“People in my culture, even my family, wouldn’t have sought mental health treatment, and that’s one of the reasons why I got into the mental health field. I experienced it myself," said Phoutdavone Phimphasone-Brady, a refugee from Laos, who grew up in Kansas. Phimphasone-Brady shared how her firsthand experience with mental health stigma sparked her passion for her work as a clinical psychologist in a recent special edition of the Mind the Brain podcast.
Host Neill Epperson, MD, chair of the Department of Psychiatry, talks with both Phimphasone-Brady, PhD, of the Colorado Center for Women's Behavioral Health and Wellness, and Daniel Savin, MD, director of the Refugee Mental Health Clinic, about their research working with refugees and Phimphasone-Brady’s personal experience in a special edition on refugee mental health and wellness. The three also discuss the unique challenges refugees face, their effects on mental health and the stigma surrounding seeking mental health treatment.