Today, August 28, 2026, is a Raksha Bandhan Day. In alignment with SAMHIN’s mission to foster open dialogue around mental health within the South Asian community and spotlight the voices driving this important work we invited Aanya Jajoo to share her reflections on the cultural and mental health relevance and importance of the Rakhi tying [...]
As part of SAMHIN’s mission to encourage open conversations about mental health and the challenges of dual cultural identities of second generation South Asians, we invited a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, Suhana Shankar again. She shares her experience of transformative change when exposed to other South Asians in college. See Suhana’s first post: [...]
As part of SAMHIN’s mission to encourage open conversations about mental health and the challenges of dual cultural identities of second generation South Asians, we invited Suhana Shankar, a passionate advocate for mental health awareness, to share her perspective. When people think of growing up in the Bay Area, they often imagine diversity. That wasn’t [...]
In keeping with SAMHIN’s mission of greater dialogue on mental health in the South Asian community and to highlight the important work of others in this area, we invited Sasha Samra, an aspiring lawyer and strong advocate of mental health, to share her thoughts on how culture and religion can be confused. Religion and culture [...]
In keeping with SAMHIN’s mission of greater dialogue on mental health in the South Asian community and to highlight the important work of others in this area, we invited Bairavi Maheswaran, a medical student, to share some tips on building self-confidence based on her own experiences. In many South Asian cultures, one is told not [...]
In keeping with SAMHIN’s mission of greater dialogue on mental health in the South Asian community and highlight the important work of others in this area, we invited Palak Patel, doctoral student in clinical psychology, to share her thoughts on role of families in mental health. According to an article published in an Indian psychiatric [...]
In 2020, around 46.2% of the United States population received and sought mental health services. 8% was in the Asian population. Although there has been an increasing trend of individuals seeking support, there is still a reluctance to receive mental health services. Contributing factors range from the stigma of mental illness, lack of accessibility to [...]
You put your book bag down and turn on the TV to enjoy some of your favorite cartoons - a typical relaxing day after school. Doesn’t this sound great? Well, this was not always the case for me. My after-school time was quite different. Every day, I sat mindlessly highlighting prep books trying to solve all [...]
In keeping with SAMHIN’s mission of greater dialogue on mental health in the South Asian community in the U.S. and to highlight her Mental Health Project, we invited Ankitha Mallekav to share her experiences in school as a South Asian teen. Living in the United States as a South Asian teen can feel like constantly [...]
In keeping with SAMHIN’s mission of greater dialogue on mental health in the South Asians we invited Shreya Vaishnav, PhD, whose interests and expertise are in cross cultural issues and acculturation among other interests, to share about her thoughts and recommendations on Culture Shock that immigrants experience in a new country. Migrating to [...]
