不良研究所

My story starts in December 2023, when my husband and I immigrated to Canada from Guatemala where I worked as a mental health professional with a medical degree and a master's in psychiatry.  After moving to Canada, I saw an opportunity to reevaluate my career to reflect who I am today. Motivated by my passion for mental health, I chose Social Work as a meaningful path to support vulnerable communities while leveraging my professional experience.  

Last fall, I noticed a shift in my confidence. I began prioritizing the opinions of my Canadian-born classmates, fearing that being identified as an immigrant would lead others to dismiss my ideas. These insecurities were unfamiliar and deeply unsettling, prompting me to question aspects of my identity I had never doubted before.  At term鈥檚 end, Dr. Hieu Ngo asked me, 鈥淗ave you considered applying for the PURE Award? The quality of your work shows that you could do it.鈥� His encouragement surprised me. Without knowing it, he鈥檇 questioned my assumptions in such an intelligent way. This interaction helped me recognize that I had internalized racism that shaped how I valued myself and others. Later, he told me that as an immigrant himself, he was grateful to those who had given him his first chance, and he felt committed to doing the same for his students. 

That moment changed everything. For the first time since arriving, I felt truly seen, and it was validating to have someone whom I respect so much recognize my efforts. I learned that I could bring my whole self into my work - my lived experience, my identity, all of it. Hieu became my PURE Award supervisor, and I researched the mental health impacts on Latin American professional immigrants who have not yet returned to their fields. I expected to find only suffering, but participants revealed profound resilience. In their stories, I saw reflections of my own. I was humbled and deeply moved by what they shared, and, I came to realize that same resilience had been within me all along.