Please note that we discuss some themes that viewers and listeners may find distressing. If you or anyone you know needs support please reach out to any of the available resources found below. **** In our episode today we are joined by our very first guest on the podcast, Dr Jeeano Paul. Dr Paul is a psychiatrist who works within a general hospital seeing patients within hospital A&E, in general medical and surgical wards. He has worked with children, adults and older patients in a variety of settings and is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. As a Tamil medical professional, we open our episode with a Q & A for Jeeano, to hear about his experiences choosing to pursue psychiatry and treating patients from the Tamil community. It is widely understood that within the Tamil community, mental health as a topic of conversation is considered taboo. The purpose of this episode was to begin discussing some of the challenges we face as a community by continually “sweeping things under the rug” when they become uncomfortable to discuss. In being joined by a medical professional our aim was to create a safe space to share our thoughts, that some of you may resonate with and to educate ourselves in helping create a community who are supportive of one another’s journeys with mental health. We hear from our AOT focus groups as they share their personal anecdotes in relation to mental health and taboo topics. We hope in part this episode can help encourage discussions within the Tamil community, on how we can better advocate for ourselves and our loved ones. Please join us, for our third episode, Mental health in the Tamil community. Ungal, Nishani & Thanusha Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:18 Q&A with a Tamil psychiatrist 2:39 Tamil patients you have treated 3:02 Intergenerational trauma 7:15 Tamil patients that have fled the war 12:11 Treating low moods 22:28 ‘Safe spaces’ 27:33 Substance abuse (alcoholism) 32:33 Sexual abuse 41:11 Part II - Societal issues/ de-stigmatising taboo topics 45:37 Patriarchy and how it can affect self-identity 54:26 Gender identity issues 62:00 Struggles when treating the Tamil diaspora Mental Health Helplines: NHS - If you or someone else is in danger, call 999 or go to A&E now. If you need help urgently for your mental health, but it's not an emergency, get help from NHS 111 online or call 111 Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/ Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/ ******* Resources: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6mIiuSvw7taVRXKDVbm0iu?si=xcDPoAMNRbiNBjfKRiT6mA&dd=1 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NkCeyaYsVQcGmh4BntM4d?si=tBppDDIvTS6ts8gFJSmwRw&dd=1 https://open.spotify.com/episode/4q21Qb80k5ocijivUPGB3J?si=yCNXvEiWRoSZs_byjSBLaQ&dd=1 Find us: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAOTpodcast Instagram: @theasianothertamilpodcast TikTok: @asianothertamilpodcast