I’ve been following Sahaj Kaur Kohli on her Instagram, Brown Girl Therapy, for a while now. As a licensed therapist who is also very present on social media, she focuses on advocating for mental health awareness for adult children of immigrants. If you were born to immigrant parents like I was, you know how hard it can be to discuss mental health when you didn’t culturally grow up with these types of conversations. To celebrate Sahaj’s new book, But What Will People Say, we hope this conversation will give you a peek into the amazing work she is doing and how you can help to make progress within your own families and relationships.
A few things we discuss in this episode:
-Why immigrant families often have a hard time making mental health a priority
-How to make inroads to discuss mental health with your immigrant family/parents
-Why Asian immigrants tend to somaticize (convert anxiety into physical symptoms) when issues remain unaddressed
-Ways to normalize vulnerability with your male friends and family members
-Tips for destigmatizing mental health for the next generation
Thank you, Sahaj, for sharing your important work with us! You can follow Sahaj on her Instagram Brown Girl Therapy, buy her book But What Will People Say?, and read her Substack
Thank you so much for being here and listening to this podcast episode of Crazy. Mad. Joy. Whether you’re new to my work or a long time supporter, I appreciate you so much! And, if you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing with others and encouraging them to subscribe, too.
Image of people walking in a colorful mountainside created by me in Midjourney
Navigating Mental Health Between Cultures