Video Transcription
Supporting my sister after migrating to Australia
Hi, I’m Gurdeep Winter. I have a South Asian background and come from New Delhi, India.
During the migration process, I think it was really hard for me, but it was particularly harder on my sister, who was only 14 at the time. When we migrated here, she went through a particularly rough patch of bullying. It was really detrimental to her self-esteem because it had racial tones to it.
We went through a period of panic attacks, which we had no idea how to handle. The move impacted her so much that she just became someone who was constantly escaping.
She spent a lot of time watching Netflix—not in a healthy way, but more as a way to avoid leaving the house because it was her only safe space. There was a lot of school refusal. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t who she truly was. There’s always that complication of wondering: is this just her growing up, becoming a teenager, an adult? But I had to keep reminding myself, “No, this is her going through something.”
In our culture, mental health is only just beginning to get the value it deserves. I don’t think it’s well understood by a lot of older generations within the South Asian migrant community. On one hand, they understand that our bodies store the traumas we’ve been through. But on the other hand, seeking help is still seen as almost unheard of.
For my sister, it was really beneficial to have someone within the family to confide in about her mental health struggles. Her journey would have been so much harder if she’d had to go out and seek support on her own. I can’t even imagine her doing that.
So, for anyone on this journey right now—whether it’s a mental health crisis or an identity crisis, feeling caught between cultures and values—I believe we’ll all eventually reach a point where we become a version of ourselves we truly resonate with, if we accept help.
For my sister, she’s finally at a place where she’s proud of her cultural heritage. I think it’s been quite a journey for me as well. While she has grown, I’ve grown too—learning to step forward and step back as a carer, all while maintaining my own sense of pride in our cultural identity. Now, I’m also learning to find my place and my faith here.
Video by headspace
