Searching for Belonging: Creating a Culture of Community in Boston’s Chinatown – S7E2
Exploring how isolation, immigration, and lack of a sense of community can lead to gambling harm.
In this episode, Ben Hires, CEO of the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC), and Kevin Lin, Family Connector and Mental Health Clinician at BCNC, join host Tana Russell and co-host Paulina Zyskowski for an honest look at how isolation, immigration, and targeted gambling marketing are shaping the experiences of Boston’s Asian community. Together, they unpack how cultural loss, language barriers, economic pressure, and loneliness can quietly increase vulnerability to gambling harm…and how community-based prevention is working to change that story by creating a culture of community.
What begins as boredom or a search for belonging can become something much more complicated. Casinos can be welcoming spaces, offering transportation, familiar language, and culturally themed environments; but when connection is built on betting, the consequences can deepen isolation rather than relieve it.
This conversation explores the impact of cultural displacement, the role of stigma in help-seeking, the realities of targeted casino marketing, and the power of community-based prevention efforts that create healthier spaces for connection. Through initiatives like ping pong nights, karaoke gatherings, and culturally responsive outreach, BCNC demonstrates how a supportive community can prevent gambling harm, by addressing the need to belong.
Guests:
Ben Hires, CEO of Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
Kevin Lin, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
Resources:
Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center: https://bcnc.net/
Kaleidoscope: National Asian-American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month: https://www.youtube.com/live/f-qZ956EuOk?si=xpndbUH-T6SAT1rn
Screening for Problem Gambling in Asian Communities: A Discussion on Gambling Disorder Screenings, Support, and Services: https://www.youtube.com/live/hgSbTYpV9mU?si=He5J8L1wRpztXkHd
Washington State Healthcare Authority Problem Gambling affects everyone rack cards: Forms and publications | Washington State Health Care Authority (In languages Arabic, simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese)
Asian Council and Referral Services (ACRS): Home – ACRS Front Page – ACRS
Problem Gambling Screening Tools (see languages listed below)
- GA 20 Questions in Chinese: https://www.gamblercaritas.org.hk/index.php?_route_=hk/index.php&route=assessment&assessment_category_id=31
- Gam-Anon 20 Questions in Chinese:https://www.gamblercaritas.org.hk/hk/index.php?route=assessment&assessment_category_id=32
- DSM-5 GD Criteria in Chinese: https://www.gamblercaritas.org.hk/hk/index.php?route=assessment&assessment_category_id=30
- DSM-5 in multiple languages: https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/DSM/DSM5-Translation-Publishers-Contact-Info.pdf SOGS in Vietnamese: https://vuir.vu.edu.au/660/1/VSOGAU2009.pdf
- SOGS in Chinese (for college students): https://www.um.edu.mo/fss/psychology/doc/C-SOGS_college_Tang%20et%20al%202009.pdf
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