Break the Stigma

In this episode, C2BTS Team Member Helen Qin speaks with fellow mental health advocate Nanya Enyeribe about navigating the pressures of the senior year of highschool. They discuss the various stresses involved with the college application process, and how to find support systems and coping strategies.

In this episode, I had the privilege to interview City House therapist Brooklyn Sanders. Brooklynn joined City House in 2020 as a Case Manager and moved into the Therapist position in 2021. Her role is to provide individual, family, and group therapy to clients 17 and younger. Brooklynn provides therapy to all of the residents who live at My Friend’s House Shelter as well as outpatient community clients. Her background is in social work and Brooklynn is a Licensed Master Social Worker. She has previously worked in other child welfare settings, and is a huge advocate for mental health awareness! In this episode, I ask her about her experiences in the therapist profession, her experiences working at City House, and how it relates to our country's mental health and homelessness crisis as a whole. To find more information on City House and receiving mental health support, visit cityhouse.org. 

In today's episode, I had the privilege to interview Ms. Christi Wilson, Director of Development at the nonprofit City House. This episode focuses on the intersection of the ongoing homelessness and mental health crisis in our country and emphasizes how City House has made an impact. City House is a Dallas-Fort Worth-based nonprofit that strives to serve children and young adults experiencing homelessness, neglect, and abuse. Their mental health support includes direct mental health counseling and hotline services. Volunteer and find more information at cityhouse.org or call (972) 424-4626.

In this episode, we discuss and share our personal experiences on the current state of mental health for first-generation students in America with Helen Qin. Helen Qin is our team's Youth Art Director, a first-generation Chinese immigrant, and a fellow mental health advocate.  We examine the different elements that comprise the first-generation situation, including cultural barriers, educational inequalities, and prejudice that contribute to increased mental health issues in first-generation students. 

In this episode, we discuss how to cope with certain types of anxiety with guest speaker Amulya Madugula. Amulya is a nursing student at UT Austin and is the head of Mind over Matter, a mental health awareness project by Am4Teens, a global nonprofit. We break down factors that heighten pre-existing anxiety, symptoms, methods to cope, treatments, resources, and more. 

In this week's episode, I invited guest speaker Deepika Nerayanuri, a high school student from India who’s the founder of Curae, a youth-led organization that aims to help people achieve their goals and live their lives effectively with both success and happiness. We discussed the different forms of bullying, including cyberbullying, and how to identify it as well as advice and resources for bullying prevention. Deepika shared her own struggles with bullying as well, and listeners can receive insight from someone who has experienced bullying on how to cope and receive help. 

For this week's episode, I invited guest speakers Jacqueline Huang, Lillian Steele, and Michelle Tran to start a conversation on the school system and how it contributes to students' mental health. We evaluated multiple flaws in the system, from lack of mental health resources being shared, toxic competitiveness, peer pressure, and lack of support from counselors and staff. 

For this week's episode, I discussed the effects of social media on one's mental health with Shreya Johar, a mental health advocate and teen from San Jose, California, and founder of Mental Health Advocate, where she uses her website, blog, and social media platforms to spread awareness and share others' stories. We evaluated the pros and cons of social media and the different potentials social media can have in the future. Although the Internet can be a toxic place, our generation also has the potential to spread kindness and make social media a positive place for each other's mental health. 

In this episode, I discussed the South Asian stigma of mental health and the factors that play into this with The Brown Activists. They are 3 South Asian American teens- Minakshi, Meghana, and Prerna- who are dedicated to understanding different world issues! They hope that they can fill the bridge between South Asian communities in the United States and underrepresented activist topics. This episode was nearly one hour long, due to the complexities this topic carries, such as how the situation of South Asian communities who immigrated to countries like the U.S differs from the situation of communities in South Asia. However, we have only skimmed the surface, so be on the lookout for part 2! 

For this week's episode, I invited guest speaker Eleni Asturias, a rising junior at iUniversity Prep School, and served as Head of PR last year for our organization. We spoke about factors that tie into isolation during the pandemic, its consequences, and how to cope.