The Cultural Bridge: A Refugee’s Path to Healing Her Community

Gulshan Yusufzai, Executive Director of MAS-Social Services Foundation, is doing remarkable work supporting mental health services for refugee and immigrant communities in Sacramento and throughout California.

The Human Story
Gulshan's journey is deeply personal. As a refugee herself, she understands firsthand the challenges faced by those fleeing war-torn countries. Initially pursuing computer science at UC Davis, her path changed after witnessing mental health struggles within her own family. This personal experience led her to discover peer support as an evidence-based practice and ultimately to founding an organization dedicated to serving mental health needs in the community. Their doors are open to all, but they focus primarily on Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African communities.

"Knowing that I'm doing something that's helping someone, there is nothing like it," Gulshan shares about her motivation. Her organization serves refugees from Afghanistan, Arab countries, Pakistan, India, and other regions - with Sacramento now home to approximately 36-38% of Afghan refugees who arrived after the U.S. withdrawal in 2021.

The Challenge
Refugees arrive carrying significant trauma from war, violence, and displacement. While their initial focus is on basic resettlement needs, the psychological impacts eventually surface. As Gulshan explains, "All the traumas that they've endured... start to come back and they start to interfere with their lives."

These challenges are compounded by:
1- Language barriers
2- Cultural differences
3- Trust issues
4- Islamophobia
5- Intergenerational trauma affecting children

The cost of not addressing these issues is severe - broken families, community suffering, school problems, and ultimately higher systemic costs when early intervention opportunities are missed.

The Solution: Peer Support & Cultural Understanding

Gulshan emphasizes several key approaches to effectively serving refugee populations:

Trust and Cultural Understanding: "Knowing about someone's background before serving them is very important... Not assuming that they know what's happening is very important."

Peer Support Specialists: Mass has trained over 101 community members to become peer support specialists who:

1- Look like and speak like the clients they serve
2- Understand cultural nuances
3- Can assess mental health needs without stigmatizing language
4- Create comfort and familiarity

Integrated Care Model: Combining peer specialists with clinical therapists creates a powerful approach for those with serious mental health conditions.