Suzy Ismail – Muslim Mental Health Panel
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A representative from Cornerstone discusses their communication counseling center and their approach to mental health counseling. They emphasize the importance of educating people about mental health issues and the need for help. They also mention their partnership with mental health providers and their focus on helping people overcome obstacles to pursue mental health counseling or mental health therapy.
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Santa Monica. And hello, my name is Susie Smolyan. My organization
is called cornerstone. And we are a communication counseling
facility that works from a spiritual foundation to help
individuals, couples, families, youth who are going through
difficulties to improve the relationships, whether it's a
interpersonal and intrapersonal, or a group type of a dynamic. So I
would have loved to join you at the multicultural Mental Health
Day Program at Stockton. Unfortunately, I was not able to
do so. But I'd love to kind of give some feedback on these
questions that were sent to me. So I'll just read the question and
give you my point of view as a communication counselor, which is
a bit different than the traditional psychiatrist or
psychologist or even marriage therapist. We focus on improving
people's emotional and relational well being through techniques that
may be outside the realm of what a typical mental health provider
would provide. We like to kind of say that Cornerstone is the
counseling center for the 99% of the population that insists they
don't need counseling. So the first question that I have here
says, How would you describe mental health and its importance
to individuals who are not familiar with mental health or
belong to a community in which there are strong negative biases
concerning mental health? So our organization Cornerstone is rooted
in a Muslim spiritual foundation. And we incorporate a lot of
Islamic concepts in our approach to counseling, I think being
communication counselors take some of the stigma away from the idea
of seeking help from a mental health provider, we work very
closely in conjunction with mental health providers. But we were
essentially for many people, the first stop where someone is going
through difficulties, they're experiencing problems, they feel
like they're not ready to seek mental health help, they may come
to us first. And we'll transition slowly if we identify the need for
mental health help to be able to work with the mental health
providers. So we do work very closely. And that helps eliminate
the stigma to a certain extent of seeking people seeking help when
they need it, without necessarily going the mental health route. The
next question says, What are the biggest challenges individuals
within the Muslim community face when seeking psychological help,
whether it be through counseling or medicinal treatment, there is a
lot of weariness when it comes to seeing a psychiatrist or being
placed on medication, even if it is clear that the medication is
needed. For many people in the Muslim community, there is a
sensor of feeling that if you just pray more, whatever problems
you're having will be fixed. And we always kind of tell our clients
that if you were suffering from cancer, or high cholesterol, or
possibly just suffer through a heart attack, would you tell that
person? Or would someone tell you just pray more, and you'll get
better? And of course, the answer is no, you would seek the help of
a doctor, you would get the medication you need to get better.
And we view you know, mental health help. And particularly, if
you need to go down the route of medicine in the same way that you
have a difficulty you have a problem, it does not mean that
you're weak, it does not mean that your faith is weak, it means that
this is a test that you've been given, and you need to address it
with those who can guide you in the best way possible. And even if
that means taking medication, then doing so knowing it is helping
your health.
The next question is as counselors, therapists, doctors,
etc. What is the best way to support Muslim clients knowing
these challenges? So again, understanding the stigma that is
often attached with the idea of seeking mental health therapy, it
was part of the reason why we took the approach of starting our
communication counseling centers, the focus of Cornerstone is again
to break that stigma down by working are acting almost as an
intermediary like a bridge that will get people to that state
where they can get the actual mental health that they need.
And the final question is What role does stigma play in mental
health? And what solution would you propose to uproot the stigma
within the Muslim population? So again, we've we've kind of touched
upon this topic and many of the other questions as well. But I do
believe that education is key that being able to teach people that
mental health illnesses are illnesses. And even if we can't
see depression, if we can't see anxiety, if we can't see panic
disorders, if we can't see OCD, because people can put on that
face that smile, you know, when they're outside in the world, but
inside they're crumbling, just because we don't see it doesn't
mean it's not there. And just because we don't see it doesn't
mean that we shouldn't address it. So being able to educate people
about the importance of seeking the help that's needed, and not
being abashed or shy to go down that route to understand that,
Allah you know, in Islam, we believe that Allah
Of course, is the best of all planners, but knowing that He has
given each person their test their their difficulty that they may
have to struggle against. But being able to overcome that
difficulty with the help that's provided is essentially what you
get when you seek the counseling or the mental health help that you
may need. So I hope this was helpful. Again, I hope this
important event is something that continues at Stockton and other
universities. I believe education is the most powerful tool that we
have to be able to break stigmas, break down barriers and get people
the help they need. Thank you, Santa Monica.