Brooklyn Lowry (00:04.686)
Thank you for tuning into the Healthy Project podcast, My City, My Health edition. I am your host, Brooklyn Lurie, and I am so excited for our guest today. Maria, thank you for joining us. Before we get started, I wanted to give a brief introduction of myself. I'm currently an undergrad student at Drake University studying healthcare admin. I have a strong passion for health policy reform and advocacy for vulnerable and underserved populations.

If my assumptions are correct, Maria, I am sure you have some of those same passions of representations for underserved populations. Why don't you give us the rundown of who you are and what you do?

Maria Torres She|Ella (00:38.252)
That is correct.

Maria Torres She|Ella (00:43.148)
Hi, and thank you for having me. So I am Maria Torres, but everyone calls me Maria in English. And I am the health equity coordinator for Pottawatomie County Public Health. And like you, it's about making sure that we are represented in some way, shape or form. Being here for 23 years has taught me that we need that more than ever.

Brooklyn Lowry (01:13.518)
Thank you for sharing that. So how do you personally define health equity? And do you think this term might be defined differently based on individual life experiences?

Maria Torres She|Ella (01:27.532)
So the way that I define health equity is, you know, meeting each and every single person where they are at, and that moment in time. And yes, I think it's definitely something that we are, you know, I keep saying this, but it's so true. We're not a one size fit all. So it's definitely something that is defined differently based on individual experiences.

Brooklyn Lowry (01:52.686)
That's a great perspective. So to my understanding, you will be joining us as a panelist for the Immigrant Health and Health Care Experiences at the My City, My Health Conference this year. For those that don't know, this panel will focus on addressing mental health disparities in underserved populations. Can you share more about your personal experiences with mental health and how these experiences shape your approach to advocating for mental health in underserved communities?

Maria Torres She|Ella (02:20.972)
So first of all, I'm really excited about being a part of this conference. And yes. So in my perspective, I am an immigrant. I moved here when I was 10 years old. Coming here and not knowing the language, not having the same rights as everyone else, it hits you a lot. So my mental health.

Brooklyn Lowry (02:26.03)
Thank you for joining us.

Maria Torres She|Ella (02:51.628)
Illnesses started way back when I was a little girl. But just two years ago, I was diagnosed with PTSD. And that was with anxiety attacks, depression. And my god, what is the other one? See, I'm so used to just saying PTSD. I forget my own things. But yeah, so now is, you know, the time where

Brooklyn Lowry (03:12.974)
Hahaha!

Maria Torres She|Ella (03:21.676)
Being an immigrant, especially in the community, from being a Latina woman, for me is always making sure that I mention mental health because in my culture is so... God, how would you put it in words? Everyone is just so against it. You know, if you... Like I remember my mom when I was younger and I kept telling her like, there's something wrong with me. Like, this does not feel right. She'd be like, you're crazy. It's going to be fine.

Brooklyn Lowry (03:40.238)
Yeah.

Brooklyn Lowry (03:46.926)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, it's a lot of this is fake. This is a mythical thing. Yeah.

Maria Torres She|Ella (03:52.044)
You know, my mom, yes, exactly. Yes. So, you know, especially I think for us people of color, that's like the main thing, right? You have to keep pushing forward, like no matter what, like you have to keep going. You have to make sure that everything is taken care of, like everyone else and then yourself. So yeah, so after a while of going through undiagnosed postpartum depression, I'm like, nope.

Brooklyn Lowry (04:05.354)
Mm -hmm.

Brooklyn Lowry (04:13.198)
Yeah.

Maria Torres She|Ella (04:21.324)
this is not right and seeking help and finding out like what is actually wrong with me. It gave me like that feeling of like, I knew it, I was right. So now I have to make sure that others know about it, especially when we come from cultures that are, that this is such a taboo thing to talk about. We need to be more open and more, like, I don't know, we just need to talk about it more.

and growing up here and just being in a different country and not knowing the resources or not having resources at all, it is very hard to even, you know, even trying to seek help is a barrier. So that's the reason why I'm like, I need to advocate more. I need to talk about it more because hopefully, you know, I feel like at one point the right person is going to hear me and they're going to be like, how can we help?

Brooklyn Lowry (05:01.934)
Yeah.

