How my journey with my mental health shaped the future I wanted for other women the same as me…

Starting off this blog and still saying in 2026 that mental health is taboo in South Asian communities among women, people would be shocked. Don't get me wrong, change is happening but slowly. Everything is accessible but do people actually access the help they need? Women from the South Asian community find it very hard to talk about their mental health openly and although it is starting to get better, it still needs work and support.

Being South Asian, British and Muslim, it’s difficult enough trying to fit in, let alone be open about what your mental health needs are. A generational change is coming, but it is happening slowly. Women are still living with regrets, wishing they’d spoken up sooner.

Going through my own mental health journey and struggling without support was daunting and difficult – you are very easily silenced. As a South Asian woman and counselling student, I have grown up witnessing how emotional distress can be minimised and/or dismissed. When trying to speak up about your mental health issues, you were told, ‘don't worry it's only something that you're going through you'll be fine’.

The message that is always sent to South Asian women is to be strong, keep going and don’t talk about it now. From a young age we are taught that we have a responsibility towards family, marriage, caring for your loved ones and raising your children. If you didn't do these things with a smile on your face, the problem lay with you, not with anyone else.

A few years ago, I started a women's walking group called B.L.O.O.M. by SMA, which allowed women to discuss their mental health and/or loneliness. Going through a major loss of my own, losing both my parents, the first thing I researched was for a support group but there wasn’t one – grief at a young age, South Asian/Muslim. What was so wrong with what I was going through that I didn’t have anywhere to go? So I created my own.

Growing up and looking at my mother being a strong person, I always believed that I had to be strong. I look back now through my own counselling journey, thinking what if she had the opportunity to talk? What if she had had the chance to make a change? What if she didn’t need to be as strong?

The women in the South Asian community are expected to be the emotional backbone of their families, managing every little stress without being acknowledged or given a moment of respite. My goal is to make sure that we recognise these culturally sensitive issues and make counselling spaces inclusive for everybody. Learning and training about culture, identity, gender roles and intergenerational trauma are much needed in society. The stigma needs to be broken, but not by rejecting the culture or the faith that they come from. It just means creating a safe space for women to be able to talk with like-minded people. Thankfully, it is coming together slowly and together we can build this space.

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