SHAKTI PERSPECTIVES
Shakti perspectives: featuring Taranjeet founder of 'kaur healing'.
I’ve experienced mental health challenges at different periods of my life. There is a lot of pressure to hold a particular identity within the South Asian community. This makes letting people in the community getting to know our stories and struggles a difficult process, let alone getting support to work through the symptoms.
As Audre Lorde said, 'Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare'. I see self care as a crucial part of resisting the capitalist, white supremacist, hetero patriarchal state of the world. I connect with nature, and maintain relationships with family and friend. I also enjoy going camping or bike riding.
I do not believe there is adequate support for minority mental health within Australia.
There are indigenous, people of colour and LGBTIQ+ therapists in the community, however many minority communities are unaware of the support out there, due to lack of discussion around mental health support. GP's from minority communities are not being made aware of minority therapists or support groups.
As a social worker I speak to many people in the community, I often find that many individuals are not aware of where they can seek support. Some of the inequalities that need to be addressed are increased forms in languages other than English. more discussions about diverse mental health experiences need to be had, initiative needs to be taken to create support groups within our communities.