Brooklyn Lowry (05:17.326)
Exactly, yeah. I appreciate you for sharing your personal journey on that. I think the discussion of mental health is so important and that it needs to be promoted more. And especially with your personal experience of immigrating to a new country, that can definitely have its own effects that aren't discussed enough. So thank you for sharing that. What strategy have you found effective in promoting mental health awareness?

Maria Torres She|Ella (05:38.316)
yeah, no problem.

Maria Torres She|Ella (05:45.612)
using my voice. So before I used to be, if you would have asked me a year ago to even present or be on podcast, I'll be like, nope, no thank you. Because I am an introvert at heart. I like to just keep in and yeah, right. So just, and that's one of the things that I have been told. They're like, you know, you have something to say, say it. Why aren't you talking?

Brooklyn Lowry (06:01.838)
Yeah, and now look at you.

Maria Torres She|Ella (06:14.732)
And I will be just so afraid of, you know, no matter what I would say, people wouldn't listen. Or maybe I was just talking to the wrong people at the time. But now that I have this voice, I'm like, I need to share it. Hopefully, you know, those who, who needed the most will listen and maybe they will use their voice too. And I don't know, I'm thinking like the domino effect, you know, hopefully that would be the chain reaction when it comes to mental health and just knowing like,

Brooklyn Lowry (06:15.502)
Mm -hmm.

Brooklyn Lowry (06:40.782)
Mm -hmm.

Maria Torres She|Ella (06:43.788)
Look, if I'm making it, you can too. Like I didn't think I would be able to be this open with people, but now I'm like, let's talk. What do you want to know?

Brooklyn Lowry (06:53.902)
Yeah, and that's a great strategy to have. I think it's so important to use your voice and especially for those people that don't have one. So I thank you for that. And then just going on that same topic of your personal experience, you did mention that your culture is the mental health thing is very taboo. How do you think someone could reduce that stigma, especially within immigrant communities?

Maria Torres She|Ella (07:21.356)
Talking about it more, education. I think that's what we can do. Unfortunately, when it comes to our culture, especially in the elder community, we're so very taboo focused that we forget everything else around us. The good thing about the new generations is the pushing forward like.

Why aren't we doing more? How come we're not focusing on mental health and physical health? Why are we just focusing on one thing? So I love the new generations for that because, you know, that was also a push for me. And having an eight year old, it's, I need to do more because when he grows up, I want him to know that it's okay for a man to cry. It's okay for a man to feel down. You know, things happen and.

Brooklyn Lowry (08:05.322)
Mm -hmm.

Maria Torres She|Ella (08:14.06)
In my mind, it's like, I don't want him to go through the things that I went through on holding things down and then having to deal with it later on through life. I'm going to try to let him deal with it as it goes and knowing and regulating his own feelings and emotions. Then waiting 20, 30 years to find out, I wish my mom would have said something or I wish someone would have told me that that was okay. So that was the reason why. So I'm grateful for the new generation coming out and saying like, what are you guys doing?

Brooklyn Lowry (08:35.552)
Yeah.

Brooklyn Lowry (08:44.046)
Right.

Maria Torres She|Ella (08:44.204)
So it's good, it's good to learn.

Brooklyn Lowry (08:48.174)
We are making way. So I'm curious, Maria, did your perspective on mental health shift a little bit when you had your son or has it always been the same?

Maria Torres She|Ella (08:51.02)
Yes!

Maria Torres She|Ella (09:00.972)
It shift, it shift a lot actually. Because at the beginning, you know, I was just keeping everything down, just holding everything and thinking, you know, it doesn't matter. I remember seeing my first therapist when I was 17 years old, around there. And I just remember telling her my story and she was just crying. And as a 17 year old, I thought, I'm not going to talk to anyone about this because you pity me now.

Like it was just that sense of they're not understanding me, they're pitying me. Like it wasn't, I was more embarrassed to talk about my story than any more than anything. And then, you know, being pregnant and going through depression and then postpartum depression, like every day it was, you know, dreaming and thinking that I could hurt my son and I would just start crying. And I'm like, no, there's, I have to do something about this.

Brooklyn Lowry (09:42.254)
Mm -hmm.

