SPP 192: Sahaj Kaur Kohli and Infusing Culture into our Mental Health Conversations

#psychedpodcast is looking forward to learning from Sahaj Kaur Kohli!

https://sahajkaurkohli.com/about#about

Sahaj Kaur Kohli, MA.Ed&HD, LGPC, NCC is a practicing therapist, writer, and speaker on a mission to make mental health care more diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive. As the first in her family to do a lot of things — be born in the West, go to therapy, and marry outside of her religion/race/culture — Sahaj understands the unique struggles of children of immigrants, and she uses her personal experience to create original resources and content for this underserved population. As a therapist, Sahaj helps immigrant families, and adult children of immigrants identify their dominant stories — what they’ve been told, what they tell themselves — when it comes to feeling enough in their differing cultural identities. She also aims to mediate cultural brokering between loved ones to create healthier and more supportive relationships. Prior to becoming a therapist, Sahaj had a 6+ year career in journalism where she worked as a senior editor working closely with a diverse network of freelancers on a daily basis. In this role, Sahaj specialized in mental health and identity-driven content, particularly essays involving disability, mental illness, sexuality/gender, race, and culture. Sahaj’s passion lies at the intersection of narrative storytelling and mental health advocacy. Sahaj continues to write as a freelancer, and she has a weekly advice column with The Washington Post and has a book, But What Will People Say?, coming out in May 2024. In 2019, Sahaj founded Brown Girl Therapy, the first and largest mental health and wellness community organization for children of immigrants. Sahaj takes her role as a community advocate seriously, and through her career development, she has taken on additional roles as speaker, consultant, and educator. In 2024, Sahaj was named a Verywell Mind 25 Honoree. In her various positions, Sahaj aims to help others create healthier, more culturally inclusive relationships, workplaces, and lives.

https://sahajkaurkohli.com/brown-girl-therapy Founded by Sahaj Kaur Kohli, a mental health professional, Brown Girl Therapy aims to destigmatize mental health and promote bicultural identity exploration. The community of over 200,000 exists to remind children of immigrants that they deserve belonging and joy, to encourage growth in connection with others, and to decolonize mental health. Brown Girl Therapy is also a hub for inclusive mental health resources, original narrative storytelling, and intentionally created personal development workshops, discussion-based meetups, and events.