To Heal the Lingering Wounds of War : Immigrants: A counseling center for Southeast Asians opens today. For some, discussing problems can mean a loss of face.

Mai Elliott left Vietnam in 1968, fleeing the southerly creep of communist troops through her homeland and the violence that followed them.

The horror of war lingers in dreams, of course. But she also sees the war’s aftermath in the confused, anxious faces of Vietnamese refugees in the San Fernando Valley.

“I see so much pain around me,” said Elliott, who today launches a counseling program for Southeast Asians, the first in the Valley since the county-funded Southeast Asian Community Center in Van Nuys was shut down 14 months ago.

“My goal is to help some of the wounded from the war,” she said, explaining that most refugees are struggling to adapt to a new culture and to live with their memories. “I want to find out why we are what we are, why my people became so psychotic after the war.”

Elliott’s program will operate under the auspices of Furthermore Foundation, a nonprofit mental health center in Tarzana. Today, she said, marks the end of a personal odyssey that began last June, when the Van Nuys center closed its doors and left an estimated 20,000 Vietnamese in the Valley without mental health services.

She was volunteering at the center then, taking classes at Antioch University in Marina del Rey toward a master’s degree in clinical psychology. After the center closed, she finished her courses and began searching for an organization that would support her dream of providing mental health services to her countrymen.

The mental health needs of Southeast Asians are unique, she said, and demand someone familiar with their languages and customs. Many come from small villages and have difficulty with children who abandon ancient traditions. Some parents feel their authority slipping away because they must rely on their children to translate.

Angus Morrison, executive director of Furthermore Foundation, said it is difficult for non-Asians to counsel Southeast Asians, because they lack the linguistic skills or cannot recognize subtle cultural differences--such as the Vietnamese habit of smiling to avoid answering a potentially embarrassing question.

“Having Mai here, we can eliminate a lot of problems,” Morrison said.

But attracting clients is tricky business.

“We never had psychotherapy in Southeast Asia,” Elliott said. “We greet outsiders with a degree of suspicion. Seeking outside help is a shame or can make us lose face. It is a betrayal of family honor if we go tell someone who is not in our family or close friends our problems. In our community, coping with difficulty in silence is a quality very highly valued.”

So, Elliott said, she will promote the program as a place for Vietnamese refugees to talk informally about adjusting to life in the United States. Such discussions will lead to more intimate talks about their fears and problems.

“Many Vietnamese are afraid of becoming Americanized,” she said. “I don’t want them to think I am trying to Americanize them. I only want to help them bridge the culture.”