SEATTLE — A group of men and women sat close together in a conference room at Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Rainier Valley recently, sharing stories about anti-Asian hate and other suffering they’d experienced during the pandemic.
Several credited therapy and other support from ACRS — a nonprofit that primarily serves low-income, immigrant, refugee and American-born Asians and Pacific Islanders — for helping them get relief from symptoms of depression and anxiety they’d developed.
Many at the May meeting spoke of past traumas. But the past couple of years had given rise to additional stressors, like isolation, inflation, racist attacks and increased prejudice.