Maria Torres She|Ella (10:01.068)
because I was afraid. I was honestly afraid of, you know, if I don't do something now, who's going to take care of him? And for me has always been like, no one's going to take care of him more than I will. Like I am the one person that is going to love him more than anyone. And I need to make sure that I'm good, that I'm well. So that's the reason why I seeked help. It was, he was my, my why he was my reason of, you know, but there was.

Brooklyn Lowry (10:09.646)
Yeah.

Brooklyn Lowry (10:28.67)
Mm -hmm.

Maria Torres She|Ella (10:29.804)
points in my life where I'm like, I give up, I don't want to do this anymore. And when I had him and I was holding him, I'm like, I will do anything for this person. So the best thing that I could start with was getting better and better for myself. Because I think that now we are so in so focused into taking care of everyone else that we forget of ourselves. And that's why I'm like, I need to push more for people to know like,

If you are not taking care of yourself, you're not taking care of anyone. Because you're depleting everything that you have. So yeah.

Brooklyn Lowry (11:01.134)
Exactly, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And you sharing that is so powerful because I feel like so many people, myself included, have had those same experiences with therapists where you share your story and you do feel more like you're being pitied. And I feel like that's definitely a big thing that should also be talked about. So moving forward from that.

Maria Torres She|Ella (11:24.108)
Yes, and...

No, go ahead.

Brooklyn Lowry (11:30.106)
So moving forward from that, how do you think public health professionals and community organizations could collaborate to improve mental health services?

Maria Torres She|Ella (11:44.46)
Advocating more. Unfortunately, there's not much that we can do as public health, but advocating, just using our voices and making sure that we have the resources available, the right partnerships and the right collaborations. I think that's something that we need to strive for, especially in the kind of environment that we're currently in, it would be nice to have that. So when people come in and seek help.

we're able to be like, hey, we don't have all of the answers, but here are some resources of people that are able to give you those answers.

Brooklyn Lowry (12:21.966)
Yeah, yeah. And finally, what advice would you give other public health professionals who are looking to advocate for mental health equity in their own communities?

Maria Torres She|Ella (12:33.868)
To acknowledge the problem first. I think that we have, we talk a lot about mental health and it's there, but we're not actually acknowledging the problem. It's more like, you know, let's talk about mental health, but let's just talk about it. We're not going to do anything. And I think that we need to make sure that whatever we're doing is acknowledging the problem and how are we going to go forward? How are we going to make sure that we're not only taking care of ourselves, but everyone else?

Brooklyn Lowry (12:49.39)
Mm -hmm.

Maria Torres She|Ella (13:03.916)
And just keep advocating. I think that's the biggest thing. Just advocate. We need voices and I think we need to work together. I have this thing of, you know, if we're working together, we can do amazing and great things. And if we're not, then what's the point? You know, if we're separately working with this, because this is my community, I'm going to protect my community. We're not going to move forward. I think that if we want to make a bigger impact, we all have to, I don't know, come.

come as a tribe and just take it down. I don't know. Yes. Yes.

Brooklyn Lowry (13:34.894)
Yes, collaboration. Collaboration is so important. I think even just using your voice to talk about mental health is just the first step in the actual mental health crisis. And there's so many more steps we need to take, one of which being to collaborate better to address that problem.

Maria Torres She|Ella (13:50.636)
Yes.

Maria Torres She|Ella (13:56.044)
Exactly, you get it.

Brooklyn Lowry (13:58.462)
Well, thank you so much, Maria, for sharing your insights and experiences with us today.

Maria Torres She|Ella (14:05.868)
First, can I say thank you so much for saying my name right? I appreciate that so much. Like it touches my heart. Thank you.

Brooklyn Lowry (14:10.734)
of course. That makes me sad that you feel very grateful to have someone say your name correctly, because I think that it should always be said correctly. But I am happy to do that.

Maria Torres She|Ella (14:25.292)
You know, it's funny, not everyone knows how to roll their R's. There's words in English that I don't know how to say. So, I'm okay.

Brooklyn Lowry (14:29.998)
Yeah.

Yeah, I can get Maria, but Torres is a little bit harder for me.

Maria Torres She|Ella (14:38.956)
That's good. It's good. I applaud you. Thank you.

Brooklyn Lowry (14:43.534)
Thank you. All right. Well, I think that is it. This is our first podcast, so I'm still getting the hang of all of it.