个心理健康差异研究的主要研究成果，提出亚太裔社区在精神卫生服务和研究方面的代表性不足。听众对演讲非常感兴趣，并希望了解更多关于UCA WAVES将采取的下一步措施。NAMI维克县的一位代表提出，想为我们正在制作的反映亚裔心理健康的纪录片（无声的战争：亚裔美国人对心理健康的看法）举办一场观影礼。

UCA WAVES的成员也借此机会向其他同侪团体学习。Krystal Zhang分别参加了两个关于服务处于心理健康危机中的年轻人和如何建立文化响应关怀的讲座，希望能获取一些经验，来扩大UCA WAVES的青年同伴支持小组。她说，演讲者的话语非常鼓舞人心，强调了同情心和尊重在提供心理健康服务中的重要性，特别是在种族或少数民族中。

在会议中，UCA WAVES还与一些当地组织建立了联系。他们期待着未来的合作，并共同促进亚太裔社区的卫生公平权益。