Despite the wonderful ways in which the mental health field has grown and developed in recent times, one thing that I found on my journey was loneliness and a lack of sense of true belonging in the mental health workforce as a woman of colour.

Coming from a conservative South-Indian background - mental health, illness and wellbeing were not openly spoken about. As is the case for so many of us, mental health issues were always shrouded in doubt and stigma to the point where I never saw it as something relevant to me - let alone a viable career option. 

Fast forward to 2016 - having navigated my own experience of mental ill-health I almost accidentally fell into the field.

I started volunteering with my local headspace (Youth Mental Health Foundation) Centre as part of the Youth Advisory Group and subsequently joined our National Office at the end of 2017 as part of hYNRG - headspace’s Youth National Reference Group. Concurrently I was exploring the social impact and entrepreneurship fields; being part of the Foundation for Young Australians’ Young Social Pioneers 2017 cohort as well as a couple of other Incubator programs.

In the following years, I got more involved in the activities of headspace’s National office and, in 2019, joined my local Centre part-time as a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Youth-specific Peer Support Worker. I was also honoured to join the National Mental Health Commission’s Independent Advisory Board for a 2-year term advising on mental health matters at a federal level. 

Although I have had some incredible mentors and supporters throughout my own journey - I have always felt a slight lack of belonging. In a predominantly western-centric field, I felt that my cultural identity was something that alienated me. This was despite working in a field where I want to make the most difference. 

But then, at the start of 2019 I started having the conversations. 

Again - almost like it was fate - culturally and linguistically diverse humans working in this space started opening up to me about feeling alone. 

Young entrants to the field who spoke about feeling alienated in their broader communities for working in a field that has historically not held salt. Not having the support both professionally and emotionally to pursue a career in a field that needs them - now more than ever. 

Seasoned experts who have achieved incredible, innovative and ground-breaking things in their long and fruitful careers despite their direct family not understanding what they do, day-to-day. 

And inevitably…at the end of many of these conversations…

“It’s so nice to meet someone else who understands.”

The amazing thing is - there are so many of us who understand.

But we weren’t talking to each other - learning from each other and supporting each other in a collective and holistic way. 

Not because we didn’t want to - but because it’s been so difficult for us to find a space to do so!

But this is finally changing.

And I’m working with Dr. Judy Tang to co-chair a collective of phenomenal humans who believe in the integration of culture into mental well-being spaces and practice - all whilst bringing a nuanced and considered lens through their own diverse backgrounds and professional experience.