Mental health is looked at as a weakness in the South-Asian community
Avvan Sanjana is a social worker interested in sport social work, athlete mental health, immigrant / refugee resettlement, and integrative clinical health
Quick profile on Avvan
- Farmington Hills, MI
- 3 years since graduating from undergrad at Michigan State University
- Avvan received her Master’s in Clinical Social Work (MSW) in May 2020 from Michigan State University and is licensed to work in the state of Michigan. Her interests within social work include sport social work, athlete mental health, social justice within sports, immigrant and refugee resettlement, women’s health, and integrative clinical health.
- Interview and email date = August 13, 2020
How did you decide on pursuing social work after undergrad?
The last semester of my senior year at Michigan State University (spring 2017), I enrolled in a class titled Human Diversity, Power and Opportunity In Social Institutions. As cliche as it sounds, this class changed my life for the better. I was challenged to look at my position in society through an intersectional perspective and that inspired me like never before. I became more vocal about social justice issues and ultimately was guided towards the path of social work.
For the class, I volunteered once a week in the ESL (English Second Language) classroom at East Lansing High School. The relationships I formed with the children throughout the semester were incredible. I had the opportunity to learn about their previous lives before they came here to the United States. I heard personal stories from Pakistan, South Korea, Kenya, Iran, Iraq, and many other countries where English is not the primary language. Their questions, fears, curiosity, and passion for learning was infectious. I ended up spending many more hours in the classroom then what was required.
It was through this experience that I knew social work was the profession for me — I knew that I could do this work for the rest of my life — be happy, make a difference, help, change, educate, advocate, and elevate others around me; these are the core principles of social work.
How does your background impact how your practice social work?
My background impacts social work in so many ways. I’m a product of immigrants from India. I’m a first born daughter and granddaughter. I’m also a member of one of the oldest and smallest minority religious groups (Zoroastrianism) in India/Iran. All these areas bring a different perspective to social work, compared to others in social work.
The profession of social work rarely has women of color in it — not to mention South Asian women. South Asian’s have stories of perseverance, a need for perfection in how others perceive them, resilience, a collective love and bond for their family, and a toughness that many people cannot relate to, unless they are South Asian.
However, with all that toughness and resilience, there is an aspect of our identities that do not get proper attention in order to heal ourselves. Mental health is looked at as a weakness in the South-Asian community. Talking about feelings, and emotions is hardly ever done. The effects of this are apparent in children who have parents and grandparents that haven’t dealt with their health (whether that be mental or physical). This manifests into intergenerational trauma and is passed down throughout generations. I had to do a lot of work and reflection upon my own family for grad school, specifically for my clinical class centered on families. It was not easy to confront, because I easily was the first person in my family to ever do it. I want to change that in our community.
I want to show people in our community that it is okay to not be okay. We do not have to be “tough” or “perfect” all the time by keeping everything bottled up inside of us. We should do better for our children and generations to come. It is not fair to have the next generation carry our burdens because we are too ashamed to address them head on. It is not by any means easy to have these conversations confronting preconceived notions and thoughts in regard to mental health, but someone has to start them.
What areas of social work are you most interested in?
My area of concentration for my Master’s in Social Work was clinical. I am most interested in the areas of sport social work, athlete mental health, refugee/immigrant resettlement, and integrated health.
I enjoy working with ESL students, refugees, and immigrants due to my first experience from 2017 as well as my own family’s story of immigration (my family celebrated 50 years in the United States in 2019!). My grandparents’ story has a mix of perseverance, resilience, trauma, sadness, and success when it comes to their immigration story.
After graduating in 2017, I took a gap year and worked with an adult ESL classroom in my hometown of Farmington Hills, Michigan with one of my former teachers from high school. This experience again further confirmed my love for social work. I was there at their “graduation ceremony” handing out their certificates at the end of the semester and it was such a proud day for all of us. Their stories, their hard work, their love for their country and our country was so apparent — it was everything I love about this profession and more.
When I entered grad school, I interned at Michigan State University’s (MSU’s) Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS). This is where I learned about integrative health and how to approach healthcare as a team effort. Integrating health so that mental and physical health are treated together is what will help decrease the stigma in regard to mental health. This past year (my last year in grad school) I accepted a new job at MSU as a “learning assistant” at MSU’s Student Athlete Support Services. I worked on academic support for our student athletes for a number of our varsity teams. As the year went on, relationships were strengthened, and I noticed that I had a true passion for athlete mental health. As much as I loved seeing these young women and men succeed academically off the field/court, my true passion always lies within strengthening mental health especially in fields and populations where there is a stigma. I love MSU, but I will never let that love blind me to claim that things are perfect at the school. I believe there needs to be more comprehensive mental health services for our student athletes at MSU and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.
What has been one of the biggest challenges you have faced?
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was actually this past year when the pandemic hit. I had to leave my internship abruptly and I was not able to say goodbye to the kids I was working with. I was interning at a local private practice facilitating play therapy to children. It was devastating not being able to say goodbye to the kids. I spent time playing, doing crafts, playing games, playing “dress up” and “kitchen” and also talking through hard stuff with them throughout the year.
To just leave them without any explanation was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I cried in front of my supervisor when the university said I had to leave immediately effective at noon on March 11th due to COVID-19. I had been planning specific “goodbye” sessions with each kid for the end of the semester. In a matter of days I had no goodbyes to give out, no extra treats, no hugs, no final “I’m so proud of you!”.
It really shows that life can be altered in a matter of minutes; we can’t take our simple things like saying goodbye for granted. Not only did I have to leave my internship, I had to go home and finish the rest of my degree in an online format, finish my clinical hours (without seeing my clients), and support my athletes so that they too could be on top of their school work. It was exhausting, tiring, and I was struggling myself mentally with not being able to close my chapter at MSU properly. I didn’t get to say goodbye to my friends, thank my professors, or walk across the stage at graduation — easily what would have been one of the proudest moments of my life to date. The past few months have been very challenging. But, I finished my program, got my hours, got my clinical license, and was able to write handwritten goodbye notes to my kids. It’s hard to move forward, but that’s all we can do at this point.
What has been most rewarding?
I have had so many rewarding experiences in this field — they make every hard day worth it. Working with the adult ESL class in my hometown in 2017–2018 with an educator I grew up with was rewarding — what made it better was that all the students were women. They told me stories about their childhoods, education, their families (back at home and here), their passions, and what jobs they were going for here in the United States. It was an experience where I got to teach them about English and American customs, but they taught me so much more in return — how to be strong, independent, persevere, and embody an eagerness to learn new things. They have no idea how much they changed my life.
Working with students has always been rewarding whether they are ESL, college athletes, or college students. When I have an athlete tell me, “you have helped me so much — I wouldn’t have been able to get through this semester without you,” it makes the long sessions (especially the ones where I wouldn’t be home until 10pm) SO worth it. There is nothing better than seeing my student athletes excel in their sport, but it is beyond rewarding to see them succeed in the classroom. The field of social work is extremely rewarding in itself, but it doesn’t come without hard moments as well. It’s a profession filled with empathy, compassion, tears, anger, laughs, and joy. I am grateful to be in a position where individuals from all walks of life feel that they can trust me with their struggles, problems, successes, and much more. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else with my life than this.
References
- MSU School of Social Work
- Articles covering Zororastarianism — The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal
- Avvan’s paper on needs assessment for student athlete mental health resources
