Meet Yasmin Irfani

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yasmin Irfani.

Hi Yasmin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Irvine, California during my childhood, spent my middle school years in Lahore, Pakistan, and high school years in Westchester, New York before I made my way back to California. I attended UC Santa Barbara as a psychology major because I knew I wanted to join the helping profession. A few years later, I received my Masters in Counseling, with an emphasis in College Counseling and Student Services from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). It is through my work with high school students and college students that I realized that I need to be unapologetic about my own journey, including the vulnerable parts.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like any other human being, my journey has had its ups and downs. Historically, I would try to avoid challenges and feelings such as sadness, fear, hurt, and anger. I believed that the only acceptable emotion was joy. I believed the negative thoughts and mistaken beliefs such as “I’m not enough” or “I am alone and on my own” or “I don’t matter.” Now, I am more accepting and self-compassionate towards myself, where I can more easily celebrate my mistakes and imperfections rather than engaging in the self beat up. This does not mean that I’ve “arrived” and have no more inner work to do. Over and over again, I remind myself that as long as I am alive, I will have negative thoughts and doubts, but I am still worthy of love and belonging. What I want people to know, especially the youth, is that it has taken me my whole life to get to this place of contentment and countless emotional breakdowns along the way. I do not want anyone to think that I am always happy and positive because this is the impression most people have of me. I want to be as real as possible, which can feel scary at times, but it is SO worth it.

As a highly sensitive person (HSP) and empath, I grew up in a Pakistani family and community where vulnerability was seen as a weakness. I received messages saying that I was too sensitive and needed to toughen up. I try my best to forgive the well-meaning people in my life who just did not have the tools themselves to be with their own emotions, so how would they be able to sit with mine?

It is through my own experience with depression and anxiety that led me to want to eradicate the stigma and turn my pain into power. I am grateful for my mental health challenges because they bring me closer to God and allow me to feel deep empathy and compassion for others. Sometimes, I feel anger that I was conditioned to believe that there was something wrong with me for being sensitive. It also hurts me to know that so many others have had similar experiences; this is not unique to me. Most of my life, despite having all the love, support, and privileges, I thought I was alone. Thankfully, now I know I am NOT because through the past ten years of being more open and vulnerable, I have been able to meet incredible humans who are mirrors for me, reflecting my own humanity back.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I currently serve as the Youth Programs Director at the National Alliance on Mental Illness: San Fernando Valley (NAMI-SFV). We are a nonprofit whose mission is to provide education, advocacy, support, and outreach to better the lives of the millions of Americans affected by mental health conditions.

At NAMI SFV, I help provide free trainings including Adult Mental Health First Aid, Youth Mental Health First Aid, and QPR Suicide Prevention. It brings me joy knowing that we are able to provide all these services at no cost, thanks to a generous grant from Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center. We are one out of eleven organizations that are part of the Cultural Trauma and Mental Health Resiliency Project, which is transforming and saving lives.

I have the privilege of being an instructor for these trainings so that I can teach and give back to my community, especially my Muslim community, where we still have a lot of work to do when it comes to mental health.

I am proud of my team of instructors and volunteers who have helped get 1,222 adults certified in the Mental Health First Aid and QPR training in the past year and a half. Our vision is to train up to 2,000 community members by November 2022.

I also serve part-time as a Program Coordinator at Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Medical Center. One of my favorite parts in this role is facilitating Safe Dates to middle school students, which teaches them how to have healthy relationships and manage their emotions.

Besides that, I enjoy facilitating groups and workshops on self-compassion, using the work by Dr. Kristen Neff, which has personally changed my life.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
This is a hard question for me…but I would have to say faith and the love and mercy of God. Everything else falls under that umbrella. My parents, grandparents, friends, family, supportive mentors, supervisors, and so many incredible human beings are all blessings and gifts from God. Huge shout out to my favorite human in the world: Mariam Tariq. Having people who I can be my true self with in my personal and professional life has helped me get to where I am today. In terms of the future, I still don’t know where I will be but as long as I am helping others and maximizing my potential, I will consider that a success.

Contact Info:

• Email: yasmin.irfani@gmail.com
• Instagram: yasmin_irfani