Diaspora Dreams

We are all one

Mental Health & Diaspora Life

  • Surviving the Silence: Mental Health in the Midst of War

    There’s no manual for this. No chapter in a self-help book explains how to keep your heart beating when your entire world is trying to stop it. No therapist’s worksheet can prepare you for the sound of a shell landing down the street, for the ghost of a missing friend, for the specific, gutting sound Read more

  • Depression Does Not Look the Same in Every Culture

    For much of my life, I didn’t believe I was allowed to call myself depressed. The image I held of depression had been shaped by media, school, and Western portrayals: someone lying in bed all day, unshowered, crying, unable to function. That version of depression was extreme, visible, and loud—and because I didn’t match it, Read more

  • Why Mental Health Conversations are So Hard in African Families

    Growing up in my African household, emotions were never acknowledged in any meaningful way. They were treated like background noise — irrelevant, messy, and ultimately useless in the grand scheme of survival. Life was hard. That was the understanding. The expectation was clear: tough it out, push through, and survive. Mental health did not exist Read more