Meet Pooja Mehta | Mental Health Activist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Pooja Mehta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Pooja, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I have called the Raleigh-Durham area home since I was 3 years old, and my family, roots, and hear still live there. I grew up as a first-generation american, raised by parents who immigrated from India, in a tight-knit community in the south. For most of my life I was in a room where I was the “only”–sometimes I was the only person of color. Sometimes I was the only one who didn’t speak Hindi or Gujarati. Sometimes I was the only person who was open about my mental health conditions. It was really lonely at times, but it also taught me how to find the identity I was comfortable with, and how to seek common ground with the people around me. Now I feel confident in way that I have chosen to express my identity as an Indian-American woman who lives with mental health conditions, and have been able to find kindness and community in the temple, the country bar, and everywhere in between.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My work is centered around the belief that mental health matters, and that we are overdue for a system that recognizes that. Being at the intersection of people who live with mental illnesses, public health professionals, and the South Asian community showed me the unique ways that systemic barriers (inadequate insurance coverage, lack of providers, cost), societal barriers (cultural and societal), and social drivers of health (housing, public safety, economic stability) can come together to influence if and how people get the care that they need. My personal experiences navigating all of those cross-sections were abysmal, and yet, because of the resources and privileges I had access too, were some of the best case scenarios.

I refused to accept that. So I started speaking out, sharing my story widely, and combining my experiences with the data to drive change. It’s been slow going, and a constant practice of gratitude that progress is slowly happening, rather than frustration of how much still needs to be done. But I am grateful, I am hopeful, because I’m seeing things today that I could never have imagined when I was 15 and suffering in silence. I’m seeing Senators, including our own Thom Tillis, speak openly about their mental health challenges. I’m seeing people rallying around issues that I thought could never change, and demanding change. And I’m seeing members of my community, who wrote me off because of my conditions, hearing what I have to say and showing up for themselves and their loved ones because of it.

My story is long, complex, and multi-faceted. But ultimately I want the world to know that my story is one of hope.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
North Carolina is full of gems from the Outer Banks to the Smokey Mountains, but if my best friend was in town for a weekend, I would want to show them all my favorite spots in the cities that raised me–Cary and Durham.

We’d start the weekend at the HSNC Temple, where I could talk about all the defining moments I’ve had in those buildings. Then we’d do a nice walk around Lake Crabtree before heading to Chatham street, and enjoying a slice from Pizzeria Faulisi with a beer from Bond Brothers for lunch. We’d spend the afternoon finding a great book from the Cary library and reading in the new Downtown Cary Park, then having a lovely dinner at MC before sharing a flight of ice cream from Andia’s for dessert.

The next day I’d take them to Durham. We’d wander through the Central Park farmer’s market before heading to brunch at Jack Tar. Then an afternoon enjoying the outdoor spaces at Fullsteam and Motorco, or playing some games at Boxcar. We’d end the day with dinner at Local 22 or Mateo, and a lovely cocktail at the Durham Rooftop.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would not be where I am without the support of my team. There are not enough words to list out everyone, but a few that I would especially like to shout-out: to Priya, who encouraged me to tell my story openly; to NAMI, for giving me a safe platform to do so; to Professor Laugesen, for seeing my potential and pushing me to reach it; and to my family, for being my biggest cheerleaders always

Website: poojasmehta.com

Instagram: @poojasmehta_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/poojasmehta/