Mental health, vulnerability and healing

Mental health remains one of the most taboo subjects in communities of African descent. We have been taught to “hold on,” to “pray,” to “move forward.” But at what cost? In this profound and necessary episode, SayaCare opens the space for a conversation that we don’t have often enough.

Chaimaa Chamoumi, trained in psychology and involved in emotional support for several years, clearly guides us through the intricacies of what it means to take care of your mental health when you are a woman in the African diaspora.

We talk about identity: how to navigate between cultural and family expectations, the codes of the host society, and your own emotional needs. We talk about silence: that learned, internalized silence that is often confused with strength, but which can become an unbearable burden. We talk about vulnerability: how can we learn to embrace it when we have grown up with the word “strength” as a rule of life?

Chaimaa shares concrete and accessible tools for initiating an inner dialogue, identifying your emotions without judging them, and taking the first steps toward professional support. She also addresses the question of therapists: how do you find someone who truly understands your cultural realities?

A courageous and transformative episode. For all those who have long believed that suffering in silence is dignity.

Thank you to the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for its support, which made this initiative possible.

If you would like to access more health resources, visit : https://sayaspora.com/en/special-project/sayacare-2-2/