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The, our multicultural
young adult advisory board.

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And this is our Minnesota.

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In our third episode,

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we talk about how language
is heavily intertwined with

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labels, diagnosis,
identities, and our culture

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That, and what para was talking
about in terms of gate keeping,

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cuz we were earlier
just talking about how,

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like sometimes I don't feel
like I'm not non-binary enough

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and it's similar to mental
health who gets to decide what

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you're experiencing or
what you identify as.

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And there's like,

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I just wanna make a very
different distinction about
how society perceives you

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and identities related to that,
which is like race like that.

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No, <laugh> like, I don't,
those are like completely,

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obviously different things
from like gender or sexuality

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or um, mental health,

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which is purely based on
like your experiences.

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So I feel like in terms
of those identities,

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like now I it's like I see
mental health as something that,

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through this conversation.

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Now I'm thinking if like how
similar it is to my other identities

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that are purely based
out of my experiences.

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And like what Chanel said,

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my queerness is going to look so different
from anyone else's queerness journey.

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And who's to say like I'm
queer, but you are not.

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Or like I'm more queer than you.

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So if I'm like having certain
symptoms of like neuro

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divergence or, um,
depression or something,

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and there isn't a person like a
therapist or a psychologist to

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label me and like justify quote unquote,

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my experience does that,

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does that make me not sad or not
depressed or not neuro divergent,

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but also there is like
reasons why there are experts

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and professionals who study these
for years and have credentials.

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So this is complicated. It's hard.

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Well,

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I think that circles us all the way back
to the beginning of this conversation,

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right. With, you know, the,
the internet diagnosis,

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the like I went on a Reddit thread
and it told me I have this. Right.

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And it's like, okay,

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so maybe by expert standards
you do, or you don't mm-hmm,

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<affirmative> like maybe you meet the
criteria or you don't meet the criteria,

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but like, what is it that you're
really trying to say? You know,

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like what, what is the
thing that you were like,

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this is so quirky and I just need to know
that other people also do this or also

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experience this. And if,

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if you interpret that
experience as something like,

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if that is something that is causing you
suffering or is making things difficult

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for you, like regardless of whether
or not it fits into, you know,

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BP D or O C D or whatever, dissociated,

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like regardless of whether or not
it fits into those boxes, like,

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what is this trait that you
have that you're, you know,

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that is causing you this problem and
like, how do you need to be supported?

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And it really comes back to that issue.

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And then that also opens
up the conversation for
things that do include more

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like cultural components and that
are more a circumstances of like

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where you live and who you grew up
with. And it allows for, you know,

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that kind of, um, a,

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a work around to that language
barrier of like, okay, so, you know,

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maybe in my community, we
don't have a word for this,

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but we do have a word for this. And
this is what I need support with.

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And like kind of opening up
that conversation and making
it wider than just this

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black and white, like, this is what
mental health professionals say,

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because on the one hand,

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like we don't want this world where
everyone can just diagnose themselves with

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everything. And then nothing
really like has meaning anymore.

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And people who are really struggling,
aren't validated. But on the other hand,

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like if you feel bad,

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you feel bad and it may not be
because of the mental health disorder,

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but that doesn't mean that you deserve
to feel bad. And we can't talk about it.

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You know, even therapists need therapists.

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I see my therapist when I've had a great
month and I really don't need to talk

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to her about trauma. Like, because it
doesn't hurt to check in sometimes,

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you know? So that's, I just,

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just really like thinking about how we
can be more intentional in our language

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around mental health, about like,

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not boxing things off and like
really digging into the like, okay,

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so you feel you have this,
but what does that mean? Like,

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what do you need from me?

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Do you need me to just listen to you talk
about it and how you feel affirmed now

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that you've discovered this thing?

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Or is there something I can be doing to
better support you with what you are for

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you are like those like sort of more EIC
symptoms that you're really struggling

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with? Like, how can I help?

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Um, I just wanted to go back to
something that Pedro mentioned about, uh,

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the power that English language
holds in mental health.

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And it has a lot to do with the fact
that most research is done in English

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speaking populations and it's
published in English, right?

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So for people that don't speak
English as their native language,

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it can be pretty hard to express or to
fit in this categories because maybe the

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words you're using for your depression
are not the words that an English speaker

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or a native speaker would use.

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And how does that put you if you need
a diagnosis or if you need treatment.

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So there is another,

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there is a whole other like
layer to that for non non-English

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speakers or not native speakers. I also,

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as far as like gate keeping language,

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I feel like that manifests on a lot
of different levels, definitely.

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In terms of like who is allowed to use
certain labels who is allowed to assign

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or receive certain labels,

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but also in this notion that I
feel like a lot of society has that

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language is immovable. That like,

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the way that we speak today is the way
that we will speak in 20 years is the way

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that we will speak when the human
species goes extinct. Like the,

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that language will absolutely never
change. And that isn't true, right?

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Like we don't talk the way
that Romeo and Juliet spoke,

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even though we speak the same language
and like, why would we want to? But like,

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I, I think, um,

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that's where a lot of people with
like when it comes to pronouns,

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the use of pronouns,

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I think that's where a lot of people
start to feel resistant is that they feel

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like we are integrating language,

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that isn't part of English,

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the English as they speak, or
that as they understand it,

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or as has been true in, in their
lifetime. But the reality is that,

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like the words that that person who
is now resistant to using pronouns,

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the words that that person used 20 years
ago are not the word that that person

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uses today.

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And there's no reason why we
have to view language as like

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an entity that does not change as like our

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understanding of diverse
human experiences also

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change. And that's not to say that
these are new experiences, right?

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Like it's not to say that the reason that
we are starting to talk about pronouns

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VO like vocally now is
because non-binary folks or

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transgender folks only exist in
this time. That's not true, right?

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Like people of all identities
have existed. As long as
humans have been alive.

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It's just a question of like, whether
or not there has been an option.

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And for marginalized folks,

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generally a like way into a system
that has like definitively tried

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to exclude them in order to allow them
to influence language in any meaningful

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way,

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language is created and upheld
by like the same sorts of systems

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that continually work to
oppress the people who,

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who like are trying to make themselves
and their identities and their

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experiences seen.

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And this is like particularly powerful
time in that it like is finally a moment

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in which I think a lot of us though,
we still have a long way to go.

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Also feel like we are now capable
of influencing language in a way

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that people in power have been able to
do for millennia, but that we never have.

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I want to thank everyone who joined
this conversation and shared their

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lovely perspectives and
personal experiences.

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And I also wanted to thank the listeners
who joined in into our conversation

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about language and how it
impacts us in everyday life,

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including our mental health. And I
hope to see you in our next episode,