Mental Health & Minority Stress

​Mental health is not only shaped by what happens inside us. It is also shaped by the systems, cultures, workplaces, families, and communities we move through every day.

For people from minority, marginalised, and underrepresented identities, stress is often not one isolated event. It can be the accumulation of being questioned, watched, misunderstood, stereotyped, excluded, overexplained, underprotected, or expected to keep functioning while carrying more than others can see.

This is what minority stress helps us name.

At Chiije, we are hosting a practical conversation with Winnie Nyheim-Jomisko, a psychologist, on mental health and minority stress, not to pathologise people, but to better understand what many are navigating and what support can look like in real life.

Together, we will explore how minority stress shows up in the body, in relationships, at work, in parenting, in belonging, and in the ways people learn to brace themselves before entering certain rooms. We will also look at practical tools for protecting mental health, including boundaries, community care, rest, self-advocacy, nervous system awareness, and knowing when to seek professional support.

This conversation is for anyone who wants to better understand the connection between identity, stress, wellbeing, and systems. It is also for those who may not have had the language for what they have been carrying.

You do not need to have everything figured out to join. Come with curiosity, care, and a willingness to listen honestly.

Being well is not one thing. It is many things, held together with intention, support, and the courage to name what is real.