Supraja Saravanakumar

Supraja Saravanakumar
Supraja Saravanakumar

Supraja Saravanakumar

Health Equity Challenge 2024 Finalist

PROJECT: Spill the Chai Ma, a program for pregnant and new South Asian mothers (six months postpartum) in Los Angeles County, focused on dismantling the intergenerational stigma surrounding mental health within South Asian communities.

 

Supraja Saravanakumar is a second-year Master’s in Public Health candidate in the department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

While pursuing her undergraduate studies at UC Davis in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, she piloted a campus-based harm reduction campaign for safe marijuana use, following the legalization of recreational marijuana in California in 2016, which is where she discovered her passion for public health. Following graduation, with an interest in the bench to bedside perspective in medicine, she worked as a Research Associate at City of Hope, developing CAR-T cell therapy models for melanoma and glioblastoma.

Currently, as a Maternal and Child Health fellow at the MCH Center of Excellence, Saravanakumar collaborates with Curamericas Global in the KIKOP project to reduce maternal and child mortality, and gender-based violence, as well as improve menstrual hygiene management in Kisii, Kenya. She has worked extensively with unhoused populations in Sacramento and Los Angeles, and serves as a Public Health Coordinator with the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project, exemplifying a community-centered, action-driven approach in program development.

Saravanakumar is also a certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Counselor at Peace over Violence, providing support services in Los Angeles through a crisis hotline. Being a first-generation student in the US and a woman of color, Saravanakumar holds a conviction to improve the livelihood of people with similar stories and contribute to the inclusion of underrepresented communities in academic and professional spaces.

Growing up, I was unexpectedly thrust into the realm of mental health, raised under the care of my Ammamma (grandmother), who battled schizophrenia and depression. Her passing immediately before I started graduate school left me feeling isolated in my grief due to the profound stigma surrounding mental health in my community. Fortunately, timely access to mental health therapy services through my medical insurance became a lifeline. In the realm of postpartum depression, despite the increased access to mental health Cognitive Behavioral Therapy services since the pandemic, limited access to culturally competent therapists who speak the mother’s native language, limited affordability, and continued stigma associated with therapy deem this approach not as effective for South Asian mothers as it is for other communities. Through this program, I aim to dismantle the intergenerational stigma surrounding mental health within South Asian communities and raise awareness about mental health issues and suicide prevention, with open, empathetic conversations as a means to shield others from the same profound pain and bewilderment that my family and I have endured. I envision a future where seeking mental health care is not only accepted but also where culturally-tailored, cost-effective services are readily accessible to South Asian populations.

Supraja Saravanakumar