This week, we interviewed and sat down with three Active Minds peer educators: Megan, Leila, and Milena, and their Advisor, Gil Perez, to discuss the topic of: Mental Health in People of Color Communities. !! 🌱✨
“Leila Rofii (she/they) is a Mental Health Peer Educator and a member of the Active Minds club at CSM. This is her third year as a Promise Scholar student and will be transferring this coming autumn as an Ecology & Evolution major. As a biracial person living in America today, Leila believes that analyzing the root of mental health stigmas in POC communities is a gateway to ending these stereotypes and allowing for healthy healing.”
Megan Lauren Bueno (she/her) is a Mental Health Peer Educator at CSM, a 2nd year promise scholar student, and a proud Filipinx-woman. Megan majors in Sociology with a minor in Musical Theatre Arts and hopes to either transfer to University of Hawai’i at Manoa or Sacramento State. She is so enthusiastic and honored to be apart of this podcast’s episode #3 Mental Health among POC communities. She is very passionate about everything surrounding the topic of Mental Health such as anxiety and depression. Megan hopes to become a Marriage and Family Therapist and that she can help others embrace themselves with love.
"Milena Ortega (she/her) is currently in her second year at the College of San Mateo. She is majoring in Communications and plans to transfer to a 4-year institution in Los Angeles this upcoming fall to pursue Film & Media Studies. Her roles at CSM include being a Mental Health Peer Educator, Secretary of Active Minds, and a Promise Scholars Student. Being a Latin American woman, Milena hopes to bring more awareness to the importance of Mental Health in BIPOC communities to erase the stigma imposed on by cultures. She plans to work within the entertainment industry, creating projects on important topics such as mental health & cultural representation."
“Gil Perez (he/him) is a cisgender, gay, Filipino, San Francisco native. He serves as a Personal Counselor at College of San Mateo and is the primary advisor for Active Minds, co-advisor for the Safe Zone Alliance, coordinates the Mental Health Peer Educator Program, and is a professor in the Counseling Division. He is very passionate about supporting community college students and helping them see the gifts and strengths in their inherent, authentic selves.”
Active Minds are mental health peer educators that fight to end the stigma surrounding mental health while also providing a safe space for students to talk to and mental health resources. Active Minds has a couple of different workshops currently! Some of those include a Parenting Support group and Guided Visualization and Expressive Arts weekly group hosted by the wonderful personal counselor Alexandra Caldeira! They also host Zoom Hangouts on Fridays and if you check out their insta page @CSMActiveMinds , you can not only find the Zoom link to Friday hangouts but also other amazing resources and workshops!