Joy Chen: Overcoming Cultural Barriers & Stigma in Mental Health

In this episode, Director of Operations & Strategies for Act Now for Mental Health Joy Chen talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about Mental Health Awareness and Challenges.  

About Joy Chen:

Joy, a UCR and School of Public Policy Alum, has extensive experience in both local and state government settings. Joy graduated from Yale with a Master's in Public Health and currently works as the Director of Operations & Strategies for the Act Now for Mental Health non-profit. Joy is also a Policy Director for Healthsperian LLC.

Learn more about Joy Chen via https://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-chen-mph-99678a124/

Podcast Highlights: 

“Mental Health and behavioral health have been issues long before the pandemic, if anything, the pandemic just revealed and exacerbated this issue.”

-       Joy Chen on the topic of mental health policymaking.

“We feel like we're so small and can't address anything that happens in the world, but what we do have control over is volunteering in our communities.”

-       Joy Chen on the importance of community investment.

“One of the big reasons anxiety and depression have been destigmatized has been because of social media. It has made others feel less alone...I think hearing other people talk about what they are going through is so helpful in helping us process our emotions and understand that it isn't just us."

-      Joy Chen on the topic of social media's role in awareness.

Guest:

Joy Chen (Director of Operations & Strategies)

Interviewers:

Kevin Karami (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Chief Ambassador)

Giovanna Arena (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean’s Ambassador) 

This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: https://spp.ucr.edu/ Subscribe to this podcast so you don’t miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast.